TENDERS

Join Cape Town’s Registered Goods & Service Providers

Tenders in Cape Town work on the same basic principles as most good governance processes in the metropolis. When the City of Cape Town puts out a tender or invites bids, this means that the government is asking for the public to provide price offers for the goods or services in need. The City can then assess who to choose based on the process offered and the nature of the individual or enterprise making the tender.

Tenders can include goods or services, including construction works and consultant services.

How to Get Tenders

The tender process or bid process is designed to ensure that the work to be done for government is awarded in a fair way. There are a number of procurement policies with special mention of the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA) that guides government on how to make decisions on which tender to accept. This is because it’s not just about finding the lowest price but also assessing who the government may enter into a binding agreement with. These individuals or enterprises must be free of any disagreeable agendas.

The City of Cape Town Tenders

The City of Cape Town is responsible for ensuring a sound, sustainable and accountable supply chain that promotes black economic empowerment and local economic development, and encourages small businesses and joint venture partnerships. This is why the procurement (tender) system is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective, in accordance with the Constitution of South Africa. The bulk of tender contracts are for periods of 2 to 3 years, which means companies delivering as per their bid proposal have sustainable contracts upon which to grow their businesses.

The City of Cape Town Vendor Database Registration

There are many options to do business with the City of Cape Town. Business owners and entrepreneurs are required to register as a supplier in order to capitalise on these opportunities. This means that your business has to be registered on the Central Supplier Database (CSD) in order to apply for government tenders. But what exactly is the Central Supplier Database:

• It’s a single source of all supplier information for all spheres of government
• It’s a way of simplifying the process of doing business with government
• It enables electronic registration and verification processes
• It reduces the exchange of compliance documents in paper form
• It eliminates multiple registrations with different organs of state
• It reduces the cost for both business and government

The CDS registration process is a two-phase process. Before you register as a supplier, you must register with the National Treasury Central Suppliers Database (CSD). In order to register with the Central Suppliers Database to be able to apply for a tender, you will need:

• Company name
• Company registration number
• Income tax number
• VAT number
• Bank details
• Physical and postal address
• Not more than five business commodities and a good description of each

Once you have registered, you will be issued with a CSD registration number, which you will use when submitting your supplier application forms to the City. This is because the five district councils and 24 local councils in the Western Cape are required to advertise their tenders in local newspapers and in public places, such as libraries and council noticeboards. You can also contact a local council directly to find out about local tenders or search for their listings on the City of Cape Town website.

These tenders can consist of Request for Information (RFI), Request for Quotation (RFQ), Request for Proposal (RFP), Expression of Interest (EOI) or Request for Tender (RFT) listings. They can be extremely competitive, particularly due to the ease of doing business in Cape Town.

What Happens When Your Business Wins a Tender?

If you’ve won a tender, this simply means two things. Firstly, the Government has chosen you as the most promising supplier. Secondly, you’re going to take on the Government as one of your clients and all that this entails. This includes your staff and resource capacity, your cashflow and even skills and equipment all need to be ready to deliver the services the government needs. Of course, this needs to also be done at the proposed rate and within the proposed timeframe. In the case where you don’t have the cashflow yet for a 2 to 3-year contract, there are funds and loans available from multiple institutions for tenders.

Contact us today for detailed information about how to get your CSD registration completed and how to begin finding and  securing tenders for The City of Cape Town.