With the Presidency announcing a raft of measures aimed at attracting foreign direct investment, unlocking local investment, improving capacity-building, and creating new jobs, work is underway to repair some of the damage caused by COVID-19 and to rebuild the economy.

While these are essential interventions in a struggling economy, one often-overlooked aspect requires closer inspection: the state鈥檚 procurement capacity and competitiveness.

In South Africa, the government is the single largest buyer in the country, per year through more than 1000 procuring entities. However, the quality of procurement outcomes depend on how readily the state can access the best suppliers in the market to deliver the highest-quality goods and services.

As a strategic pillar of the country鈥檚 economy, public procurement can be used strategically to fast-track the state鈥檚 development agenda and ensure essential goods, services and economic opportunities reach those that need it most.

Procurement enables development capacity

The OECD lists public procurement as the cornerstone of strategic governance, and highlights its role as a crucial pillar of service delivery.

In South Africa, this rings especially true. The government plays a key developmental role across nearly all industries, mobilising its purchasing power and leverage over the economy to create employment opportunities and drive growth.

Through its vast procurement system, the SA government delivers essential services, builds and maintains critical infrastructure such as road networks, ports and the rail system, funds schools and public health facilities. In addition, the vast purchasing power of the state means it plays a vital supporting role to many entrepreneurs and small businesses who design and develop services that benefit key economic sectors or assist government in its delivery of essential services to marginalised or poor communities.

However, when such procurement processes are slow, inefficient or overly administrative, it can have a dire effect. Service delivery may stall due to delays in procuring the required goods or services, critical infrastructure may deteriorate due to delays in repairs or maintenance, and small businesses may face financial ruin due to delays in getting projects approved, suppliers loaded to the national procurement system, or simply due to issues with payment.

Efficiency key to state鈥檚 mandate

The Office of the Chief Procurement Officer, which is tasked with overseeing and modernising the country’s procurement system, .

The OECD recommends to ensure public procurement activities are efficient and deliver on the state’s mandate, including:

• Streamlining the public procurement system and its institutional frameworks, starting with the development of a service-oriented public procurement system that reduces red tape and administrative costs;
• Implementing sound technical processes to meet customer needs, with a focus on ensuring adequate technical expertise among evaluators and allocating sufficient resources and expertise for contract management once the contract has been awarded; and
• Developing tools to improve procurement procedures, reduce duplication and drive greater value for money, with aspects such as centralised purchasing, framework agreements, e-auctions and contracts with options coming to the fore.

Considering the scope and breadth of public procurement activities, achieving this level of efficiency is impossible without the use of digital technologies.

Digital technologies hold key

Technology has a guiding role to play in improving the state’s procurement efficiency and ensuring procurement activities deliver the greatest possible benefit to citizens and the broader economy.

Implementing an efficient, transparent digital procurement system can give government decision-makers access to real-time insights into how each sector of the economy is operating. When government departments and state-owned entities work from a reliable single source of accurate procurement data, it can reduce costs, improve decision-making and enhance the overall efficiency of the state.

Leveraging international best practices through partnering with global technology providers can also lend useful insights to the procurement process, helping government avoid costly mistakes and ensuring systems and processes are built on best practices.

The use of best-practice templates for key procurement functions can also help drive down costs and ensure procurement activities are built on the most efficient and transparent modern processes, helping build trust between the state and its suppliers. This efficiency can also enhance the state’s competitiveness with the private sector and improve access to best-of-breed solutions and suppliers.

As public procurement becomes more efficient and the state enhances its ability to source market-leading goods and services, the outcomes for citizens will also improve. This can mean better schools, more reliable infrastructure, improved healthcare, greater economic participation, job creation and economic growth.

The post State’s Developmental Role Puts Procurement at Centre of Economy appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

By 2025, 麻豆原创 predicts that many public sector organizations will take advantage of new technologies and breakthrough innovations to become more proactive, automated, foresighted, data-driven, and citizen-focused.

The pressure is on for governments to become more responsive and provide more effective services by implementing data-driven strategies to improve efficiencies and reduce wasteful expenditure, particularly as the world recovers from COVID-19 disruption.

Join 麻豆原创, Leadership Magazine, and expert speakers as they identify how ICT in governance may be constructed to facilitate greater accountability, transparency, and the reduction of wasteful expenditure through better financial, public information management, procurement, and administrative systems.聽The conversation will also address the challenges and barriers that citizens and government encounter on the process of effective and efficient service delivery.

Event Moderator: Dr Onkgopotse JJ Tabane, Editor: Leadership Magazine

Expert Panel:

1. Ayanda Dlodlo, Minister, Public Service and Administration
2. Sunil Geness, Director Global Government Affairs & CSR, Global Sustainability Lead: Africa, 麻豆原创 Africa
3. Percy Letwaba, Head of Sales: Public Sector and Healthcare, 麻豆原创 South Africa
4. Prof Barwa Kanyane, Executive Dean: Faculty of Management, Commerce and Law (UNIVEN)

Across the continent, African cities are constantly looking for new ways to improve service delivery and enhance living and working ecosystems for citizens. It鈥檚 no surprise that many consider digital technology to be the ideal methodology to help deliver new public services, address existing problems, and reshape citizen engagement. Digital technology holds the key to the successful transformation of cities. It can accelerate and enable economic prosperity and commerce, improve safety and security, and make a real impact on the quality of life for citizens.

Join us on Wednesday, 10 November from 12:00-14:00 (CAT). To find out more or to book your seat, visit

The post How to Accelerate Africa鈥檚 Digital Transformation in the Public Sector appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.