National Treasury is still awaiting the judgment from the Constitutional Court, as to whether the 2017 Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Regulations (PPPFA), will be declared invalid or not, and up until such time, all organs of state and tenderers must continue to comply with it.

Alongside the many new laws impacting the tender process, National Treasury is proposing a raft of new Regulations, which will determine, how companies should manage their own internal legal compliances when tendering for government contracts.

One of the key proposals issued last year; is the issue of whether the government will allow successful bidders, to cede their contracts to a third party, like a recognized financial institution, wherein the supplier will still execute the contract, but payment will be in favour of such a third party.

Treasury has also recently issued draft proposals on changing the “Conflict of Interest or SBD4/MBD4 Forms”, which states that, “Where a person/s are listed in the Register for Tender Defaulters and/or the List of Restricted Suppliers, that person will automatically be disqualified from the bid process”.

Also, in line with the recommendations of the Zondo Commission’s Report, National Treasury’s new proposal also contains a firm demand that organs of state, improve the reporting process of allegations of abuse in the tendering system.

The new Procurement Bill’s imminent passing in Parliament has now also been expedited by the recommendations of the Zondo Commission’s Report, which covers a wide range of issues and challenges faced by both organs of state and bidders, alike.

According to Gerrit Davids, Lead Advisor at TaranisCo Advisory, tendering agency, “With the current tightening of the tendering Regulations, it has become imperative for businesses, tendering for government contracts, to compile their own internal tendering manuals to ensure total legal compliance both on the part of the entity, as well as the individuals, responsible for bid compilation.”

Davids says, “Such a tendering manual must cover all the stipulated compliances required to ensure that the business does not get into unnecessary and long-drawn legal disputes with the state and potentially get blacklisted, for up to ten years.”

“Further, bidders must also ensure that they stay updated with the ever-changing Regulations to avoid tender-disqualification and also not to waste their resources, to submit bids which are not fully compliant with the legal requirements, per se.”

Contact: Gerrit Davids. Lead Advisor | TaranisCo Advisory CC  Mobile. +27 (0) 82 496 1657 E-mail:  gerrit@taranisco.co.za or kindly visit our website: www.taranis.co.za for more details.