This is how Eskom tenders work

LEPHALALE – Obtaining a tender from a large company is rife with loopholes and red-tape, but Eskom assured local companies that if they apply for the correct tenders they stand a better chance to be successful during an Eskom suppliers’ forum held at Matimba power station to explain the tender process on Thursday.
“In 2005 when the tenders were issued in the market to build the Medupi power station there were only two companies in the world who matched all the criteria for making boilers. This meant that we had no choice in awarding the tender to one of these companies whether they were local or not,” said Gabriel Mkhonza the supply, development and localisation manager at Eskom.
According to Mkhonza some of the specialised skills that are required by Eskom can only be provided by people and companies who are residing in other parts of the country.
Mkhonza placed strong emphasis on Eskom’s policy of sustainable development. “We don’t want to see a situation where people have to be retrenched after the Medupi project is finished because there are no longer jobs for them in the area.”
Bongani Madlala from Eskom Rotek Industries explained that some tenders are localised while others are allocated on a national level. “In certain situations, we prefer to make use of a national supplier simply because we can then transfer the allocation of the money to a high spend area instead of having a hand-to-mouth situation.”
The quota  for black people with disabilities, black owned businesses, black youth owned businesses and black women owned businesses will be considered more favourably when applying for a tender simply because they are in the minority on Eskom’s data base.
“We have a few tenders that are available now or will be available in the very near future including tenders for consumables, cleaning materials, on-site machine services and transport services.”
Transport services are one of the tenders that will benefit local companies according to Madlala.
“We are a company who learn from our mistakes and we saw in the past at other sites apart from Medupi that it is better to make use of local transportation companies.”
The transport tender at Medupi is, however, dependent on the outcome of meetings with relevant stakeholders while a tender for construction services that could potentially be localized will also be advertized in the near future.
For information regarding the tender process and where to apply you can visit the Medupi Central Information Centre in Onverwacht.