Municipalities charge contractors for tender documents that are free

Forum takes legal action but Ngqushwa says four tender awards still valid and legitimate

Three municipalities have been accused of charging contractors exorbitant amounts for bidding documents.

Ngqushwa municipality admits to uploading documents online for contractors to print for themselves, but still receives R500 from every contractor.

EC Black Contractors Forum (ECBCF) has accused Mbhashe, Ngqushwa and OR Tambo municipalities of overcharging contractors.

The forum has taken Ngqushwa to court and will have its lawyers write to Mbhashe this week.

The complaint against Ngqushwa, raises an “unlawful” functionality criterion that the forum blames for their contractors’ unfair disqualification.

OR Tambo spokesperson Zimkhita Macingwane told the Dispatch they had previously charged up to R1,000 for tender documents, but had stopped two years ago since they started advertising on the e-Tender portal.

In an answering affidavit to the notice of motion filed at the Bhisho high court on November 24, Ngqushwa acting municipal manager Zimkita Siwundla concedes they are not supposed to charge contractors R500 and that the documents are to be posted online.

However, she remains steadfast on the municipality’s decision to award four tenders to companies that do not fall under the forum.

The ECBCF charges that Ngqushwa rejected qualified contractors and used old legislation to rig the tenders for preferred bidders.

The forum asked the court to declare the municipality’s awards unlawful and “inconsistent with paragraph 4.3.2.1(a) of the Construction Industry Development Board’s standard for uniformity in engineering and construction [of] August 2019”.

ECBCF wants the tenders reviewed and set aside and the awarded companies interdicted from carrying out the work, but Siwundla said in court papers that “the horse has bolted” as the tenders had already been adjudicated.

The forum wants Ngqushwa to use the 2019 standard conditions of tender policy instead of the 2009 conditions.

The matter will be heard on

Tuesday. Siwundla excused the tender document fees as a “bureaucratic bungle” and said there was no chicanery involved.

The forum countered that charging high amounts for documents had become the norm for several municipalities.

Siwundla invited all contractors to reclaim their money, but the forum told the Dispatch they wanted it widely publicised so that every business affected could be refunded.

“This thing of charging high amounts is a crisis across the board. We will fight it until we run out of money,” ECBCF provincial secretary Sikhumbule Mqomboti said.

“The contention in this case is that Ngqushwa sold tender documents, but did not release them. We had to download it ourselves. It’s like paying for a car and the dealership does not deliver it.”

He said the municipalities had not been taken to task about these costs before.

Ngqushwa spokesperson Ncumisa Cakwe declined to comment, saying the matter was “sub judice”.

Mqomboti said regulations stipulated that contractors should pay only for printing of tender documents.

Contractors spoken to claimed they regularly paid Mbhashe R650 for tender documents, though printing would have cost R150 at most.

“Documents can never cost R650 to print. The law is clear; you cannot charge more than your actual costs of printing.

“Conditions of tender encourage all departments [and municipalities and SOEs] to upload them on websites, so contractors can download them and print the documents themselves, so that the departments do not incur the costs of printing. If a contractor has a printing machine or a contract with Xerox, they can print documents for R40,” Mqomboti said.

Mbhashe senior manager of operations Thembela Bacela did not respond to queries.

This thing of charging high amounts is a crisis across the board. We will fight it until we run out of money