Question NW620 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
16 April 2024 - NW620
Msimang, Prof CT to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
(1)With reference to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation into the breach of procurement processes for personal protective equipment (PPE) in his department, what (a) additional oversight mechanisms are being considered and/or implemented to strengthen his department’s procurement processes and (b) measures has his department put in place to ensure transparency, fairness and competitiveness in future procurement processes; (2) What is the current status of the recovery efforts for the funds lost due to the unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure identified by the SIU in its investigation into the non-compliance with procurement processes for the PPE; (3) What steps has his department taken to (a) address the systemic issues that allowed such a significant breach of procurement policies and (b) prevent a recurrence of such events?
Reply:
(1)(a) Department of Correctional Services (DCS) developed a departmental control committee to ensure that procurement to the value of R1 million is approved by the committee. The terms of reference are to ensure daily oversight on procurement transactions, with focus on procurement wherein bidding processes are not followed.
(1)(b) DCS reports all procurement processes through National Treasury and furthermore the procurement manual including delegation has been revised to ensure fairness and competitiveness.
(2) With reference to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation, it was found that there was a breach in procurement processes with disciplinary referrals due to non- compliance. However the services were rendered and paid for, therefore no recovery efforts were recommended by the SIU.
(3) DCS has revised the procurement policies and standard operating procedures to strengthen systematic issues to ensure the segregation of duties in the procurement environment.
END.