Sanral prepared SMMEs in Standerton for tendering opportunities
These roads need to be constantly maintained and kept in good standing, which is the role usually awarded to small businesses in the vicinity.
The South African National Roads SOC Limited (Sanral) recently embarked on a week-long programme to engage small businesses in the Lekwa Municipality to prepare them for upcoming subcontracting opportunities for Routine Road Maintenance (RRM).
According to a press statement dated August 10, Kwanele Simelane, project manager, engineers from ROMH Consulting and VEA Road Maintenance hosted several business engagement sessions to equip small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) with the necessary information and training to correctly bid for subcontracting opportunities to be rolled out from August 1.
“This is quite critical for us in ensuring the development of black-owned business, particularly those owned by women and the youth to participate meaningfully on Sanral projects,” he said.
The sessions began in Morgenzon, Standerton, Sinqobile, Volksrust, Greylingstad and Grootvlei, and concluded in Balfour.
Simelane said a key part of the engagements was to communicate the dates for tender advertisements, dates for the tender briefing, list of returnable documents, Sanral tender evaluation process, common errors when bidding such as not attending the compulsory tender briefing or submission of expired or noncompliant documents, collection and submission of tender documents, work packages and scope of work.
Sanral looks after about 347 kms of road in the region spanning across three local municipalities.
These are maintained by VEA who is the appointed Main Contractor on the R23, S27, R35 and N11 routes.
These roads need to be constantly maintained and kept in good standing, which is the role usually awarded to small businesses in the vicinity.
“The contracts, worth a combined R146,8m (for the selected municipalities), began early last year and will be in place for three years, 50% (about R73,4m) will be allocated to local business,” Simelane also said.
“We appointed subcontractors with Grade 1 and 2 CIDB for a period of 12 months last year.
“That period is almost over and it’s time to appoint new contractors for another 12 months to do maintenance work on the roads.”
Simelane added that the Project Management Team (PMT) will finalise the tender documents by the end of the week.
According to the statement, the tender document for Lekwa was finalised on July 29, before going out to tender on August 1.
A compulsory tender briefing was to be held on August 11.
The closing date for submission will be on September 19 to allow SMMEs sufficient time to complete the documents.
The appointed contractors are expected to begin on November 1.
The tenders will be advertised through the local newspapers, public notice boards and various social media platforms to be shared by the Project Liaison Committee (PLC).
The scope of work for the for the work packages for Gr 1 & 2 CE include cleaning of prefabricated culverts, cleaning of concrete drains and channels, cleaning and maintenance of existing earth channels, edge build-up removal, collection and removal of debris and litter, subsoil drain installation and maintenance, cleaning of waterway structures, erection and repair of permanent road traffic signs, concrete channel construction and maintenance of existing channel.
There will also be training and skills development for the appointed subcontractors that will include first-aid training and occupational health and safety.
The roads agency emphasised that the opportunities are strictly afforded to Gr 1 & 2 CE companies who fall under the listed municipalities.
All other companies from different municipalities will not be considered.
The statement concluded with saying Sanral will continue with efforts of transforming the construction industry and empowering local companies to participate fully on its project.
