The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure:
1. I was informed by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) that the Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) that participated in DPWIExpanded Public Works Programmes (EPWP) COVID-19 response,were identified from an existing database of NPOs that were contracted by the Independent Development Trust (IDT)in 2019. These NPOs entered into a contractual agreement, with the IDT, for a period of two (2) years (i.e. 2019/20 – 2020/21) to implement the NPO programme activities.Considering their contracts were still active, the DPWI deemed it appropriate for the IDT to utilise the existing NPOs from the aforementioned database, subject to them being compliant with the Central Supplier Database (CSD) requirements.
Prior to contracting with the IDT in 2019, the NPOs had to undergo due diligence. The following criteria had to be met:
For the purpose of COVID-19 interventions, of the 339 NPOs on the IDT database, 189 NPOs were contracted.
Three Hundred and Thirty Nine (339) NPOs were already part of the Non-State Sector (NSS) Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) programme contracted for a period of two (2) years in 2019.
2.(a) I was informed that of the 339 NPOs who were already part of the NSS NPOs programme, a total of 150 NPOs contracted to the IDT were not used.
(b)The reason these NPOs could not be used is due to the fact that they either did not meet the participation criteria or were un-willing to participate in the COVID-19 emergency response project.The plan still remains to implement the original NSS EPWP NPO programme.
3.(a) The Plan still remains to implement the original NSS EPWP NPO Programme.
(b) Currently the IDT is implementing the EPWP COVID-19 response project until the end of November 2020.