Johannesburg - Gauteng Finance MEC Barbara Creecy and Roads and Transport MEC Ismail Vadi have announced the first open tender process during which communities will be roped in to act as watchdogs.
The two said this was in a bid to act against the perception that huge Gauteng government tenders were given to people with good political and family connections.
Creecy and Vadi announced that they would be setting up a probity team comprising independent auditors whose duty would be to audit the tender-evaluation process of all contracts of R50 million and more.
The seven-stage process would include opening tender boxes in public and publishing the bidders’ names via various communication channels.
Creecy and Vadi also promised to act against sloppy contractors who take more than five years to complete a project. Officials responsible for supply-chain management would visit sites every three months after a successful bidder was awarded the contract.
“Treasury will in future also take greater interest in the implementation of contracts by ensuring that there is closer monitoring and evaluation of performance by contractors.
“Departments will have to inform the provincial treasury of any contractor who is not performing in line with the expectations, and the treasury will in turn warn other departments in the province about the poor performance of this contractor,” Creecy said.
This announcement came just after the provincial government, particularly the Health Department, has been under constant attacks from opposition and other interested parties for delays in the completion of the construction of the Jabulani-Zola and New Natalspruit hospitals.
At the announcement on Monday of the pilot project, which will be undertaken by the Roads and Transport Department, the MECs acknowledged that there was a widespread perception that corruption and the manipulation of tenders was rife.
“To restore public confidence in the provincial government’s tender process, the provincial treasury and the Department of Roads and Transport are piloting new steps to improve transparency of the process and compliance with supply-chain management.
The Star