Sanral scraps panel procurement system after court ruling

The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has abandoned its panel system for procuring services from contractors for routine road maintenance (RRM) and engineering consultants, reverting to using an open tender process.

Demana said the procurement lapses and breaches in the RRM tender included that: Tenders were not opened at the tender box about one hour after closing, as Sanral’s own prescripts require, and the tender opening register was not made available to tenderers; Sanral failed to require competition on price thereby undermining Section 217(1) of the Constitution, with the panel appointed on functionality alone; Race was made the determining factor in selecting which of the 61 functionally competent tenderers were appointed to the panel of 20; and There was prima facie information pointing towards possible and suspected fraudulent conduct at Sanral, including awards to companies that do not appear to exist, or whose addresses and contact details cannot be traced together with serious irregularities throughout the bid specification, evaluation and adjudication process.

In June, Sanral’s engineering consultants panel award was also declared unlawful because of irregularities in the tender adjudication process, following legal challenges by Zutari and Lathiso.