Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says National Treasury is devising a plan that will see the country’s procurement and financial accountability system strengthened.

Delivering the 2022 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement on Wednesday, the Minister said the department was also adopting best-practices in the procurement of goods and services, including the highest standards of transparency in tender processes.

He said: “Such modernisation aims to simplify and speed up the process for public infrastructure projects, while reducing the scope for looting and corruption.”

The Minister said Treasury was envisaging two changes to procurement governance:

“We expect to introduce the Public Procurement Bill – which will enhance transparency, integrity and promote the use of technology for efficiency and effectiveness in public procurement – to Parliament in March 2023.

“The new Preferential Procurement Regulations of 2022, replacing the now invalid Regulations of 2017, will be promulgated in November 2022 to be effective from 16 January 2023.”

He said the regulations empower organs of state with the authority to determine their own preferential procurement policies within the ambit of the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act.

Source: South African Government News Agency