All government tenders at risk of grinding to a halt

I have written to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Enoch Godongwana, to request that a note [attached] issued by the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO) on 25 February 2022, be withdrawn immediately. 

The effect of the note, which was in response to a Constitutional Court judgement on the invalidity of the 2017 Preferential Procurement Policy Framework (PPPF) Regulations, is to bring to a halt the entire supply chain, making it impossible for government to buy goods and services and to deliver on infrastructure projects.

The note states that:

• ‘Tenders advertised before 16 February 2022 be finalised in terms of the Procurement Regulations;
• Tenders advertised on or after 16 February 2022 be held in abeyance; and
• No new tenders be advertised.’

In the Western Cape alone, the direct impact of this would be to immediately halt 86 tenders to the value of R1.85 billion planned for March 2022, which has been planned for immediate implementation in the 2022/23 financial year.

In my urgent letter to the finance minister, I further state that:

• The various localisation designations and related National Treasury Circulars must be recalled with immediate effect; and
• Urgent steps need to be taken to draft new regulations, for those areas in which the finance minister has the authority to issue regulations, and for those regulations to be issued without delay.

We cannot allow the entire supply chain system, of all organs of state, across the country to seize up, and so it is now imperative that the note be withdrawn urgently so that certainty be re-established for procurement processes.