Bureau target municipal procurement teams

The South African Bureau of Standards’ (SABS’) technical committee has added new standards that municipality procurement teams need to adhere to when awarding tenders.

SABS has received many complaints about companies that receive tenders but fail to execute the project according to national standards, SABS lead administrator Jodi Scholtz tells Engineering News.

Many fatalities have been reported during infrastructure projects because municipality procurement teams did not thoroughly check that the company that was awarded the tender understood what was expected of it.

“The number of fatalities that we hear about is unfortunate, but it is because whoever put out the tender didn’t understand the requirements for a national standard. This has prompted us to target the procurement officers at municipalities to talk about the importance of national standards and adhering to those standards when awarding a tender.”

Scholtz adds that companies working on infrastructure and construction projects must be properly vetted in the procurement stages to avoid shoddy workmanship in roads and buildings.

She attributes the increasing deterioration of local and provincial infrastructure –roads, bridges, dams and buildings – in the past year to failed vetting processes, as municipalities are awarding tenders to companies that fail quality tests.

Consequently, there has been an increase in potholes and fatalities on the roads, owing to faulty road and bridge infrastructure.

Further, road assistance provider the Automobile Association announced in May that the crumbling local and provincial infrastructure is contributing to South Africa’s poor road safety levels and must be addressed urgently, “if meaningful strides to improve the country’s horrendous road safety record are to be made”.

Scholtz adds that, to mitigate the problem, SABS launched 404 standards that municipalities will have to adhere to.

The SABS and its technical committee will communicate with municipalities and has been working with nongovernmental organisations to raise awareness and educate municipal management about tender corruption.

She adds that plans to host the first technical committee meeting are under way and will be confirmed as soon as commitment from regulators and other key stakeholders has been confirmed.

The SABS stresses that it will develop national standards for voluntary application.