d) The procurement legislation and regulations prescribe a process that needs to be followed during the appointment of contractors to ensure that the process is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective. In the Gauteng, Free State, Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo and North West provinces, contracts were awarded to contractors other than those recommended by the Bid Evaluation Committees and Bid Adjudication Committees. The accounting officer overruled or did not consider the decisions and recommendations of the committees. In most instances, the reasons for decisions were not documented as required. This contributed to contracts being awarded to contractors at higher prices than the bid prices of contractors that were recommended by the committees concerned.