This article was supplied by Gerrit Davids, a Lead Consultant at TaranisCo Advisory.
The public has until 31 May 2020 to submit their input and comments on the Draft Procurement Bill, which has recently been published. (You can downloaded a copy of it here: https://tinyurl.com/sxkcs4z)
The Bill seeks to resolve various issues, such as:
- Regulating the general procurement environment for organs of state;
- Creating a framework to support preferential procurement;
- Better managing the procurement process;
- Repealing existing pieces of legislation which are no longer beneficial.
Pre-Qualifying Criteria
Once the Bill is accepted, it will instruct the Minister of Finance to establish a set of regulations authorising government bodies to give preference to certain suppliers based on “Pre-Qualifying Criteria”, which will benefit “persons, or categories of persons, previously disadvantaged by unfair discrimination, in procurement”.
This framework would use the new B-BBEE enabling legislation as its foundation (read more about this HERE).
The Draft Procurement Bill also takes into account various considerations that will influence who is best suited to win government contracts, such as: the promotion of certain categories of people in a particular sector; goods made in SA; preferences for local technology; services rendered by SA citizens; contracts which will create more jobs; contracts that will promote industrial development; enterprises based in townships and underdeveloped areas; and the promotion of businesses located in a particular province or municipality.
The Bill will also make it compulsory to include SMMEs in high value procurement, with a specific focus on women, youth and people with disabilities.
Qualifying Criteria
The Bill also seeks to establish a minimum “Qualifying Criteria” for all bidders. This will take into account factors such as experience, profiles of personnel and managerial capacity, past records of similar contracts, professional licensing, if the financial and material resources to execute the contract are available, and any other criteria that is deemed necessary for the bidder to successfully complete the job in question.
Due diligence and a thorough verification process have also been outlined in the Bill, and are compulsory before any contract can be awarded to a bidder.
Ultimately, large suppliers who want to do more business with the South African government will need to proactively forge authentic and sustainable partnerships with the people identified in the Bill as preferred partners.
