World Cup purchasing irregularities exposed - Download Report
The transparency of purchasing procedures for the FIFA World Cup has once again come under scrutiny. South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies has published its concerns over stadia building and bidding practices in 'Pla yer and Referee: Conflicting Interests and the 2010 FIFA World Cup'.
Posted by Editor at 12:10 AM
Comment: Draft preferential procurement regulations' effect on currently exempt SOEs
Ashney Chetty, Manager of Policy and Governance at Transnet, and her group offer the following commentary on the draft Preferential Procurement Regulations (“the Regulations”) to SmartProcurement readers. It will focus on the impact and effects of the Regulations upon SOEs that are currently exempted from the PPPFA.
Posted by Editor at 5:40 AM
Green procurement in SA - The local imperative
While the agreements and targets reached at Copenhagen are still a shadow of the outcomes the world was expecting (and required?) from the environmental talks, Green Procurement will still need to be the way forward for companies to meet their CSR and to unlock sustainable value in their supply chains.
Posted by Editor at 12:00 AM
Progress on Draft PPPFA vs BEE Codes - Parliament in January
National Treasury has received 148 Comments so far on the proposed draft amendment to the PPPFA that was published in August 2009 for comment from the public and stakeholders. A first presentation on these comments will be made toParliament in early January 2010 , a senior source in National Treasury told Smart Procurement.
Posted by Editor at 12:00 AM
The impact of the financial crisis on SA, and why BEE is now more important than ever
When the current global financial crisis peaked in 2008, the South African economy was held together by its strong foundation which benefitted from several past regulations that minimised investment flows out of the economy.
Posted by Editor at 7:00 AM
SMME Development as a driver of BEE Procurement opportunities and the economy as a whole
"Governments, policy makers, even the World Bank, all agree that small businesses are the growth engine in any economy. Looking at other countries as an example, 95% of organisations in Australia are from the Small Micro Medium Enterprises sector (SMME), whilst Germany’s economic growth was also led by SMMEs. The same applies to South Africa where we have an estimated 2.8 million SMMEs in the country at present, who drive economic growth and development”, Alexander Soare, Managing Director of BEESA Boxsmart, told SmartProcurement.
Posted by Editor at 11:00 AM
2008 Annual BEE Conference: BEE Procurement decreases by 20%
BEESA Consulting and EES-Siyakha hosted their second annual Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Conference on the 11th, 12th and 13th of November 2008 at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Johannesburg. More than 80 delegates from both the private and public sectors attended the event in order to get to grips with the rapidly shifting South African empowerment landscape. And the message was clear: Transformation is a process, not an event.
Posted by Editor at 8:10 AM
Enterprise Development unlocks Preferential Procurement value
E
nterprise Development, along with Socio-Economic Development and Skills Development, should be a fundamental cornerstone of any well-structured South African BEE Procurement strategy. Andrew Bizzell, co-founder of the Institute for Enterprise Development and a BEESA consultant, told Smart Procurement how procurement organisations can make Enterprise Development (as a BEE strategy) work for them...Posted by StaffWriter at 11:31 AM
BBBEE Compliance vs Government Procurement Practices - a Contradiction in terms?
"No government department has ever asked for a Broad Based BEE certificate, and it may be some time before they do" Wade van Rooyen of Iquad Verification Services tells SmartProcurement. . The answer to the question of why government has not asked for certificates is based on conflicting legislation which may have a serious impact on your business.
Posted by StaffWriter at 10:25 AM
7 Tips for achieving BBBEE compliance quickly
Obtaining BBBEE procurement recognition for your organisation is usually not a simple exercise. The task can be daunting even for the most pro-active procurement officers.Posted by StaffWriter at 10:15 AM
Seamless reporting on your monthly/ quarterly/ annual BBBEE spend now available
It's Friday noon hour and you're about to leave for a supplier meeting when the CPO buzzes and says that the FD just flew in from HQ and urgently ( for their impromptu Board Meeting at 14h00) requires your Commodity Report on your total BEE Spend:
Posted by StaffWriter at 9:27 AM
Detailed 60 000 BEE SUPPLIER and verification information available electronically
In the recent past Supplier Directory’s matched the procurement departments enquiry with the required goods or services and ranked the supplier(s) according to region, reputation and such like criteria. The BBBEE Codes of Good Practice, as issued by the Department of Trade and Industry and, gazetted in February this year, changed all that. Detailed Supplier information is now an essential component of the procurement departments ability to fulfil its internal and, external transformation objectives and strategies.
Posted by StaffWriter at 8:16 AM
Updated: Generous BEE compliancy allowances for Small Business
With the release of the final BEE Codes of Good practice=, the government has listened to small and medium business concerns about their difficulty in becoming compliantJohan Giliomee of NERA tells Smart Procurement. "Their biggest complaint has been that they do not always have the resources and money to become compliant and that a change in ownership and management will seriously affect their business.
Posted by Bernie at 10:42 AM
BEE procurement compliance "Bureau" service launched
Does your company buy from non-BEE suppliers when a BEE supplier could have been used? Cape Town based CCI-Growthcon have developed an innovative approach to ensure maximum utilisation of BEE suppliers based on their description based spend analysis software - available monthly on a bureau basis.
Posted by Bernie at 9:18 AM
Current procurement systems and practices will fail BEE verification requirements.
The South African economy in all its diversity, presents BEE Verification Agencies with a reality that differs substantially from the corporate standard envisioned by the authors of the BBBEE Codes of Good Practice. "This is not to say that Verification is critically affected, or that adherence to the codes becomes impossible, but rather that both Verification Agencies and clients should be aware of the challenges faced, responding to these as quickly and as accurately as possible," says Robert Thorburn of Exceed Verification.
Posted by Bernie at 1:28 PM
New BEE "pop-up " tool launched
Local e-Procurement platform provider MWEB CommerceZone has launched an innovatove solution that makes the arduous task of implementing and driving preferential procurement easier and faster.
Posted by Bernie at 12:28 PM
Measuring suppliers on ownership can result in no verified BEE points at all!
Increasingly companies, even those that have not had their BEE positions verified, are instituting systems to track their BEE procurement spend. The reasons for this being pretty obvious, procurement accounts for 20 points (out of 100) of a company’s BEE score. There is however a disconnect between the data procurement departments are preparing and what will be required by verification agencies.
Posted by Bernie at 7:30 AM
New Broad Based Empowerment vs Cost Savings - walking a tightrope?
All too often BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) is dealt with in one of two extremes, that is to say all or nothing. On the ‘all’ side some procurement departments only consider suppliers who present a specific empowerment score, usually with substantial black ownership. This narrow based approach is clearly out of touch with B-BBEE and runs the risk of favouring suppliers who compete only on their empowerment credentials, while pricing and quality may suffer.
Posted by Bernie at 2:22 PM
Preferential Procurement: Destroying or enhancing procurement value….?
Whether it’s Green (Environmental) Procurement, developing historically disadvantaged individuals (HDI / BEE) or other forms of socially responsible procurement… powerful market forces guided by special interests play an increasing, and major role in defining procurement success. Will these issues destroy value created by strategic sourcing initiatives or will it raise the profile of the procurement organisation to the next level?
Posted by Bernie at 4:19 PM
Highlights: BEE Codes of Good Practice (Part 1)
Supplier complaints that "different South African customer rate our BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) efforts differently" and "each time we think that we've met the criteria, everything changes", might be coming to and end soon with the recent introduction of the government's Draft BEE Codes of Good Practice..
I've tried to put the salient points of the new code as they apply to South African Procurement Professionals in this article. This includes an on-line calculator (see below) which you can use to calculate your Supplier's BBBEE rating. (or send the article to them so they can do it themselves!) Links to the various detail documents as supplied by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are also included.
Posted by Bernie at 3:28 PM
BEE Supplier Development: How to pass the buck but still get the credit
By Bernie van Niekerk
No doubt, BEE is an ultra-hot topic. In this election year, it will dominate many political speeches. It will also dominate many deals and already is. (see BEE News section). For procurement professionals in Government and the Private sector this means meeting BEE targets. And the more broad-based the empowerment targets, the hotter it will get for the procurement fraternity.
Posted by Bernie at 8:30 PM