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Hope that Gauteng open tender pilot will pave way for transparent procurement

21st November 2014

By: Sashnee Moodley

Senior Deputy Editor Polity and Multimedia

  

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Public confidence in Gauteng tender processes is expected to improve with the newly launched Gauteng Open Tender Process, which will be the piloted by the provincial Department of Roads and Transport.

Speaking at the launch of the open tender process in Johannesburg last week, Gauteng Finance MEC Barbara Creecy revealed that the pilot would be implemented by the Department of Roads and Transport through its upgrade of Cedar road, in the City of Johannesburg, which will cost more than R50-million.

Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Ismail Vadi added that the department had completed its preliminary designs for the project and hoped to advertise the tender before year-end.

Creecy hopes that the process will not only improve transparency but also compliance with the supply chain management provisions of the Public Finance Management Act.

Further, she stated that the Gauteng Provincial Treasury aimed to apply the process to every tender in the province.

Rebuilding Confidence
“We want to re-establish public confidence in the tender process and we believe the best way to do this is to make the process more open to public scrutiny so that bidders are convinced that the award process is fair and transparent. “The public should have confidence that Treasury regulations protecting the procurement of goods and services are being adhered to by government officials,” she said.

Advisory firm KPMG associate director Dr Dinesh Kumar believes that the open tender process is a commendable step towards transparency.

“If there is public fear of unfair practice in government departments and regarding the lack of visibility in procurement processes, the Gauteng open tender pilot project will address these. “It will allow for new suppliers to be identified, create [inpartiality] in business and curb corruption; there could also be possible synergies between government departments,” he said.

University of the Witwatersrand School of Law professor Kasturi Moodaliyar stated that a lack of transparency in procurement processes was a major obstacle, as it allowed for corrupt activities to go unnoticed and unchecked.

Any tender that was closed, not transparent or otherwise opaque was susceptible to abuse, she added.

Moodaliyar acknowledged that the Gauteng Open Tender Process was a sound initiative, which was consistent with international best practices that would improve transparency.

However, she said that effective and independent monitoring to ensure enforcement remained a concern.

Creecy assured the public that independent probity teams – auditors appointed by the Treasury – would be appointed to ensure that the process was transparent, for the assurance of not only the public but also the Treasury.

Kumar added that, to realise the full potential of the process there needed to be governance and compliance in the delivery aspect.

“Corruption happens in the secondary phase of the process – service delivery. While quality and on-time service delivery is proof of an efficient process, we don’t want too many control points delaying the process and creating inefficiencies, further escalating the current challenges we have with service delivery,” he said.

Creecy and Vadi declared that the process would be as balanced and as efficient as possible.

Nonprofit organisation Corruption Watch executive director David Lewis stated that there was no central portal to view the tenders advertised by government departments and suggested that an online portal be made available to report on tender details and the tender winners.

“One relies on a losing bidder to reveal any irregularities in the tender process. We need a single source of tender information to refer to to ensure that the process is transparent and that corruption is not taking place during the process. “However, what MECs Creecy and Vadi are doing represents real progress. Providing transparency is the key preventive measure to combating corruption,” he said.

Further, Creecy revealed that the new tender process would open the Bid Adjudication Committee process to the public for observation and that the findings of each stage in the process would be published on the provincial Treasury website.

Enhancing the Process
The control and oversight measures to improve transparency in the tender process will start in the initial tender design stage.

The new measures ensure that a copy of the bid evaluation criteria is used by the probity team to audit the tender evaluation process of all contracts of more than R50-million.

The control and oversight of the tender specification committee process will ensure that the date, time and place of completed tenders are highlighted, as well as any special tender requirements or conditions and compliance documents that must be submitted.

The supply chain management process will result in the tender box being opened in public and will ensure that the name of each bidder and the amount tendered are read out. The list will be published on the Treasury website within 48 hours.

Further, each tender will be imprinted to prevent unauthorised switching of documents later in the process. The date of the tender evaluation process will also be posted online.

During the bid evaluation committee sitting, the probity audit team will verify all bids exceeding R50-million. The names of the bidders who have complied with the requirements will also be published on the Treasury website.

The committee will be open to public scrutiny and will ensure that an internal audit is performed to confirm that the lowest bid has been recommended. Should the lowest bid not be recommended, a motivation will be presented to recommend the second- lowest bid.

This process will also be verified by the probity audit team for bids exceeding R50-million.

In the tender award aspect of the process, the Treasury will publish the name of the successful bidder and the tender amount on its website. The site handover date and expected construction period will also be published online.

The control and oversight in monitoring and feedback will ensure that the Treasury is informed of any contractor that is not performing and of any litigation between the contractor and the Gauteng provincial government, as well as of any possible future contingent liability to the provincial government.
Vadi stated that discernible evidence for poor contractor performance would result in the particular contractor being blacklisted.

“It is important to get the design and initial planning right. If the specifications are vague, it is open to manipulation. We must eliminate the perception that all government departments are corrupt, so we have opened the tender process for public scrutiny,” he said.

Following its performance in the Cedar road project, the Gauteng Open Tender Process will be evaluated in April 2015. A revised version will then be sent to the Gauteng Executive Council for a decision on how to roll out the initiative across other provincial government departments.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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