The State Owned Enterprises Procurement Forum (SOEPF) and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) will jointly host the All About Public Procurement and the Pan Africa Procurement Awards concurrently. The joint ceremony will be held today at Emperors Palace, Theatre of Marcellus, at 19h00.
The SOEPF awards aim to reward public sector procurement professionals while the CIPS awards are in their third year of running and are targeting both the public and private sectors. Both parties aim to recognise excellent practices across the procurement profession and to reward and recognise procurement professionals and organisations doing excellent work.
According to the Director-General of the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti), Mr Lionel October, these awards will be instrumental in unearthing skilled procurement professionals who will be responsible for acquiring services and products when driving government’s infrastructure developmental agenda.
“Public procurement is one of the key industrial levers in the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) and State Owned Entities remain the main procurement catalysts. That makes SOEPF a strategic partner that will assist the dti to maximise support for local procurement and transformation,” he said.
October added that SOEPF is key in the implementation of the dti policies such as Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), Industrial Policy Action Plan, Local Procurement Accord, Competitive Supplier Development Plan and the New Growth Path.
SOEPF Chairperson, Mr Fantas Mobu says the organisation aims to share best practices in supply chain management by spearheading good governance and thought leadership in policy formulation.
“We have completed a rigorous process identifying worthy nominees who will vie for the awards on the night and are looking forward to boosting public sector procurement through these individuals who will have triumphed on the day,” he concluded.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 079 492 1774
Tel: 012 394 1650
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Follow us on Twitter: @the_dti
