1. The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development reprioritized a total amount of R334 million from its baseline in response to COVID-19 operational as well as health and safety requirements. In determining the budget required, the Department made its projections on the assumption that the pandemic will prevail for the entire financial year. The budget provision included an amount of R195 million which is specifically set aside for the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and decontamination of the department’s facilities. The total allocation will be spent internally by the Department. Therefore, neither the Department is making any tranche to nor receives any funding in tranches from other institutions in this regard.
2. The Department strictly complied with the provisions of the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA) and the National Treasury Instruction Note No. 5 of 2020 in the procurement of PPE, thus ensuring that the procurement transactions upheld the principles of fairness, transparency and competitiveness. Since the withdrawal of Instruction Note No. 5 of 2020, the Department is following the process of requesting quotations from service providers that are registered on the Central Supplier Database. The quality of the PPE is checked against the requirements listed in the specifications document sent to all prospective suppliers, e.g. when procuring masks, the Department specifies that the mask should be 3-ply and sanitizers should contain at least a 70% alcohol content. This is checked and verified when the PPE are delivered to the relevant service point.
