The Department of Public Works (DPW) has instituted a six-month moratorium on all new tenders while it undertakes an internal assessment to improve efficiency, Minister of Public Works Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde said on Friday.

External experts have been hired by the department to look at inefficiencies on both a national and provincial level.

It was time to “clean up the department” and ensure that it could deliver better service, Mahlangu-Nkabinde said at a Property Sector Charter Council seminar, in Johannesburg.

She also said that there were many loopholes in the DPW tender processes. In the last six months, the department had not won any court cases relating to tender contracts and in doing so, “wasted the money of South African tax payers”.

“I have seen the abuse of systems and I now have the opportunity to change it,” she said.

The National Treasury recently released new tender rules, under which government departments will be required to submit advance procurement plans for all tenders exceeding R500 000 by April each year. Treasury approval would also have to be obtained for tenders exceeding R10-million.

“If National Treasury has the capacity to take this on, we welcome it,” Mahlangu-Nkabinde said.

The department would also seek to make better use of its internal skills and expertise in fulfilling its mandate, where necessary, as opposed to outsourcing its work.

However, this did not mean the DPW would not be committed to working with the private sector, the Minister stressed.