R8m Gauteng Enterprise Propellor tender set aside

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has welcomed a ruling by the Special Tribunal to set aside an R8 million tender awarded by the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP).

The tender – which was the subject of an SIU investigation – was awarded for the Township Entrepreneurship Awards.

“The SIU investigation, initiated under Proclamation No. R. 7 of 2021, uncovered that the bid submitted by Exclusive Management Services [EMS] was non-responsive as it did not include the mandatory Standard Bidding Document, which was only submitted 11 months after the closing date. 

“A key finding was that the price attached by EMS to the

bid [R8.5 million] differed from the price [R7.4 million] considered by the Bid Evaluation Committee [BEC]. Evidence indicated that EMS had quoted a higher price than another bidder, and would have lost the bid had its correct, higher price been used in the evaluation,” the SIU said.

Furthermore, the corruption busting unit found evidence within the supply chain management unit that the “process was manipulated to ensure EMS was awarded the tender”.

“Furthermore, the evidence indicates that BEC did not evaluate the bidders for price; this was done contrary to procurement regulations.

“The SIU also found that the BAC chairperson signed the BEC report as the chairperson four days before being officially appointed to the position. When the BAC met, it did not have the requisite tender documents and rubber-stamped the BEC’s recommendation without the required scrutiny. 

“Furthermore, the BEC report…showed that EMS and another company met the functionality threshold and were evaluated based on price. 

“The BEC recommended EMS be appointed at R7 486 380, not the R8 527 200 the company had attached to its bid. The minutes of the BAC meeting show that individuals not appointed to the committee attended the adjudication meeting,” the unit said.

Following the SIU’s instigation of legal action, the tribunal made the following orders:

• The decision of the GEP’s Bid Adjudication Committee dated 14 November 2017 to approve the appointment of Oratilwe Consultants CC, trading as Exclusive Management Services (EMS), for tender is declared invalid and set aside.
• The Service Level Agreement (SLA) entered into between GEP and EMS on 20 December 2017 is declared invalid and set aside.

“This order is a direct result of the SIU investigation, which found that the process was not fair, equitable, transparent, competitive, or cost effective. 

“Following its investigation, the SIU implemented a comprehensive consequence management process, resulting in several disciplinary referrals to the GEP. As a result of these referrals, Tlhalefang Mahlare, the Legal Services Manager, was dismissed, while Nonkululeko Sontsele, the Key Accounts Manager, received a final written warning. Four other officials who were also subject to the SIU’s referrals chose to resign from the entity,” the SIU said. – SAnews.gov.za