Despite over 20 years since Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) has been formally implemented, it has abjectly failed to uplift the lives of South Africa’s unemployed and impoverished majority: around 44 million people are trapped in poverty, and 12 million are without work. Instead of redressing past injustices, B-BBEE has entrenched a millionaire class of politically connected insiders.
The DA’s Public Procurement Amendment Bill – also known as the Economic Inclusion for All Bill – seeks to reform this system fundamentally. It proposes amendments to the Public Procurement Amendment Act of 2024 to repeal all race-based preferential procurement provisions and replace them with a real empowerment model that uses poverty, not race, as the proxy for disadvantage.
A key feature of the Bill is its merit-based evaluation system. Businesses will be recognised for operational excellence, value for money, and actual social impact. The proposed reforms align with section 217 of the Constitution, which requires all public procurement to be “fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective”. The Bill also brings South Africa in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – 17 global commitments adopted in 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet, and promote prosperity by 2030.
The Bill removes set-asides, prequalification rules, subcontracting requirements, and local content designations, replacing them with an outcomes-driven system focused on inclusive development and value for money. It also seeks to repeal the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003, including phasing out the BEE Commission over 12 months and eliminating BEE references across legislation. To give effect to this change, the Bill empowers the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition to develop a simplified preference points system based on a supplier’s demonstrated contributions to inclusive development and social impact.
To support this shift, the DA has developed an alternative procurement scorecard to guide how preference points are allocated. It consists of three components. First is the Value for Money component, which assesses the cost-effectiveness, technical capacity, and reliability of bidders, which accounts for 80 percent. The second is the Economic Inclusion component, which assesses bidders’ demonstrable contributions to the SDGs across five different categories, such as Human Development, Economic Empowerment, Environmental Sustainability, Inclusive Communities and Governance, and a Mixed Impact Option, which accounts for 20 percent. The DA also proposes a third component, Disqualification Criteria, to exclude bidders if there is a proven record of fraud, corruption, or misrepresentation.
To read more about the Bill and view the DA’s Economic Inclusion Scorecard, click here.