It is expected that 2016 will see a change in the way government spends public money – particularly wasteful expenditure as a result of fraud, corruption and mismanagement.

Aligned with government’s goal of saving R25-billion per year by 2018/2019, one of the most significant changes from a national supply chain perspective is the compulsory registration on the Central Supplier Database by 1 April for companies wanting to do business with national and provincial government.  For municipal suppliers, the deadline is 1 July. The office of the Chief Procurement Officer has also taken charge of reviewing contracts between suppliers and state-owned enterprises valued at more than R10-million to ensure value for money.

As the country faces tough economic conditions, moves to prevent financial loss are of paramount importance, according to Rudi Kruger, general manager of LexisNexis Governance Risk and Compliance. “President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan made it quite clear in their respective national addresses last month that corruption and supply chain mismanagement will not be tolerated going forward,” he said. “R500-billion is spent annually by government and if these moves to curb spending are successful, there is a great possibility that South Africans will lose further trust in the public procurement system, which in the past, has been marred by several incidents of fraud and corruption.”

The central supplier database is highly useful as it reduces the possibility of interference from corrupt employees and officials while increasing transparency in the procurement process.
“The objective of LexisNexis Governance, Risk and Compliance has always been to support government and corporate South Africa with solutions and tools to address national problems. Regarding supply chain, we developed ProcureCheck, a supplier vetting tool that assists supply chain management officers in facilitating a transparent networking environment where business can be conducted with integrity and in a credible and reasonable manner,” said Kruger.

ProcureCheck is the first of its kind, easy to use web based system designed to help organisations identify and prevent fraud schemes within the procurement processes.
In addition to government, ProcureCheck is an ideal procurement solution for large corporates, financial institutes, business bodies and Risk/Procurement professionals.

With ProcureCheck, organisations can combat corruption by identifying potential connections and ownership of property. It assists with identifying possible fraudulent activity within vendors and employees with the help of South African Fraud Prevention Services and highlights business interests of employees. Using ProcureCheck helps recognise conflicts of interest within organisations and potential supply chain partners and also investigate negative and positive news on vendors and employees to assist in mitigating reputational risk. Another key benefit is that it assists supply chain management officers ensure compliance to the Public Finance Management Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act.

ProcureCheck key features include:

• Electronic Web based workflow tool
• Provides automated irregularity alert reports
• Provides vendor and staff reports (useful for King III committees)
• Allows you to create your own internal vendor list (preferred and blacklisted vendor indicators)
• Allows clients to import vendor and staff lists
• Vendor vetting (on an adhoc or batch basis)
• Ongoing monitoring
• Detailed conflict of interest report

Submitted by LexisNexis