Suppliers or service providers generally have 21 days to respond to a tender. This is the result of recent analysis from our database of tenders over the past 30 months. We have analysed the number of days between the publication date and the date when ...read more

In the 1990s and 2000s, companies went to China out of fear of being left behind, not necessarily because they had made an informed decision based on data about the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Now it seems they are coming back for fear of being left ...read more

The new tender advertising portal from the South African National Treasury is starting to assist potential suppliers and service providers to government at all levels. The portal went live on 1 April 2015 but it took some time for departments to start ...read more

Wax Digital survey shows that IT departments drastically over estimate their own importance when it comes to tech procurement. The survey showed that 32% of IT departments felt they had the ultimate authority over IT spend. The procurement department ...read more

I just read an interesting article in Jyllands-Posten, a Danish daily, on how LEGO requires that every employee who is representing the company through social media take a “social media driving license” – even on the executive level ...read more

Downplaying criticism of government's public procurement and tender policy, Eastern Cape Treasury audit and risk management chief director Andries Louw has argued that small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) are easily able to access the ...read more

I found the lack of media coverage on the launch of the new Central Supplier Database (CSD) for the South African government last week astonishing. It is almost as if the significance of this event was not recognised. Finance Minister, Nhlanhla Nene, ...read more

As a research analyst, I am studying things that are incredibly difficult to measure. The topics may sound easy, but they are not. In my research, I answer questions like: The answer to these questions requires the analysis of many factors. As a student ...read more

The proposed amendments to the Preferential Procurement Regulations which govern the tender process to be followed by government are irrational and ought to be scrapped. I will today write to the Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene, requesting him to withdraw ...read more

A series of supply chain events for suppliers wanting to get involved with the £1 billion Tidal Lagoon infrastructure project in Swansea has launched. The “awareness events” are aimed at introducing Welsh construction and advanced manufacturing ...read more

GOVERNMENT tenders up to R10m will in future be evaluated only 50% on price and 50% in terms of black economic and women’s empowerment and other criteria, say draft regulations published for comment by the Treasury last week. The amendment to the regulations ...read more

THE government and black business want to see a new wave of black economic empowerment (BEE) and are pulling the levers to get it started. But as the pressure ratchets up, the old debates are sure to arise: must firms continuously do new deals to maintain ...read more

An approach by an SAA director requesting that Bidvest transfers 30% of its aircraft-toilet-cleaning subsidiary business to an SAA-nominated black-owned small business has been politely but firmly kicked into touch. This seems to be a very similar request ...read more

Why should a CPO take advice from a Marketer? The crux of Inbound Marketing is investment : genuinely understanding and caring about the needs of your target, and working to solve their problems and empower them. Inbound marketing works because ...read more

Further the the article from yesterday on Eskom's plans to take an equity stake in suppliers, the utility also has plans to take over intellectual property (IP) rights developed during the course of any work that its contractors are currently performing ...read more

THE pain of depressed export coal prices in the coming year will be cushioned for Transnet Freight Rail as it had signed up 95% of its coal volumes on "take or pay" contracts, Transnet group acting CEO Siyabonga Gama said on Tuesday. "We ...read more

UK businesses could be squandering budgets, using risky suppliers and spending without permission due to a lack of collaboration with procurement, according to research. A study published today by Redshift on behalf of Wax Digital questioned over 200 ...read more

INADEQUATE foreign currency hedging in a contract for locomotives could have forced the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) to pay almost R5bn instead of R3.5bn. The lack of hedging also means that the state agency will only procure 70 instead of the ...read more

One of the most interesting aspects of the reports from multiple sources that SciQuest is in play, and that possible suitors include everyone from Oracle and IBM, to Workday is, why now? ...read more

CONSULTANT engineers in Nigeria have been tasked to get more involved in the procurement process, if their call for transparency and accountability in the implementation of the document would make desired impacts in the country. This was the view of ...read more

The amount of people involved in a manual procurement process makes it a difficult operation to control. Without control, visibility around the process is reduced and collaboration between departments becomes non-existent. These are key to preventing ...read more

NAIROBI — Kenya and Tanzania have invited bids for the construction of a high-voltage power line connecting the two, part of efforts to meet growing demand for electricity and deepen integration of their economies. The two countries will build approximately ...read more

In mid May, IQNavigator, the Denver-based provider of non-employee Vendor Management Systems (VMS), announced that it has updated its offering, which will now feature configurable dashboards and automated workflows for on-boarding and off-boarding contingent ...read more

Cape Town – Police Minister Nathi Nhleko says government is in the process of rolling out back-up generators to police stations across several provinces to avert disruptions during load shedding. The Minister said this when responding to questions for ...read more

THE AU has decided that South Africa will become a hub for the manufacturing and supply of rail stock for Africa. Transport Minister Dipuo Peters announced this yesterday in an address at the Southern African Transport Conference in Pretoria, adding this ...read more