These items include masks, gloves and sanitisers, amongst a slew of other essential items that are currently in high demand. Brown’s comments on the matter come on the back of fierce criticism from DA Member of the Free State Legislature (MPL) Roy Jankielsohn, who argues that the relaxation of the procurement policies could become a gateway for further tender fraud and corruption in the province. National Treasury has relaxed tender processes for provincial departments, municipalities and municipal entities, to speed up the procurement of goods and commodities required to reduce and control the spread of the novel Coronavirus which has claimed the lives of 12 people in the country. Brown says her department has adopted these COVID-19 procurement regulations which also includes a list of prices for goods to thwart price hikes. 

Brown says National Treasury has a database which her department will refer to. She says it’s agreed upon that if any of the Free Stars suppliers come forward with lower prices than “what the National Treasury database is then we can procure from the Free State,” explains Brown. 

This is to curb an influx of overpriced goods that are not essential items or suited to the province’s needs. The Free State has as a result consolidated all suppliers on the central supplier database (CSD) that can provide the necessary commodities that provincial government requires. They have also narrowed down their list of potential service providers and manufactures to the Free State. The latter of which will be closely monitored to see if the products made are of the quality required. Suppliers have been linked with said manufacturers and their part of the procurement process remains unchanged at this stage, allowing suppliers to pick the supplier they want. This again is to ensure that the market is not flooded with overpriced goods, reiterates Brown. 

According to National Treasury “both the Instruction Note and the Circular provide annexures outlining the list of available goods/commodities and items not catered for on the Transversal Contracts, but can be procured from the enclosed list of compliant service providers”. Treasury says the circular and its temporary regulations will be terminated once the national state of disaster is concluded.

At this stage there are 1686 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus in South Africa with 89 of those in the Free State.

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