Index methodology

The universe is every contract award published on Etimad, the Saudi government procurement portal operated by the Ministry of Finance, since 2020: 242,737 awards worth SAR 495bn at the publication date. An award enters the universe when Etimad publishes an award record naming a supplier, whatever the procurement route, from public tender to direct purchase.

Outside the universe: private invitations with no published award, and contracts by entities that do not procure through Etimad. Awards whose value Etimad has not published are counted in award numbers but carry no value in the index.

Values are the award values as published, in Saudi riyals, including VAT. No deflation or currency adjustment is applied.

On each day t, the index value is the sum of capped award values dated within the 365 days ending on t, divided by the mean of that sum across the 365 days of 2023, times 100:

DGI(t) = Σ capped value (t − 364 … t) ÷ mean₂₀₂₃(Σ) × 100

The 2023 average of the trailing sum is SAR 95.14bn, so one index point equals SAR 951m of trailing annual award value. The index is published daily, dated by award date, and is not seasonally adjusted: a 365-day window carries every season once.

A trailing sum rather than a monthly flow is used because award dates cluster around budget and fiscal events; the window smooths that clustering without a model. The cost is lag: a change in the rate of awarding takes up to a year to pass fully through the level.

Sector indices use the same calculation on the awards mapped to each sector, summed over the preceding 12 calendar months and published monthly as SAR bn (see §5).

Government award value is concentrated: the largest 1% of awards carry 52% of value over 2023–2026. Uncapped, a single multi-year programme would move the index by tens of points on one day and drop out exactly a year later. To keep the level a measure of demand rather than of individual contracts, no single award counts for more than 10% of the value awarded in the twelve months before its award date; the excess is discarded, not spread.

For a sector index the cap is 10% of the sector's prior twelve months, so a sector with few large awards is more affected than the DGI as a whole.

At 30 Sep 2026 the cap touches 37 awards and removes SAR 21.7bn from the uncapped sum of SAR 102.7bn, 21%. The number of awards capped and the value removed are published beside the level.

Buyers are the government entities named on the award record. Some entities operate several Etimad accounts or have been renamed; 14 entities are merged so that each is counted once in rankings and breadth. A merged entity is shown with the number of names it carries.

Breadth compares each entity's award value in the current 12-month window with the prior 12 months. Entities with awards in both windows are counted as increasing, flat (within ±5%) or decreasing. Entities with awards in only one window are reported separately as new or inactive. In the 12 months to Sep 2026: 172 increasing, 29 flat, 330 decreasing; 28 new; 61 inactive.

Suppliers are the companies named on the award record. Foreign companies and their Saudi subsidiaries are identified by registration; they won 4.0% of 2025 award value.

Each award carries an Etimad activity classification. Daall maps those activities to the Tadawul industry groups (GICS industry groups as used by the Saudi Exchange), so that a sector index can be read against the listed sector that supplies the government. The mapping is a draft in version 0.1: it is maintained by hand, and groups may be re-drawn as the activity classification is better understood. A re-drawn mapping restates the sector series in full and is announced as a methodology version.

Eight industry groups carry enough value to publish. Awards mapped to smaller groups, and awards whose activity cannot be mapped, are in the DGI but in no sector index; the eight sector values therefore do not sum to the DGI's trailing value.

Sector indices are published as trailing 12-month value in SAR bn after the sector cap, monthly, from December 2022. A rebased level (sector 2023 average = 100) is shown on each sector page for comparison with the DGI.

Etimad publishes an award some time after the award date, and the index is dated by award date, so a recently published level rises as late awards arrive. Measured on the record: awards are first seen a median of 3 days after the award date, 90% within 30 days and 99% within 44 days.

A level is therefore preliminary for 30 days after its date and final after 45 days. Final levels are not revised except under a methodology version change, which restates the series in full and is announced in §9.

From 30 Jul 2026 Daall keeps the series as it was published on each day, so a subscriber can see the level that was known at any past date as well as the level known today. The published series on this site is the latest vintage.