WE AREN’T NINCOMPOOPS …Sanral asks DBSA to step in on cancelled tenders

JOHANNESBURG - The board of the SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) has appointed the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to assist it in evaluating the five tenders that it cancelled in May.

The five tenders were priority presidential projects and had a value of R17.4 billion. Infrastructure development is central to government’s economic recovery plans.

Board chairperson Themba Mhambi said at a briefing that the agency had come under immense pressure from “government at different levels,” which had inquired whether Sanral could address the delay caused by the cancellation.

The board had also been portrayed as “nincompoops” by the media and people who should be “burned at the stake,” Mhambi said.

To address the concerns of the delay, the board had set itself the task of advertising, evaluating, and awarding the tenders within four months. The first step was the appointment of the DBSA as an independent advisor.

In a statement, Sanral said that the DBSA would “act as the infrastructure procurement and delivery management support agency on five strategic projects.”

The Sanral board cancelled the five tenders after it became aware that management had failed to follow board policy on procurement. Under this policy, the consulting engineer who designs the tender specifications of a project may not be the same consulting engineer who assists the tender committee in technically evaluating the bids.

It is internationally standard practice that the designing engineer also assists the owner of a project in assessing whether the bids meet technical requirements. Mhambi has said that the board believes that this introduces a conflict of interest and opens the door to corruption.