Adopt a Sub-Contractor program launched.

22-03-2017
Read : 123 times
Gerrit Davids
Source

In anticipation of the recently promulgated government tendering regulations, a new enterprise and supplier development program, “Adopt a Sub-Contractor” has been launched to build the supply capacity of those groups designated to benefit from public procurement, starting from 1 April 2017.

National Treasury promulgated the revised Preferential Procurement Regulations on 20 January 2017 and it creates a total bias “to empower certain categories (Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) also classified as EMEs or QSEs, Co-operatives, Township and Rural enterprises) through procurement”.

The new regulations have introduced a “prequalification criteria” favouring the award of tenders to these “selected categories” as well as restricting “well established companies” to certain tenders, “unless they meet further requirements of subcontracting to these groups”.

Treasury also introduced a requirement in tenders of above R30m in value to also leverage the “sub-contracting regulation”, where “feasible” and for big companies to “demonstrate the element of subcontracting to the categorised groups at a tendering stage”.

The regulations also stipulate that successful bidders will have to select the sub-contractors from a list, which the “organ of state must make available” and that it must be “approved by the National Treasury”. This instruction creates a challenge for bidders in that they would only want to use sub-contractors that have the desired capacity to successfully fulfil their part of the “sub-contracted portion of the tender”.

It is with this challenge in mind that, South Africa’s leading tendering consultancy, Taranisco Advisory CC, has launched the “Adopt a Sub-Contractor Program” wherein companies could firstly, score points on their BBBEE Scorecard when allocating resources to build the capacity of the identified “sub-contractors” and secondly to ensure that their own existing “sub-contractors” are continued to be used where they are successful in winning tenders.

Participating companies in the program will either choose their own “sub-contractors” to become part of the capacity building interventions or it could request TaranisCo Advisory to supply them with pre-screened “sub-contractors” that are verified on treasury’s Central Supplier Database (CSD). Selected “sub-contractors” will be assessed prior to receiving the required capacity building interventions to ensure that it has a high outcomes-based delivery.

According to Gerrit Davids, Lead Consultant at TaranisCo Advisory, “the program provides all companies tendering for government contracts to prepare their “sub-contractors” for the eventual delivery of the required goods or services. Also, companies must ensure that their existing “sub-contractors” are complying with the definition of the “selected categories of designated groups”. Their current “sub-contractors” may not qualify under these “selected categories” and it could prevent them from tendering for specific contracts”.

The new tendering regulations will take effect on 1 April 2017.