Public procurement—the process by which the government contracts for the provision of goods, services, and infrastructure— presents one of the biggest corruption risks in modern society. Monitoring public procurement, and advocating for reform of South Africa’s public procurement system, is thus central to our work at Corruption Watch.
Procurement integrity is also recognised as one of the six pillars of the country’s National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2020-2030.
As part of our efforts to advocate for transparency in public procurement, we have developed and launched a digital tool called Procurement Watch. This tool aggregates certain kinds of national procurement data, otherwise only available in pdfs on the National Treasury’s website, and makes this data easier to search, interpret, and understand. In particular, the tool provides data on deviations (from pre-existing procurement procedures); expansions (of the initial terms of a public contract); and blacklisted suppliers (suppliers that have been barred from doing business with the government).
To date, we have produced two reports using the data in this tool, available here and here. These reports also provide further details on the nature of deviations, expansions, and blacklisted suppliers.
If you are interested in gaining access to the tool directly, you can apply to do so here.
