The Public Procurement Bill B18 – 2023 has been tabled in Parliament.
The Bill aims to revamp the public procurement process across national, provincial and local government and to establish and empower a centralised authoritative body tasked with the oversight of all procurement processes.
The attempt at addressing the frustration associated with the fragmented and complicated regulatory framework currently in place, with a view of simplifying it, is a step in the right direction.
In so doing, the Bill appears to introduce radical changes, some of which appear somewhat controversial. One concern is that it still leaves a wide discretion for the enactment of subordinated legislation to regulate the important rules of procurement, and we do not know what those rules will be at this point.
The call for public comment closed on 11 September 2023 and it will be interesting to see what changes are made to the Bill, if any, because of public participation, including the public hearings.
Kindly note that that this article is a general view on its content and does not constitute legal advice, and should not be taken as a substitute for such advice.