Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) has raised concern about the high level of tender cancellations, which it believes is having a negative impact on the construction market, as well as on meeting the country’s goal of raising gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) to 30% of GDP.
ISA acting head Simphiwe Ndlovu told members of Parliament’s Select Committee on Public Infrastructure that a recent high-level analysis showed that more than 70% of the total number of advertised tenders had been either cancelled or closed.
Cancelled tenders were defined as those that had been advertised but subsequently cancelled before the closing date.
Closed tenders were those that had passed their closing date but were either still being evaluated, had been evaluated but no award had been made, or had been abandoned post-evaluation.
Of the 12 622 advertised tenders assessed – covering the categories of construction, construction of buildings, and specialised construction of buildings – only 29.89% had been awarded.
