Launching of the Central Supplier Database and e-Tender Publication Portal
Following an announcement by the Minister of Finance, the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO) on 1 April 2015 launched the e-Tender Publication portal and the central supplier database (CSD).
The e-Tender Publication portal will be a single platform for the publication of tenders to eliminate duplication and fragmentation of notices for government tenders. It can be accessed at www.etenders.gov.za.
The central supplier database (CSD) will be a consolidated list of all supplier information for national, provincial and local government.
e-Tender Publication Portal
The e-Tender Publication portal is an initiative of the OCPO that is aimed at 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 financial should start going through towards the end of April 2015 for procurement plans that have been approved.
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 and the publication of Award notices and minimum information prescribed by the OCPO.
The e-Tender 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. 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 e-Procurement 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.
Central Supplier Database
A uniform Supply Chain Management system for government is essential to optimise the efficiency of service delivery. But currently, there is no single consolidated comprehensive supplier database and consequently, information related to the compliance requirements is duplicated during procurement processes, the processing of payments and audit procedures to name but a few.
The CSD will therefore, reduce duplication of effort and cost for both business and government while enabling electronic procurement processes. The CSD will have interfaces to South African Revenue Service (SARS) to enable tax clearance status verification of suppliers throughout the Procure-to-Pay process and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) for vetting of business registration and business ownership.
Suppliers who are currently registered on a supplier database of any organ of state will be automatically transferred to the supplier database by 31 March 2016. New suppliers will have the option to make use of the self-registration portal of the CSD from 1 September 2015.
The benefit for the private sector will be a reduction of red tape and administrative effort when doing business with government. Compliance requirements will be easy to meet for suppliers that are in good standing on the various compliance requirements.
Conclusion
Modernising Supply Chain Management through technological innovation will enable government to reduce the administrative burden for both government and business and improve the monitoring of procurement patterns, contracts and prices.
Enquiries:
Communications Unit
Email: media@treasury.gov.za
Tel: (012) 315 5944
