CARMEL RICKARD: Procurement perils
Government entities have so often neglected to follow proper tender processes that the courts have already made several key judgments about it
You would think that by now business, at whatever level, would know not to get involved in government work without a valid tender. But still it happens, and it often ends unhappily — and in court. The latest example, the case of MD Business Solutions vs Ikwezi local municipality, illustrates the pitfalls that await both sides when a shortcut is taken instead of the proper tender processes being followed. The story began when Ikwezi’s chief financial officer, Delphine Sauls, contacted MD Solutions and asked for proposals for providing the municipality with an information system service and a performance management system. In response the company made two presentations, and on the day of the second one, July 17 2014, two contracts were signed by MD Solutions and the acting municipal manager, Misiwe Mpahlwa, along with Sauls. Three years later the company has done everything it contracted to do, but it has not been paid, and the municipality claims it does not have to pay. As Ikwezi ex...
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