Bid Specification Committee

The accounting officer relies on the work of the Bid Specification Committee (BSC) which is constituted by members of the department especially within supply chain management to evaluate the specification terms.

“The functions are delegated ... he trusts the work of the BSC as a result of them being constituted by members of the department, especially within supply chain management ... I rely on their work as well.”

The Bid Specification Committee (BSC) has the delegated function to define specifications, not the City Manager.

“I did not say the City Manager has a role in defining specifications. I said those are delegated functions which rest with the Bid Specification Committee.”

The Bid Specification Committee analyses and assesses the terms of reference prepared by the user department and approves it accordingly.

“The user department prepares terms of reference and presents those to the Bid Specification Committee. The Bid Specification Committee analyses and assesses the contents of that and approves it accordingly.”

The work of the bid specification is delegated from the City Manager to the user department and the Bid Specification Committee; the City Manager does not look at every single tender specification.

“The City Manager does not have time to look at every single tender specification that go out. The work of the bid specification is delegated. The department initiates the compilation of the terms of reference... They present that to an independent committee called the Bid Specification Committee... The specification is approved accordingly. Once that is approved, an advert is issued, which is endorsed by myself as well as endorsed by the City Manager.”

The tender document from the Bid Specification Committee contained contradictory requirements regarding armed guards and firearm licences, causing confusion and conflict in the specification.

“Yes , that contradicted . So the specifications , the entire document had two points that were contradicted to one another . The first is that specifications stipulate that some areas do not need armed guards , and it must be clear . However , in the mandatory requirement , the same document now dictates that bidders who do not submit firearm licences must be disqualified . The problem was that there would be bidders who...”

Bid Specification Committees independently scrutinised the bid TMPD 01/2024/25 to validate specifications and ensure no bias towards specific bidders.

“there were about seven of them who served within the Specification Committee. Their role is to independently look at specific specifications to validate whether they do not favour specific bidders”

The Bid Specification Committee advertised the bid on 26 August 2024 with a closing date of 2 October 2024 for submissions.

“The advert was completed and advertised on the 26th of August 2024... The closing register for this bidding question was the 2nd of October 2024”

The Bid Specification Committee completed a process indicated by signed approval from the Chief Financial Officer and the City Manager approving the tender advertisement as fully compliant.

“I have recorded Annexure GM 9 and 10 as a form of communication wherein myself as the Chief Financial Officer and the City Manager approve and endorse the tender for advertisement as a result of these being fully compliant from the first date of the advert”

The City of Tshwane's procurement process includes segregation of duties across different committees: Bid Specification Committee (BSC), Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC), and Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC).

“there are duties of the Bid Specification Committee. There are duties of the BEC, Bid Evaluation Committee. And then there are duties of the Bid Adjudication Committee, the BAC. And those three sets of duties are segregated so that different committees comprising different people will be responsible for each one of those sets of duties.”

Deputy Chief Dhlamini states that his involvement in procurement was assisting divisions in compilation of specifications to serve the Bid Specification Committee, denying improper involvement.

“Involvement in procurement processes, as I indicated that we assist the divisions in compilation of specification from the onset to serve the Bid Specification Committee”