SANRAL dealing with ‘significant backlog’ in procurement
10TH MARCH 2022
BY: IRMA VENTER
CREAMER MEDIA SENIOR DEPUTY EDITOR
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The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) says it is dealing with a “significant backlog in procurement”.
There are a number of reasons for this, including a process between the agency and National Treasury to seek clarification on the 30% subcontracting clause, which took 18 months to complete, as well as the interpretation of the term ‘local’, which led to the stalling of 64 Sanral projects, caused by community disruptions, says the agency.
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Another reason is the rollout of supply chain management (SCM) reform to comply with Treasury regulations on procurement, issued under the Public Finance Management Act, as well as Covid-19 lockdown which required changes to tender procedures.
“All the above conspired to create a significant backlog, which resulted in 258 projects (to the value of R31.7-billion), planned to be awarded in 2020/21, being rolled over to the current annual procurement plan of 2021/22,” states the agency.
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“The 2021/22 plan include a further 312 projects (R30-billion) to commence with the procurement process in this financial year.
“To provide perspective on the impact the SCM reform has on the administrative processes that must be concluded, it is noteworthy that in 2020/21, 212 contracts were awarded,” explains Sanral.
“This represents 4 180 tender submissions, which had to be checked for compliance in terms of eligibility criteria and regulations, before they could be evaluated for functionality, price and preference.
“One must bear in mind that any administrative error will result in the award being declared irregular.”
Sanral says it can confirm that the delay is not owing to a lack of funding, as projects will not be planned until funding is secured.
Between April 1, 2021, and February 28, 2022, the agency awarded 267 contracts, which represented R33-billion of work.
“Some 69 contracts have been evaluated, and are in various stages of adjudication/award.
“A further 148 projects are currently under evaluation, of which 35 closed more than six months ago.
“Of the total of 570 listed in the annual procurement plan for 2021/22, 256 advertisements have closed and 16 are currently advertised.
“It must also be indicated that the majority of projects are not delayed between adjudication and award, but rather between closing of advertisement and completing of the evaluations.”
For 2021/22, 267 awards have already been made, says Sanral.