Quality management in the South African public procurement system

Total quality management principles stress the role of supplier evaluation as a pivotal component of ensuring product or service quality. It is the task of the procurement function to evaluate different suppliers and to select the supplier that will provide good quality product/service at a reasonable price. In the public sector, the supplier selection process is more complicated as there are regulations and legislative frameworks that need to be adhered to. In the South African public procurement system, multiple sourcing through the tendering system, is utilised. Potential suppliers are invited to bid for contracts and get evaluated based on set criteria. The Preferential Procurement Policy Framework provides guidelines for the criteria to be used in adjudicating public tenders. Quality/Functionality is part of the set criteria. There are various methodologies used to assess functionality in public tenders and all those methodologies have their own advantages and disadvantages. Using document analysis, this paper will assess how functionality is utilised and assessed in the South African public procurement regime to determine winning bids. Public tender notice documents were reviewed, and thematic analyses of the data carried out and presented. The results of the study can be used to determine the effectiveness of these methodologies in the management of quality in South African public institutions.