Legislation: Covid-19 medical supply ‘instruction’ issued

National Treasury has issued an instruction to municipalities and municipal entities aimed at ‘speeding up’ the procurement of medical ‘goods/commodities’ required to reduce and control the spread of Covid-19. It is empowered to do so in terms of emergency regulations gazetted last week. Against that backdrop, two annexures to the instruction list various categories of face mask and gloves falling within existing ‘transversal contracts’, along with some types of sanitiser, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch.

Other face masks and sanitisers not falling within these transversal contracts are listed separately – as well as isolation gowns, body suits, visors, goggles, respirators, digital thermometers, disinfectants and related commodities. This is noting that, in the context of a public procurement contract, the term ‘transversal’ means one that is ‘centrally-facilitated’ and ‘arranged by … Treasury for goods or services … required by one or more than one institution’.

According to the accompanying media statement, ‘in support of effective and efficient service delivery’ – and with the aim of curbing ‘the possible abuse of supply chain management systems’ during ‘this national disaster’ – the instruction is expected to ‘enhance uniformity across organs of state’, as well as the decisions taken by accounting officers and accounting authorities in the course of ‘emergency procurement’. It also lists the prices of affected ‘goods/commodities’, which featured in last Wednesday’s statement on ‘opportunistic scammers’.