The Gauteng government is launching its digital tender procurement system, TendaSwift, aimed at curbing corruption and providing equal opportunities for all suppliers submitting tender bids under the provincial government, Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile announced.
Maile delivered the province’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement and Adjustment Budget to the Gauteng Legislature on Tuesday.
He stated that when re-tabling the 2025 and 2026 Main Budget to the House on June 3, 2025, he emphasised the province’s commitment to enhancing internal processes to achieve operational efficiencies and fight fraud and corruption in government by digitising its procurement ecosystem.
“Today, we are launching the pilot phase of TendaSwift – Gauteng’s new comprehensive e-procurement platform that has been developed in partnership with the Gautrain Management Agency to automate and digitise the entire tender management process in the province.”
“TendaSwift, which is available on the e-tender website of the Gauteng Provincial Treasury, is a modern e-procurement platform designed to streamline processes, strengthen oversight and provide the functionality needed for effective public procurement in the digital era,” he said.
Maile said one tender from the Provincial Treasury has been advertised on TendaSwift, while another, from the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency, will be advertised on December 5, 2025.
This, he said, demonstrates the provincial government’s commitment to transparency, open competition and a modernised procurement system.
“For many years, government procurement systems relied heavily on manual, paper-based submissions that created inefficiencies, delays and opportunities for malpractice.
“Thus, this is not merely a technological upgrade. It is a strategic intervention aimed at ensuring that every supplier, regardless of size or location, has equal access to opportunities.”
He said TendaSwift will also help curb corruption by reducing manual processes, strengthening oversight and ensuring that every step of procurement is transparent, traceable and accountable.
“Through this platform, we are reinforcing our determination to build a procurement system defined by integrity and fairness.
“TendaSwift builds on the Open Tender Process, a key intervention that the Gauteng Provincial Government introduced in 2014 to strengthen our procurement processes.
“With TendaSwift, we are taking it a step further by digitising the entire value chain of the procurement process – from tender creation and advertising, through bid submission and evaluation, to adjudication, probity audit and contracting,” Maile said.
He said that in line with the province’s commitment to modernising and innovating in the public-sector procurement space, the government is also automating the paper-based Request for Quotation (RFQ) and RLS01 (Remaining Line Structure) processes.
“These systems, which have been developed in partnership with National Treasury and the Department of e-Government respectively, are aimed at integrating and automating budgeting and procurement processes, as well as improving turnaround times and overall processing efficiency in the province.”
Maile said the province is currently piloting the automation of both the RFQ and RLS01 processes at the Gauteng Provincial Treasury, the Gauteng Department of Community Safety and the Office of the Premier.
“We have also started piloting the RFQ at the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport.
“Our early observation is that the automation and integration of these processes has led to a reduction in manual processing time, improved turnaround on approvals, enhanced compliance with National Treasury procurement regulations, improved audit-trail completeness, data integrity and real-time procurement visibility.”
Maile said that as part of the ongoing commitment to strengthening supply chain management and ensuring that procurement is carried out in a fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective manner, the province has introduced the Market Research Price Data Solution to combat overpricing.
“This will significantly protect the public purse, ensuring that resources are channelled towards public services that benefit the residents of our province,” he added.
“This innovative system is now fully functional and is being used in departments including the Office of the Premier, Economic Development, Social Development, e-Government and Infrastructure.”
He said the system currently accounts for 51% of the total catalogue items and enables real-time access to commodity price information, facilitates informed decision-making and enhances price negotiation capabilities across various departments and entities in the Gauteng Provincial Government.
“I must report that the Invoice Management System we introduced in April this year to provide suppliers with a simple, user-friendly portal to submit and track invoices is performing well.”
Maile said a significant number of invoices of the provincial government are uploaded through this platform.
“In the year to November, more than 8,000 suppliers interacted with the Invoice Management System and submitted 165,000 invoices valued at R35.6 billion.
“A total of 83% of these invoices were paid within 30 days provincewide.”
“As part of our initiatives to support small businesses, we are operating the Purchasing Card (P-Card) platform, which offers an additional economic participation option for transactions under R30,000.
“In the current financial year, more than 500 merchants have benefited from this facility, with nearly R3 million in total spend processed through the P-Card system on average per month.”
Maile said the initiative has played a key role in supporting SMMEs to remain economically active within Gauteng.
“More options are being explored to make this mechanism reach a wider spectrum.
“The successful piloting and implementation of these digital projects demonstrate that the solutions we are introducing are both effective and scalable, providing a strong foundation for long-term sustainability.
“We are confident that this digital transition will go a long way in enhancing transparency, improving compliance and driving operational efficiency across the entire provincial government,” Maile added.
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