The National Treasury has extended the deadline for public comment on the Draft Public Procurement Bill by a month to June 30, as a result of the 21-day lockdown implemented in South Africa.
One of the main objectives of the Bill is to do away with the current fragmentation of public procurement regulations.
The draft Bill proposes a single regulatory framework for procurement applicable to national, provincial and local government; as well as State-owned entities.
The Bill proposes the repeal of the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act of 2000, thereby doing away with its preferential procurement point system.
In its place, the Bill will create a more flexible preferential procurement regime and enable the Finance Minister, after consulting other responsible Ministers, to prescribe a framework for preferential procurement.