Contractual Affairs

CESA’s Contractual Affairs Help-Desk

Members are reminded that CESA will wherever possible assist them with advice pertaining to procurement issues, roles and responsibilities, the ECSA Fee Guidelines & Scope of Services, contract documentation, PI issues etc, simply phone/ drop Wally Mayne an email at 082 929 2790 or wally@cesa.co.za.

Such assistance is regarded as a benefit of membership intended for member firms, their clients and the public, and is not for consulting engineering firms that have decided not to apply for CESA membership.

The latest graph indicating the frequency and type of queries addressed by the Help-Desk can be viewed by members: click here.

Introduction

In order to comply with the requirements of the Constitution of South Africa, and to align procurement by organs of state with that of institutions such as the World Bank, government decided to move away from the old procurement policies that made use of fee scales and rosters, toward a system of open tendering for government projects. Ever since, the legislative environment has changed dramatically. In addition the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) body was brought into being in order to promote uniformity and best practice in the construction industry. This necessitated even more legislation.

The Contractual Affairs (CA) division of CESA came into being in March 2005 in order to address the need for assistance to member firms arising from the myriad of new legislation pertaining to procurement, as well as to render assistance relating to contract documentation and other related issues.

The main focus areas of CA are as follows:

Procurement

The following assistance is rendered in this regard:

  • Procurement legislation and regulations
    CA assists members and clients alike with queries relating to procurement legislation. The legislative environment is also monitored to keep members up to date with the latest information.
  • Illegal / non-compliant procurement policies of public sector clients
    Member firms can report illegal prescripts in the procurement policies of public sector clients to CA who will engage the client on their behalf. This is done in cooperation with the CIDB (with whom CESA has concluded an MOU for this purpose) and/or National Treasury where applicable.
  • Contracts
    Assistance is also rendered in the interpretation of procurement contracts, and other contractual queries.
  • Fee queries
    The CA Division deals with a great number of fee queries from CESA members, clients and members of the public, often referred by ECSA.

Other legislation

The CA division assists members in matters relating to other legislation pertaining to the construction industry such as for example the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Construction Regulations, promulgated in terms of the Act.

Liaison

Besides its involvement with clients regarding procurement and non-compliance issues, the CA division is involved in liaison meetings with certain public sector bodies such as the Department of Public Works, the Construction Industry Development Board, ECSA (Fees Foum & Identification of Engineering Work Committee), and National Treasury.
The CA division is involved in liaison with certain public sector clients such as the Department of Public Works, SA National Roads Agency Limited,Department of Transport, Eskom, and other organs of state such as the Construction Industry Development Board, ECSA (fees forum), and National Treasury. It also takes part in liaison with other Built Environment Professionals (BEP) where matters affecting common interests are at stake. These include the Association of SA Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS), the SA Institute of Architects(SAIA) and the SA Black Technical and Allied Careers Organization (SABTACO). The BEP committee is the forum used for these discussions.

Committees of CESA

Assistance is rendered to committees of CESA looking into matters affecting the business of members. These include the:

  • Supply Chain Management Committee, deals with contractual and procurement issues
  • Quality and Risk Management Committee, dealing with riskand PI issues
  • Disciplinary Committee, dealing with contraventions of the CESA code of conduct
  • Legal Forum, dealing with contractual and liability issues, advises CESA

For information relating to Contractual Affairs, contact Wally Mayne at:
Tel: (011) 463 2022
Fax: (011) 463 7383