Call for Tender

The process where potential suppliers are invited to submit offers for the execution of a contract.

The State-Owned Enterprise Procurement Forum (SOEPF) and the Association of

Proposal Management Professionals (APMP), both non-profit organisations, have

over the years documented these barriers to entry. To collectively address the identified

barriers, in September 2014 that was reviewed in Feb 2019, they entered into a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

When answering a ‘Call for Tender’, organisations are committing their time, resources

and, in many cases, their finances. To ensure a successful outcome, the tendering process

must be strategic and concise, with attention to detail and executed according to the

tender requirements, which will allow for fair evaluation. Taking into account the absolute

investment of answering a ‘-Call for Tender-’, it is imperative that the tender evaluation

process is impartial.

Answering a ‘Call for Tender’ for a larger organisation is the norm. In fact, some have

an established Bid Department. However, for smaller organisations tendering is entering

unknown territory. “Winning a tender bid, especially for smaller organisations, can be a

game changer and put such an organisation on a growth trajectory. Yet, a ‘Call for Tender’

can be challenging for organisations entering unchartered waters, as they compete with

organisations that have in-house resources to execute the tender process effectively,”

affirms Larissa Cornelius, APMP SA Strategic Partnerships and Director.

More often than not, it is smaller organisations entering the unchartered waters of tendering

who are disqualified in the first round of evaluation. “The shortfall is submitting tenders that

are incomplete or do not meet the requirements contained in the tender, both of which are

barriers to entry. Identified gaps are a lack of skills to execute a tender, limited resources

and access to funding. However, the most compelling is the general lack of knowledge

surrounding the regulations and peripheral legislation. In many cases, these barriers,

especially in terms of small ‘Black’-owned organisations, deviate from the Government’s

procurement mandate that is measured in both the Generic and Sector Codes of Good

Practice,” asserts Kamogelo Mampane, SOEPF Advisory Chairperson.

SOEPF is key in the implementation of the

Department of Trade and Industry policies such

as B-BBEE, Industrial Policy Action Plan, Local

Procurement Accord, Competitive Supplier

Development Plan and the New Growth Path.

Members consist of the State Owned Entities

Procurement Heads, the DTI, National Treasury,

the Department of Small Businesses and

Proudly South Africa to name a few.

Their core aim is to drive ethics, create

opportunities for development and

transparency through the bid process,

by providing a platform that offers equal

opportunity for all.

APMP (SA) is a membership association for people interested in

developing expertise in the proposal management profession, and

a global leader in proposal, bid, business development and capture

management.

It forms part of an international association that boasts more than 7,000

members globally, with internationally-recognised certification and

accreditation.

Membership provides access to a network of experts and talented

proposal professionals, as well as industry-specific events, such as

their annual conference, which provides networking opportunities for

organisations.

Members consist of individuals and organisations of all sizes, across all

Sector

The core aim of entering into an MoU is to fight corruption, halt uncompetitive practices and support section 217 of The Constitution, which outlines procurement obligations. It states: "When an organ-of-state in the national, provincial or local sphere of government, or any other institution identified in national legislation, contracts for goods or services, it must do so following a system which is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective." Sub-section (1) does not prevent the organs-of-state or institutions referred to from implementing a procurement policy providing for: > categories of preference in the allocation of contracts; and > the protection or advancement of persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. “Essentially, the core objective of SOEPF and APMP is to encourage procurement that is transparent, competitive, cost-effective, fair and equitable. Persons or categories of people disadvantaged by unfair discrimination are supported by the Preferential Procurement Policy of 2011,” affirms Cornelius

Organisations can no longer respond to tenders without a clear sales

strategy, especially in terms of organs-of-state. Public sector tenders

are becoming more sophisticated, requiring increased partnerships and

governance. There is an increased focus on governance to eradicate

tender corruption, which puts public sector procurement under the

microscope.

Importantly suppliers have the responsibility to familiarise themselves

with the various public procurement regulations to ensure a

comprehensive understanding of the associated business implications

of winning a tender. Essentially, organisations wanting to win and retain

business, especially in the public sector, need to master the tender

compliance process. In effect, to achieve an open and even playing field

for all, better use of data by, and collaboration between, government

and business is necessary.

Why have SOEPF and APMP entered into

an MoU?

This collaboration aims to drive procurement partnerships that are

efficient, well-governed and promote Government’s goals of job

creation, broad inclusion in the economy and economic growth. The

MoU provides a committed platform, combining the strengths and

reaches of SOEPF and APMP for the common good of the business

sector and the country at large.

This collaborative platform will create a foundation for communication that will drive corrective policies which will organically

create change through developing the skills to win business. To achieve this, a collaborative framework for communication

and collaboration will be established to encourage organisations to:

> Explore synergies outside the perceived norm;

> Strengthen capacity through cooperation;

> Increase capacity to drive successful tendering; and

> Investigate challenges in order to find solutions to bridge gaps, specifically in terms of barriers to entry.

How will the SOEPF-APMP collaboration benefit the tendering process?

Both institutions were founded with the mandate to promote good governance and best practice. Their collaboration opens

communication to a broader audience. It will openly address the tendering chain end-to-end to find a beneficial synergy

between the tenderer and tenderee.

What is the immediate strategy of this collaboration?

The APMP-SOEPF 2019 strategy aims to establish quarterly interaction between members of both institutions to address

the identified barriers in tender processing by:

> Standardising the Code of Ethics between customers and suppliers to be signed by all parties.

> Advocating transparent, fair, equitable, cost effective and competitive procurement.

> Influencing socio-economic transformation by ensuring the regulations and procurement processes deliver the

desired results. This outcome can only be achieved with a better understanding of all perspectives within the

tendering chain.

> Developing regulations that govern transformation, local content and public procurement.

> Opening access to markets through Skills Development and demystifying the government procurement processes.

> Entering into strategic partnerships to communicate good governance and best practice.

> Educating smaller organisations to overcome barriers to entry to increase their success rate.

> Educating sales teams to proactively participate in identifying tender opportunities.

> Proactively address governance and ethics in terms of conflicts of interest.

> Educating organisations on regulatory requirements such as local content, non-negotiable tender requirements and,

where necessary, changes in policy.

> Providing post-bid feedback from tenders and procurement and sharing lessons learnt.

> Addressing fairness and standardisation of evaluation criteria per sector.

> Encouraging accreditation across the procurement sector.

> Encouraging registration at professional associations so that buyers and sellers can become active, informed members

of their profession.

> Reducing the timeframe of awarding tenders, specifically those valued at more than R30m, as these can take up to

18 months to award.

“To empower businesses it is essential to provide compliant and responsive tenders. In turn, this will reduce the reissuing

of tenders and make the evaluation process more straightforward. Improving skills from those answering a ‘Call for Tender’

and improving the evaluation criteria, will reduce tender cancellations, contestations and speed up the process of awarding

them,” concludes Mampane..