Opportunities for Open Contracting in public sector procurement: a review of legislation

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to establish the conformity of South African legislation and policies to the global principles of Open Contracting. The specific objective of the study was to establish whether South African legislation supports the application of Open Contracting in public sector procurement. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. Primary data was collected using questionnaires targeting members of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Chain (CIPS) employed in the South African public service. A total of 300 (100%) completed questionnaires were returned. Fifty-two (52) of the targeted 300 respondents were excluded from the study. They were found not to be “public procurement champions”. This would imply that a final total sample size of 248 was employed in this study, thus a realization of 82.7%. The study findings revealed that although government institutions have policy statements for Open Contracting, the principles are not fully implemented. The study recommends that the National Treasury put forward a single coherent, comprehensive and overarching procurement law to standardize and clarify the procurement process to be followed by procuring entities in South Africa. Particularly the study recommends the development of a policy framework for the implementation of Open Contracting in the South African public sector procurement system.