The government should use its draft Public Procurement Bill to transform the economy and address issues of creating jobs and growing the base of local producers.
This is the sentiment of the Black Business Council (BBC) and one of the committees that deal with budget processes in parliament.
Treasury has released the bill, which seeks to consolidate legislation used for public procurement.
The bill is also aimed at increasing transparency, improving economic transformation and also tackling corruption.
It will also introduce the establishment of a procurement regulator. The regulator will ensure that all institutions of government comply with the legislation. The regulator will also guide and support officials involved in procurement, ensure the integrity of tender processes, develop measures to achieve transparency and intervene in instances when legislation is breached.
BBC CEO Kganki Matabane said the council was in support of the introduction of the regulator as businesses in the current legislation could only go to court when there were disputes.
He said the BBC was in support of the aspects of the bill that protect public officials from politicians by making provision for public procurement officers who will be in charge of procurement.
“This is a good initiative if government wants to address the issue of corruption in procurement. The officers are independent and cannot be intimidated by politicians,” Matabane said.
He said the government should do even more to address issues of procurement disputes.
“We are proposing the establishment of a public procurement court that will make sure that there is a quick turnaround in dispute. If you are not happy with the regulator you must be able to go to a special court,” Matabane said.
However, he criticised the bill for failing to be open about its intention to empower blacks.
“We thought the bill is aimed to empower black people. But if you read the bill, they don’t mention black people. People are scared to mention black. If you are trying to empower black people, who are the majority in the country, you should not be ashamed of mentioning the word black,” he said.
The BBC also wants the government to use the bill to automate procurement processes.
“The bill does not say anything about digitising public procurement. For example, the department of mineral resources and energy has digitised prospecting licences. Wherever you are, you can apply for a prospecting a licence. That way you get rid of the human part. For example, if a tender closes at 12, you cannot submit your documents at a minute after 12. The system will automatically generate the report that you are late,” Matabane said.
The BBC is also questioning the fact that the bill does not give targets on how much procurement should be given to black businesses, companies owned by women, youth and people with disabilities.
The BBC also wants the state to allow for unsolicited bids.
Matabane said if a business invented a solution to eliminate queues at home affairs, the government should not take that solution and use it to issue a tender because the company that developed the solution may end up not winning the tender.
The bill has also attracted the attention of the standing committee on appropriations in parliament. Sifiso Buthelezi, the committee’s chairperson, said they had questions on whether the bill addressed issues of local production and economic inclusion.
He said a lot of businesses won contracts to supply personal protective equipment, only to import the goods from China.
He said the committee also wanted the government to review its procurement principle of 80/20 and 90/10. In this rule the government places more weight on the price than on black economic empowerment depending on the value of the tender.
“I may price my goods at R12 and the other company charges R10. But you have to look at the other aspects. I am producing my goods locally. That means I am creating jobs. I am giving you tax and economic growth here. Who is more expensive between the man who priced at R10 and me at R12? With your R10, the people that were supposed to be employed are queueing for social grants,” Buthelezi said.
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