Government-Linked Companies (GLC) and Government-Linked Investment Companies (GLIC) are expected to generate RM7 billion in business opportunities this year based on their key performance indicators (KPIs), Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

Najib, who is also the Finance Minister said the KPI's of the GLCs and GLICs were developed by the Putrajaya Committee on GLC High Performance or PCG.

"The PCG has determined the KPI principle and direction and 'game changing initiative' for the GLCs and GLICs," he said after chairing a meeting of the Bumiputera Economic Council in Putrajaya, Thursday.

"The KPI is inclusive, based on merit, transparent, market friendly and able to assist the Bumiputera community to be competitive," Najib said.

He said new initiatives for this year among others, include creating 50 new vendors via the Vendor Development Programme, nine consortiums or new anchor companies, and an increase of RM700 million through the Crave Out & Compete programme.

Other than this, the prime minister said a procurement allocation of RM2 billion, expenditure allocation of RM527 million and also entrepreneurship development allocation of RM100 million had also been created.

Najib highlighted that the Skim Latihan 1Malaysia (SL1M) and Graduate Employability Management Scheme (GEMS) will be expanded to train 2,123 graduates in 2014.

"It is estimated that 1,166 scholarships will be given to Bumiputeras in 2014, that is twice the 584 awarded last year," he said.

He said the GLC and GLIC KPIs also allocate additional funds of RM1.3 billion for the construction of commercial lots and housing.

"The GLCs also allocate RM100 million for Bumiputeras in the digital services sector as an effort towards increasing their participation, enriching talent and capacity," he said.

Apart from this, Najib said the GLCs and GLICs will adopt four additional schools under the PINTAR programme and have target 37 new trust schools under the Yayasan AMIR.

"The meeting today also agreed that the guidelines for the VDP (Vendor Development Programme) developed by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) will be used as the national guideline for it and as reference for implementation by all concerned," he said.

Najib said the VDP will be chaired by Miti minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

The programme will assist in the development of local Bumiputera entrepreneurs, particularly small and medium industries, to become manufacturers and suppliers of components/services who are competitive to the domestic and global markets.

Meanwhile, Najib said for the Bumiputera KPI in ministries, the meeting also decided to monitor 133 of it throughout the year.

"Of the overall KPI, 88 or 66 per cent is related to strengthening entrepreneurs and businesses," he explained.

He said this included ensuring that Bumiputeras were given opportunities to receive contracts for the construction of six new highways as well as a big part of the vendor procurement value of all companies under the Ministry of Finance Inc.

"The Council wants to see the ministries implement the development of industries compatible with their core functions," Najib added.