SANRAL’s Transformation Policy sets clearly defined targets for the participation of black contractors, professionals and suppliers, and is designed to maximise their participation in all projects commissioned by the roads agency.
The national roll-out of SANRAL’s programme of pre-tender training for SMMEs has commenced through the appointed service provider ACS/Tjeka JV.
The programme targets CIDB Grade 1–4 CEs with active membership who meet the requirements of registration with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) and are SARS tax-compliant. The programme entails:
- Briefing the Project Liaison Committee (PLC) on Routine Road Maintenance projects. These committees have vast constituency reach and assist with spreading information.
- Placing adverts in local newspapers as a call for registration with the service provider online or by physical submission.
- Obtaining the current SMME CIDB Grade 1–4 database from Routine Road Maintenance projects.
- Conducting screening of SMMEs, looking at their CIDB, SARS, COID status, etc.
- Inviting nominated individuals from qualifying SMMEs to write a maths literacy assessment that will qualify them for the 3-week training.
The training is designed to address basic literacy and numeracy, understanding how to run a successful contracting business and how to eventually develop and submit competitive, yet profitable and compliant tenders. Nine unit standards have been selected for the programme, which includes the use of mathematics to investigate and monitor the financial aspects of personal and community life, tender for construction contracts and manage construction resources, among others.
These nine unit standards form part of a 24-unit standard towards a National Certificate of Construction Supervision (NQF 2). If they so wish, the trainee can complete the remaining 15 modules on their own in the future. The programme includes assignments and assessments after each phase of the training has been completed.
Through this programme SANRAL aims to develop, support, train and capacitate an estimated 40,000 SMMEs over the next three years, in a bid to transform the industry and set in motion a developmental pipeline that will ultimately see subcontractors become main contractors.
In the coming months SANRAL will be taking its message of transformation and hope across the national road network. There are incredibly able and willing small businesses who simply need encouragement, access and mentoring to facilitate growth and development.
We are determined to break down barriers to meaningful participation in our industry, and getting SMMEs geared up is just the beginning.