Government takes tenders online

·9 Apr 2015

The Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO) has launched an e-Tender Publication Portal, a single platform where tenders will be published.

The portal aims to eliminate the duplication and fragmentation of notices for government tenders, simplifying, standardising and automating the procurement process.

National and provincial departments will publish their tenders in accordance with the demand plans for acquisition of goods, services and infrastructure.

“The tenders for the 2015/16 period should start going through towards the end of April 2015 for procurement plans that have been approved,” National Treasury said.

Municipalities will start to publish their tenders on the portal on 1 July 2015 to coincide with the start of the financial year for municipalities.

The portal will carry tender notices, accompanied by official tender documents and relevant terms of reference or other description of functionality that may be applicable.

The portal will be managed by the OCPO which sets the policy on content, functionality and coordinates the administration with users at national, provincial and local government level.

According to National Treasury, the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) will be responsible for technical support, maintenance and hosting of the portal.

The e-Tender portal is a first step towards implementing government’s eProcurement system as part of the Integrated Financial Management System and will directly contribute to reducing duplication, fragmentation and inefficiency in government tender publications.

“The benefits of the portal include cost reduction and effort associated with traditional tender publications and an improvement in transparency and accountability with regards to the award of government tenders,” Treasury said.

The central supplier database (CSD) will be a consolidated list of all supplier information for national, provincial and local government.