Treasury discloses tender process cheating by departments and SOEs
MPs call for stricter oversight as requests for exemptions from tendering procedures for contracts reach R15bn
The Department of Defence and major state-owned entities (SOEs), including Eskom, have asked for exemption from tendering procedures for contracts of more than R15bn. This disclosure, contained in a Treasury report on deviations and expansions prepared for Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts, led to calls by MPs for stricter oversight on the issue. Deviations and expansions are invoked when departments and entities ask to be exempted from following due tendering process, citing emergencies or a single-capable provider. In the third and fourth quarters of 2017-18, the Treasury’s report showed that the Department of Defence (R734m), Eskom (R553m), the State Information Technology Agency (R288m), Eskom (R11.3bn), the South African Revenue Service (R917m) and the South African Post Office (R313m) requested the most deviations and expansions for contracts. There are mechanisms in place for entities and departments to procure goods outside of the Public Finance Management A...
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