The Western Cape Government (WCG) uses a strategic sourcing approach to procurement and has, over time, sought to progressively strengthen its supply chain management (SCM) systems and practices in line with the requirements of section 217 of the Constitution and applicable legislation.

The Province further adopts a centre-led and enabled approach that focuses on uniformity and standard governance processes with our accounting officers in the Province managing their Procurement systems and frameworks as well as accountability.

The following mechanism were put in place by the Provincial Treasury (PT):

• A survey to gather information from suppliers registered on the National Treasury’s (NT) Central Supplier Database (CSD) and the Western Cape Supplier Evidence Bank (WCSEB) to request information on the availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) stock levels and delivery lead times. A similar process was also followed for cloth masks.
• Cloth mask manufacturers/suppliers on the provincial database were contacted to register with the Department of Small Business Development (DoSBD) as per the NT requirements; and
• Issuance of PT Circulars to guide provincial departments and entities in respect of managing their procurement requirements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PT further supports provincial departments and entities in respect of the following:

• SCM via its longstanding helpdesk mechanism to provide procurement support, assistance and guidance. The PT has also established a WhatsApp group of provincial SCM officials to encourage just-in-time advice and support on key COVID-19 related technical issues;
• Ongoing support and assistance to suppliers in respect of registration on the WCSEB, including compliance documentary support and the management of supplier profiles;
• Central Management of the e-Procurement system and Western Cape Supplier Evidence Bank(WCSEB);
• Instructing on and enabling the governance requirements for emergency procurement;
• Regular updating of both the PPE and cloth mask databases of suppliers in terms of new entrants, compliance to NT requirements, pricing and supply and demand volumes;
• Enabling the security framework contract database of suppliers to facilitate meeting COVID-19 requirements of the Department of Health and other Departments; and
• Establishment of a Central Procurement Advisory Committee to provide guidance on emergency procurement.

In terms of Section 38 and 49 of the Public Finance Management Act (Act 1 of 1999) (as amended) provincial departments and provincial public entities must have in place and maintain its own procurement and provisioning system. Hence each of these procuring entities will procure and be responsible for its their own PPE purchasing requirements which is performed and managed through their own supply chains.  The Provincial Treasury has oversight over such purchasing as well as supports these entities in terms of training and development.  

The first Instruction Note issued by NT Instruction Note 3 of 2020/21 on 15 April 2020 was in respect of a central emergency procurement strategy for PPE; however, this was subsequently retracted and replaced by NT Instruction Note 5 of 2020/21 on 28 April 2020. This was revised further on 20 May 2020 and on 03 July 2020.

The following procurement methods are relevant to the Western Cape Government’s response to COVID-19:

• Honouring departmental existing contracts: that departments already had in place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic; or if so required, extensions and expansions of existing contract;
• Competitive bidding as and when reasonable and practical in lockdown conditions;
• Procurement from national or provincial transversal contracts. These contracts are facilitated by the relevant treasuries to consolidate purchasing power across procuring entities;
• Contracts procured by other organs of state: in some instances, departments utilised contracts established by other organs of state that made provision for provincial participation;
• Procurement by way of limited bidding: in some instances, departments utilised limited bidding provisions whereby bidding is reserved for a single source/specific group/category of possible supplier/s; service provider/s or contractor/s;
• Emergency:  in a limited number of instances, departments utilised emergency procurement policies as aligned to current legislation and regulations. Departments utilised the Western Cape Government eProcurement system when option exercising this option. This system facilitates the sourcing of quotations; manual quotation processes; or used limited bidding or any other method defined in its policy.

Departmental purchasing is done in terms of demand forecasting models for departmental procurement requirements in response to COVID-19. These are linked to predictive epidemiological models used in the Health sector for the course of the pandemic in the Province as well as patterns of PPE consumption rates that reduces inventory. Demand is thus dynamic and actively managed in process.

The procurement of Proudly South African products is not a prescribed requirement by the National Treasury and has not been defined as a requirement in either the national Treasury regulations, instructions or circulars. 

Prior to the lock down, the Provincial Treasury anticipated the need for PPE items and the potential for the hiking of prices due to scarcity in respect of supply and demand in the market for these essential items.  Whilst the PT cannot control how suppliers hike their prices, the PT guides departments on how to have a mechanism in place to focus on value for money and / economically viable purchasing.

The prices are influenced by timing and when the procurement process happens as well as the number of suppliers who can respond in the market based on supply and demand needs. Suppliers are also aligning their prices to the NT benchmark prices, however NT’s benchmark prices have been changed four times to which the market has not re-adjusted its prices. Departments find themselves having to approach the market many times to secure the requisite stock of PPE items needed which also results in varied pricing.

In some cases, departments utilised its current contracts and hence they are paying the prices in respect of their existing contracts whilst other departments are subject to the current fluctuation in market prices.

Whilst departments try in process to negotiate prices down, this does not always result in price reduction given that the need for the product and the need to suppress the spread of the product remains a paramount consideration.

The Provincial Treasury is currently monitoring the procurement of PPE items by departments and have also provided a mechanism for departments to ensure that they manage pricing at an appropriate level by including the following in the provincial database:

• Standardised, uniform specifications approved by the Department of Health and NDOH;
• Pricing for each item, lead times for delivery and quantities that suppliers could deliver; and
• Comparative pricing that was issued by the National Treasury as benchmark prices for medical PPE items.

The Provincial Treasury has further issued Treasury Circular 23 of 2020, issuing the Regulations on Competition Tribunal Rules for COVID-19 excessive pricing compliant referrals, to which the Department of Health specifically as advised are referring cases of excessive pricing to the Competition Commission in terms of the Competition Commission regulations issued during lockdown.

The Provincial Treasury has in response to COVID-19 implemented the following precautionary measures to ensure compliance to the Public Finance Management Act from a procurement and financial management perspective:

• A COVID -19 coordination function within the Provincial Treasury for the Finance and SCM Cluster to ensure financial governance, procurement and financial management requirements are met in terms of the Disaster Management Act and its regulations. Provincial Treasury has also drawn on its current resource capacity to provide advisory support to departmental procurement of PPE.

• A Central Procurement Advisory Committee (CPAC) to guide emergency and lockdown procurement and financial requirements of essential products and/or services that are referred to it by provincial institutions for disaster relief needs of the Province. This team is constituted of critical procurement and financial specialists from within the Provincial Treasury and internal audit within the Department of the Premier to advise the CPAC deliberations in order to provide proactive recommendations in respect of any significant risk exposures stemming from the proposed approach / transaction, based on consideration of the relevant prescripts, governance requirements, risk management and internal control framework and considering the need for adequate control versus efficiency.

• The PT is publishing all PPE purchasing on the PT Website and in social media for transparency and accountability. It is important that the Systems being used to manage procurement information and governance are appropriately managed through putting in place the necessary controls as mentioned above to ensure credibility in the information as well as in our decision-making as it relates to procurement in the Province.

The second edition included the procurement processes and requirements that departments were obliged to comply with when procuring PPE items related to COVID-19. In addition, all COVID-19 related commitments and expenditure were published in the second edition of the report with detailed information on PPEs in respect of average unit price; applicable benchmark prices date; unit of measure; quantity purchased and total amount.

Public Disclosure has been instituted by the Western Cape Treasury to demonstrate transparency in procurement spend and accountability in decision-making. The Procurement Disclosure Report published by the Western Cape Treasury was the first in South Africa to affirm the Department’s stance on clean governance. The Provincial Treasury welcomes the recent National Treasury Instruction that requires provincial departments, entities and municipalities to report on Covid-19 spend and will assist municipalities to be compliant to reporting requirements and encourage public disclosure, noting the special Investigative Unit’s (SIU) role to investigate all Covid-19 spend.