His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, will honour the winners of the Dubai Government Excellence Programme (DGEP) Awards tomorrow (Monday).

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, will deliver the keynote address, highlighting the findings of the DGEP programme during its 2006/2007 cycle.

Senior government officials, heads of departments, public and private sector representatives and other dignitaries will be present at the awards ceremony to be held at the Madinat Jumeirah. The awards are given in various categories in recognition of excellence demonstrated by government departments and employees.

A total of 132 nominations from 18 government departments were received by the panel for 11 award categories. While the Distinguished Team' category received 10 nominees, the Management Initiative category received 11 and the Technical Project category received seven.

The Distinguished Government Employee category received the highest number of nominations, 18. Other categories which received nominations are: Administrative Employee - 16; Financial Employee - nine; Technical/Engineering Employee - ten; Employee in Specialised Jobs - ten; Field Employee - 13; Female Employee - 14 and New Employees 14.

Since its inception in 1998, the awards programme has been successful in promoting workplace excellence and customer-focused performance among government employees. Higher efficiency and productivity, quality service and lower operational costs in the government sector are some of the positive outcomes of the programme over the past nine years.

This year the awards programme will have an added significance as it mirrors the objectives of the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015. The plan also seeks to enhance Dubai's capabilities and promote excellence, creativity, concepts of quality, best management and professional practices.

Three categories - Distinguished Government Department, Distinguished E-Government Department and Distinguished Government Division - will not be part of this year's event because they are awarded every two years.