By Bahle Gama
Companies doing business with the state will need to ensure all their paperwork is to receive any form of payment for services rendered.
The government has announced that with immediate effect, it will not be liable for any payment of service rendered by suppliers and tenderers who continue to do so without the necessary purchase order or contract.
This is according to a statement by the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Sizakele Dlamini who stated that they had noted with concern the trend of failure to comply with the preliminary processes of participating in public procurement.
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“The failure to comply with procurement procedures has caused difficulties in the payment of service providers for the services that have been rendered to the government,” said the PS.
She stated that all tenderers and suppliers must ensure that they comply with the procurement requirements before conducting business with the state.
“Moreover, tenderers and suppliers should ensure they have been issued with a government purchase order and have signed the contract documents as may be necessary,” she said.
She further advised those who have supplied or rendered services to the government without the necessary purchase orders or contracts to consult the relevant ministries and departments.
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And to further submit the relevant eligibility documents for the processing of any outstanding payments by the end of March.
As the Ministry responsible for managing public funds in the country, Dlamini has reminded all government ministries, departments, tenderers, and suppliers to comply with the Public Procurement Act 2011, Public Procurement Regulations 2020, and Public Finance Management Act 2017 when conducting business with the state.
“They are required to comply with the provisions of Section 40 and 41 of the Procurement Act, which stipulates supplier eligibility and qualifications to participate in public procurement,” she added.
