The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is pleased to note that the Gauteng Provincial Treasury (GPT) has developed a tool to monitor the performance of the main contractor when a tender has been awarded. In addition to this, this tool will also allow the department to track whether a sub-contractor has been paid on time. This monitoring tool will also ensure accurate reporting as the department acknowledged that they were under reporting on information regarding sub-contractors
The tool is active now and all departments have been trained to be able to use it effectively. The “Go live” date is set for 1 April 202. Any contract with a value of R30 million and bigger the main contractor must subcontract, therefore the sub-contractor info will be captured immediately after the tender has been awarded.
Last year, the DA raised concerns about the fact that the department currently had no system in place to track whether sub-contractors who are awarded part of a tender are paid on time, when it emerged that there was no system in place to track the payments of sub-contractors who were working on the construction of the Akasia Library in Tshwane.
Subsequent to this, the DA raised this concern during a Finance Portfolio Committee meeting that there was irregular or non-payment of sub-contractors by main contractors. At this committee meeting where the 4th quarter performance report for the 2018/2019 financial year was deliberated, a recommendation was adopted by the meeting that the GPT should develop a reporting model by main contractors to ensure that the payment of sub-contractors is regularised and that there is a transfer of skills.
The DA has been pushing for this initiative for a while, as no formal legislation is in place to track and monitor the payments of sub-contractors. We especially welcome the fact that it will be mostly SMMEs who previously struggled to get paid and sometimes lost their businesses due to non-payment, will benefit from the new system.
I will be closely monitoring the roll-out of this tool to ensure that sub-contractors are paid on time. This is critical if we want to grow the economy in Gauteng and create the correct environment for job creation as well as for SMMEs to flourish.