Tendering by Civil Engineering Materials Testing Laboratories for the South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd - The Importance of the Quality Threshold.

摘要

The Government's Supply Chain Management System applies to all state owned companies (SOC) which are spending tax money. Treasury allows for the use of a Quality threshold or Functionality check to be built into the tender. Since August 2012, the South African National Roads Agency SOC Ltd (SANRAL) has been inviting tenders from Civil Engineering Materials Testing Laboratories with a new system to evaluate the tenderers' Quality Assurance. This system has widely been accepted by the laboratories. The system that was introduced allows for a threshold for the required percentage score that may be adjusted from time to time. It was intended from the outset that the threshold would be set in line with the similar threshold in the Consulting Engineering Services tender document. The engineer's threshold varies between 75%, 80% and 85% depending on the complexity of the project being tendered for. The laboratory's threshold was initially set at 50%. This is significantly lower than the engineer's counterpart and needs to be adjusted upwards. The quantum by which it should be adjusted has not been finalised and is considered in this paper. The methodology and probable value for the adjustment applicable to tenders closing in the calendar year 2014 is discussed.