Public Procurement In South Africa

This book examines the regulatory rules on public procurement in selected African countries and provides a comparative analysis of key regulatory issues.

The 2015 Supply Chain Management Review lays out a sound agenda for procurement reform. The ongoing work on a new procurement bill and regulations are an important opportunity to spearhead procurement reform and step-up implementation. Several important reform aspects worth prioritizing are the simplification and standardization of aprocurement procedures, the standardization of transparency requirements through the adoption of the Open Contracting Data Standards, transitioning to a new e-procurement system that is linked to the government’s integrated financial management information system (IFMIS) and other systems, making preferential procurement more cost effective and goal oriented, and strengthening staff capacity to carry out procurement. Opportunities to centralize procurement should be further explored to leverage and develop limited capacity.

This book establishes a nexus between corruption in public procurement and the prevailing crisis of governance in Africa. The African continent is characterised by the growing concern for the deteriorating human security. In the midst of these woes, African political leaders are known for their stupendous wealth and riches through expropriation of national resources for personal benefits. This growing inequality in the continent has become a major driver for a series of violent and criminal activities, which have added to the worsening governance crisis. Thus, the abuse of public power for advancing private gain constitutes an impediment to effective public service delivery, thereby engendering a crisis of governance. The consequence of this is not limited to the socio-economic growth and welfare of citizens, but it often also jeopardizes the democratic credentials and objectives of the state.

This book presents an interdisciplinary exploration of the governance of public procurement reform in Africa. Through a bottom-up approach to case studies and comparative analyses, scholars, practitioners, and social activists write about the organizational mechanisms and implementation gaps in public procurement governance in light of the general premises of national reform. Reforming the ways in which government purchases works, goods, and services from the private sector is one of the most sweeping policy reform undertaken in Africa in the past decade. Despite the transnational scope of policy change, very little is known about the mechanisms of public procurement governance at the subnational level. The argument in this volume is that policy reforms that mitigate contractual hazards along the three-dimensional “law-politics-business matrix” are more likely to bring about meaningful institutional transformation and broader social accountability. Key to substantive transformation of public procurement is the revitalization and professionalization of the public sector to meet the opportunities and challenges of development by contract.

Das Buch bietet einen breiten Überblick über best practices und lessons learned im öffentlichen Auftragsvergaberecht und deren Reform in Entwicklungsländern. Das Werk richtet sich vor allem an Studenten, Wissenschaftler und Experten, die sich über das öffentliche Auftragswesen und insbesondere Recht und Reform auf diesem Gebiet informieren möchten. Aber auch Praktiker, die für die erfolgreiche Umsetzung des Rechts verantwortlich sind und alle an Reformprozessen des öffentlichen Auftragsvergaberechts Beteiligten können von der Lektüre profitieren. Neben einer umfassenden Analyse der wichtigsten internationalen und ausgewählter nationaler Auftragsvergaberechtsinstrumenten - darunter das GPA, das UNCITRAL Modellgesetz und das Südafrikanische System - liefert die Fallstudie Namibia nützliche Einblicke in rechtliche aber auch praktische Probleme bei der Einführung und Durchsetzung des öffentlichen Auftragsvergaberechts in Entwicklungsländern.

Public procurement regulation in Africa is not widely researched. To address the shortage of scholarship in this area and to promote future research, this book analyses the law governing public procurement in a number of African systems and looks at key themes relevant to all African states. Part I discusses the regulatory regimes of nine African systems using a common framework, providing both a focused view of these African systems and an accessible comparative perspective. In Part II, key regulatory issues in public procurement that are particularly relevant in the African context are assessed through a comparative approach. The chapters consider the influence of international regulatory regimes (particularly the UNCITRAL Model Law on procurement) on African systems and provide insights into the way public procurement regulation is approached in Africa.