Statement by the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga on the delivery of Learning and Teaching Support Material for Limpopo 2013

Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to our briefing.  This is an important day for us as today marks the start of the delivery of Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM) in Limpopo. We are here to formally launch the province wide distribution of CAPS aligned textbooks to the 3 950 Limpopo High and Primary Schools. The anticipated textbook delivery end-date is set at 30 November 2012.

The 2013 procurement of the CAPS-aligned textbooks for Grades four, five and six and 11 will be accompanied by the procurement of stationery packs for all Grades; a process that could not have begun in earnest without the assistance and involvement of the National Treasury.  The National Treasury has committed R380 million for the 2013 procurement and delivery process; and further committed additional funding for the 2013 procurement process of stationery packs. 

The finalisation of the procurement process of the delivery agent (UTI) was completed on 16 October 2012, with the signing of the service level agreement between the Limpopo Department of Education (LDoE) and UTI.  The existing infrastructure of the central warehouse, staff, and equipment were retained and incorporated into the UTI delivery business processes.  An additional warehouse in close proximity of the central warehouse was procured for the bulk storage of stock.  The central warehouse is utilised for fine picking and dispatch.

Publishers commenced with the delivery of stock to the central warehouse from 15 October 2012 onwards.  The date was in keeping with the appointment of UTI to ensure proper receipting of stock and planning for delivery.  To date almost about 95% of the ordered stock has been received from the Publishers.

A total of 100 contracted staff to LDoE has been retained for the delivery process.  All staff have undergone intensive training to ensure quality, correct picking, and intensity to meet delivery timeframes.

The complete delivery of textbooks for each school will be in accordance with the exact learner numbers (packs of 5 and/or 10 textbooks) will be supplied per Grade per subject and language provided by the province.  The quantities specified for each school will be delivered door-to-door as per the delivery plan, and will be managed and coordinated so that delivery timelines for all schools coincide with the target dates.

Timeframes

a. Within seven days of receipt of the textbooks from the Publishers quantities were checked and titles supplied to ensure that the textbooks ordered are accounted for and are in good condition.  Errors or discrepancies were immediately conveyed to the Publishers.

b. Schools will be contacted prior to delivery.  Deliveries to schools will take place on weekdays between 08h00 and 16h00; and not on public holidays and weekends.

c. Delivery to schools commenced with the delivery of Grades Readers on 3 November 2012, and will be accelerated to a rate of 200 schools per day.  All deliveries are expected to be completed by 30 November 2012.

d. Deliveries to schools, final reconciliation of left-over stock, and further distribution to Districts and Circuits for possible school top-ups, will be completed by 7 December 2012.

e. The final administration of the entire project must be completed by 13 December 2012.

We have adopted a high tech system that allows us to track all facets of the delivery process; allowing us to have real time information on progress. The freight management report (FMR) that UTI will be supplying us can and will be used to verify the delivery details of each school, whilst we will also receive a disc with images that can be used to retrieve individual images of delivery signatures which will be verified. The department will be loading information on this progress on our website on a weekly basis so as to ensure that we are transparent.

We are therefore confident that we have done all that's necessary to ensure that all the schools have the correct books at the right time. We will monitor the delivery implementation on a daily basis to make sure that all processes are adhered to.

Quotations submitted by the Publishers were scrutinised by the LTSM Task Team, and at least three favourably reduced quotations per textbook per subject per language per Grade were shortlisted.  This allowed for considerable cost savings to be gained amounting to R146 734 288.70 (38.32%).

I am confident that come the first day of school, all the learners and educators will have learning and teaching materials.

Thank you

Addendum

The 2013 procurement and delivery of CAPS-aligned textbooks

a. National Catalogues for Grades four and six and 11 were sent to the Publishers with a request to further reduce their prices to levels lower than the cheapest price per textbook per subject per language per Grade.  This was the same approach that was initiated during the 2012 textbook procurement process.

b. Quotations submitted by the Publishers were scrutinised by the LTSM Task Team, and at least three favourably reduced quotations per textbook per subject per language per Grade were shortlisted.  With considerable cost savings gained, as indicated in the Table below, orders were placed with all identified publishers on 7 September 2012.

3. On 22 October 2012, further orders were placed for titles on the Addendum Catalogue, which included Grade 11 English Accounting as well as Grade 4-6 Graded Readers for Xitsonga, Tshivenda and Isindebele and Afrikaans FA (see Table below).

4. Therefore the total reduced cost to procure CAPS-aligned textbooks for Grades 4-6 and 11, included those procured through supplementary orders was R236 155 121.05; instead of the R382 889 409.75 that could have been paid through the lowest original prices as contained in the National and Supplementary Catalogues – a total savings of R146 734 288.70 (38.32%).

Procurement and delivery of stationery packs

1. The LTSM Task Team comprising Department of Basic of Education  and LDoE officials determined stationery specifications for each Grade through a process of reviewing stationery specifications from five provincial education departments (Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and Western Cape).  With contracts for the procurement and direct delivery of stationery to schools lapsing on 30 September 2012, new terms of reference were prepared.

2. The ten (10) stationery manufacturers known to the Department of Basic Education and provincial education departments were identified and invited to briefing meetings with the Administrator and senior DBE officials on 11 and 12 October 2012.  Manufacturers were briefed about the province’s stationery needs, and invited to make submissions on availability of stock and reduced prices per item (inclusive of VAT) by not later than Tuesday, 16 October 2012.  Manufacturers indicated that there was none of them and anyone else in the country that has the capacity to supply the entire province with the required stationery, especially at such tight timeframes.

3. Eight  manufacturers submitted their reduced quotations.  SBD forms were sent to 8 manufacturers who were requested to complete the forms and after completion, send the forms back to the LDoE with the prerequisite documentation (such as original Tax Certificates, etc.).  One (1) manufacturer failed to do so by the determined return date.

4. Visits were organised to sites of manufacturers on 17 and 18 October 2012 to determine capacity and availability of stock.  Two of the remaining seven manufacturers failed to meet the set standards – thus leaving five manufacturers in the process.

5. The submissions from manufacturers were evaluated by the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) comprising senior official from the DBE and LDoE.  All members of the BEC were appointed by the Administrator, with the DBE component appointed with the concurrence of the Director-General of Basic Education.

6. On Friday, 19 October 2012, the BEC briefed the Administrator about its recommendations, which the Administrator referred to the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC) for consideration.  Finally the Administrator decided to assign four  of the five manufacturers to provide the five education Districts with the required stationery; and the five manufacturer was assigned to provide stationery for all commercial subjects.

7. The following Table provides a comparison of the price variance between the amount used to procure and deliver stationery for the 2012 school calendar year; the projected amount using the 2012 amount as a zero-based reference and factoring in the CPI of 6.2%; and the costs determined to the process outlined above:

h, From the above Table it can be seen that the LDoE procured stationery for all Limpopo public schools for the 2012 school calendar year at a total cost of R259 451 202.35.  The projected costs for the 2013 school calendar year, taking into account the 6.2% CPIX, was R275 018 274.47.  Both these amounts, were found to be exorbitant by both the National and the Limpopo Provincial Treasuries, hence the National Treasury directed the process as outlined paragraph 3.8 above.

i. It can also be seen from the Table above that the total projected cost for procuring and delivering stationery for the 2013 school calendar year, amounts to R129.12 million; which is 49.8% of the R259.45 million spent to procure and deliver stationery for the 2012 school calendar year; and 46.9% of the R275.02 million estimated for the 2013 stationery procurement and delivery process.  The amount as indicated will therefore save the department 50.2% of the R259.45 million spent for on the 2012 stationery procurement and delivery process; and 53.1% of the R275.02 million projected for the 2013 stationery procurement and delivery process.