On 23 July 2024, the President signed into law the new Public Procurement Act, Act 28 of 2024. This legislation aims to establish a unified system for regulating public procurement across all state organs. It focuses on leveraging technology to improve efficiency and effectiveness, while also enhancing transparency and integrity to combat corruption.

On 23 July 2024, the President signed the new Public Procurement Act into law. However, the date when it will take effect is still pending publication. The Act establishes a Public Procurement Office tasked with ensuring compliance and developing IT systems to modernize the public procurement process. Additionally, it creates a Public Procurement Tribunal to review decisions made by procuring institutions.

The Act aims to drive transformation by introducing provisions for set-asides, pre-qualification, and subcontracting to benefit specific groups. The success of these provisions will depend on forthcoming regulations, which have yet to be released.

The new Act seeks to create one unified procurement system for all public procurement, but the success and effectiveness of the Act will depend largely on the regulations which are to accompany it, and which have yet to be published.

We await the publication of the regulations as well as the effective date and will seek to keep you updated on any developments.