Empowerment Gateway Announces That They Have Short-Listed Two Cold Asphalt Suppliers for the Adopt-a-Pothole Programme
Empowerment Gateway is close to awarding two contracts for the supply of cold-asphalt worth R7M during the one-year pilot and over R1billion over 5-years as suppliers to the Adopt-a-Pothole programme in South Africa.
Secunda, South Africa, August 25, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The Empowerment Gateway Group announced today that after extensive deliberation, they would be awarding a one-year contract to two suppliers of cold-asphalt products in terms of the RFP process.
The two short-listed suppliers are National Asphalt (Pty) Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the Raubex Group, a JSE listed entity, and Roadspan Asphalt Plants (Pty) Ltd, a company in which WBHO has a 30% interest.
Empowerment Gateway has entered into final negotiations with both suppliers in an endeavour to finalise the award process. Both suppliers have extensive know-how and expertise of supplying products used in the road construction and road maintenance fields.
It is the intent of the organisers, that both suppliers will undergo extensive evaluation during the initial contract period of one-year. Key focus of the evaluation and assessment process will be on their adherence to the principles of transformation (BEE), community empowerment, and corporate social responsibility as well as the measurement of their value-contribution impact on the Adopt-a-Pothole socio-economic development programme.
In addition to the on going monitoring of the cold asphalt technology used by the suppliers, the environmental impact and the operational performance will be analysed and benchmarked against traditional asphalt products used in pothole patching operations.
Laurinda Seabra, from Empowerment Gateway indicated that although the initial contract is worth approximately R7M during the pilot phase, the extension of the initial contract has the potential to generate revenues in excess of R1 billion over 5-years for the approved suppliers, with the product accounting roughly for 26% of total operational costs.
Empowerment Gateway has introduced a stringent procurement process aligned to the organisation socio-economic principles, that sees all suppliers to the group being evaluated and rated using a scorecard matrix totalling 100 points with sixty points (60) being allocated to corporate social responsibility fundamentals, BBBEE, and to compliance by the potential supplier to the ethos embedded in the millennium development goals.
In addition, potential suppliers are also evaluated on their proposed socio-economic contribution to the Adopt-a-Pothole programme. The balance of 40 points is spread between product/service quality and standards, logistics, and the pricing component.
Laurinda Seabra has also indicated that it has been their experience that most potential suppliers fall far short on meeting the Empowerment Gateway socio-economic compliance criteria. Empowerment Gateway procurement process critically evaluates potential suppliers on how they address BBBEE, CSR and the MDG's principles.
As a result, Empowerment Gateway suppliers are provisionally appointed and are then given up to 18-months to meet their procurement requirements before being awarded long-term contracts. In relation to BEE, suppliers are expected to have a minimum BEE Level 5 rating within 6-months of being awarded a contract by Empowerment Gateway and up to 18-months to improve their rating to a BEE Level 4.
The Adopt-a-Pothole national programme has a budget of R5 billion over 5-years. The programme has the potential to create long-term employment opportunities for up to 20 000 unemployed individuals, repair 6 million potholes and to make a substantial contribution to both national and to the local communities GDP.
The programme has been launched as a pilot in the Govan Mbeki Municipal area in Mpumalanga on the 1 August 2009.
A recruitment campaign as well as an extensive stakeholder engagement programme is currently underway in all the towns in the Govan Mbeki Municipal region, from Bethal, through Secunda and Kinross to Leandra, including surrounding townships and informal settlements.
The recruitment campaign is expected to attract 5000 applications from unemployed individuals.
During the pilot it is envisaged that earning opportunities will be created for a minimum of 100 people and that 20 000 potholes will be patched.
The pilot programme has a budget of R100M for the first year of operations, and a R200M budget for the next 5-years. The operational test phase has now been moved as a result of unforeseen delays of the procurement process that resulted in the test phase being moved from September 2009 to November 2009. The production phase is now scheduled to commence in January 2010, instead of November 2009. The pilot will now run from January to December 2010.
Empowerment Gateway will be issuing new RFP's shortly for the supply of vehicles, road maintenance related equipment and IT equipment to potential suppliers to the Adopt-a-Pothole programme.
Funding for the programme is being raised from multinational, national and local organisations in the form of CSR, Socio-economic development and Enterprise Development funds as well as from grants from national and international donor organisations.
Once those funds have been secured, it is the intent of the programme managers and custodians to approach the government with requests for fund matching.
The Adopt-a-Pothole programme is an Empowerment Gateway Group initiative that addresses various serious issues that affect all of us today in South Africa.
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The two short-listed suppliers are National Asphalt (Pty) Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the Raubex Group, a JSE listed entity, and Roadspan Asphalt Plants (Pty) Ltd, a company in which WBHO has a 30% interest.
Empowerment Gateway has entered into final negotiations with both suppliers in an endeavour to finalise the award process. Both suppliers have extensive know-how and expertise of supplying products used in the road construction and road maintenance fields.
It is the intent of the organisers, that both suppliers will undergo extensive evaluation during the initial contract period of one-year. Key focus of the evaluation and assessment process will be on their adherence to the principles of transformation (BEE), community empowerment, and corporate social responsibility as well as the measurement of their value-contribution impact on the Adopt-a-Pothole socio-economic development programme.
In addition to the on going monitoring of the cold asphalt technology used by the suppliers, the environmental impact and the operational performance will be analysed and benchmarked against traditional asphalt products used in pothole patching operations.
Laurinda Seabra, from Empowerment Gateway indicated that although the initial contract is worth approximately R7M during the pilot phase, the extension of the initial contract has the potential to generate revenues in excess of R1 billion over 5-years for the approved suppliers, with the product accounting roughly for 26% of total operational costs.
Empowerment Gateway has introduced a stringent procurement process aligned to the organisation socio-economic principles, that sees all suppliers to the group being evaluated and rated using a scorecard matrix totalling 100 points with sixty points (60) being allocated to corporate social responsibility fundamentals, BBBEE, and to compliance by the potential supplier to the ethos embedded in the millennium development goals.
In addition, potential suppliers are also evaluated on their proposed socio-economic contribution to the Adopt-a-Pothole programme. The balance of 40 points is spread between product/service quality and standards, logistics, and the pricing component.
Laurinda Seabra has also indicated that it has been their experience that most potential suppliers fall far short on meeting the Empowerment Gateway socio-economic compliance criteria. Empowerment Gateway procurement process critically evaluates potential suppliers on how they address BBBEE, CSR and the MDG's principles.
As a result, Empowerment Gateway suppliers are provisionally appointed and are then given up to 18-months to meet their procurement requirements before being awarded long-term contracts. In relation to BEE, suppliers are expected to have a minimum BEE Level 5 rating within 6-months of being awarded a contract by Empowerment Gateway and up to 18-months to improve their rating to a BEE Level 4.
The Adopt-a-Pothole national programme has a budget of R5 billion over 5-years. The programme has the potential to create long-term employment opportunities for up to 20 000 unemployed individuals, repair 6 million potholes and to make a substantial contribution to both national and to the local communities GDP.
The programme has been launched as a pilot in the Govan Mbeki Municipal area in Mpumalanga on the 1 August 2009.
A recruitment campaign as well as an extensive stakeholder engagement programme is currently underway in all the towns in the Govan Mbeki Municipal region, from Bethal, through Secunda and Kinross to Leandra, including surrounding townships and informal settlements.
The recruitment campaign is expected to attract 5000 applications from unemployed individuals.
During the pilot it is envisaged that earning opportunities will be created for a minimum of 100 people and that 20 000 potholes will be patched.
The pilot programme has a budget of R100M for the first year of operations, and a R200M budget for the next 5-years. The operational test phase has now been moved as a result of unforeseen delays of the procurement process that resulted in the test phase being moved from September 2009 to November 2009. The production phase is now scheduled to commence in January 2010, instead of November 2009. The pilot will now run from January to December 2010.
Empowerment Gateway will be issuing new RFP's shortly for the supply of vehicles, road maintenance related equipment and IT equipment to potential suppliers to the Adopt-a-Pothole programme.
Funding for the programme is being raised from multinational, national and local organisations in the form of CSR, Socio-economic development and Enterprise Development funds as well as from grants from national and international donor organisations.
Once those funds have been secured, it is the intent of the programme managers and custodians to approach the government with requests for fund matching.
The Adopt-a-Pothole programme is an Empowerment Gateway Group initiative that addresses various serious issues that affect all of us today in South Africa.
###
Contact
Empowerment Gateway Group
Laurinda Seabra
+27(0)820966568
www.empowerment-gateway.com
Laurinda Seabra
+27(0)820966568
www.empowerment-gateway.com
Contact
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