With the passing of the Public Procurement Act into law last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa is confident that the State will now get the best value from public procurement.

The Act aims to create a single framework for the procurement of goods and services by all organs of State in a manner that facilitates preferential procurement and reduces the risk of corruption.

The Public Procurement Act will be administered by the Minister of Finance and applies to departments, constitutional institutions, municipalities, municipal entities, and public entities.

Ramaphosa said the State Capture Commission of Inquiry revealed the weaknesses in the country’s public procurement system, with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo describing it as “the centrepiece of State capture”.

“He consequently made a number of recommendations on how to prevent corruption in the procurement of goods and services by government. We are now fixing the problems the Commission identified and are making public procurement a more effective instrument for social and economic change,” Ramaphosa said.

He said the Act formed part of government’s commitment to prevent corruption and leave State capture in the past, while eliminating fragmentation in procurement laws, which was identified as a concern by Zondo.

“No government official may be directed, either verbally or in writing, to violate the required procurement processes. And no official can be victimised or suffer ‘occupational detriment’ for reporting any unlawful instruction. This is an important provision because many of the abuses that took place during the State capture era involved political office bearers, business people and others putting pressure on managers to flout procurement regulations,” Ramaphosa stated.

A debarment order will ensure that anybody found guilty of influencing tender bids will be prevented from taking part in procurement processes for a period, while the law becomes much stricter on government officials submitting bids to the State, by barring them from doing so.

Ramaphosa highlighted that the Act ensures that procurement is more transparent with the use of technology to disclose information.

“Public procurement is about getting the best value for the State. It is also an opportunity to promote transformation of the economy and society. The new law therefore provides for set-asides in the allocation of contracts to advance companies owned by people historically disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. These include black South Africans, women, youth, persons with disabilities and military veterans,” Ramaphosa noted.

The Act also aims to promote local procurement of goods and services and to create jobs.

“As we intensify our collective efforts to build an inclusive economy that creates jobs, the Public Procurement Act allows us to make best use of public funds to support transformation and local development. At the same time, by implementing measures to prevent the abuse of public procurement, the Act will help to ensure that public funds are put to the uses for which they are intended,” said Ramaphosa.