IN A BID to get clarity on
issues regarding the National
Travel Policy and the tender
process for TMCs that
wish to service government
departments, TNW held
an exclusive interview with
Treasury last week.
TNW asked agents to
submit the questions and
issues they wanted Treasury
to address.
Agent A asks: What became
of the National Tender?
It was scrapped and
replaced by “minimum bid
specifications” which are
Treasury’s guidelines to
how departments should go
out to tender. Departments
need to have the flexibility to
tailor their tenders according
to their travel needs. Also,
legislation in the Public
Finance Management Act
(PFMA) doesn’t make
provision for a framework
contract (where a tender
goes out to market and
then top bidders form part
of a framework of which
tenderers must select
potential bidders).
Agent B asks: What about the
National Travel Policy?
Departments have until
September 30 to adopt
Treasury’s recommendations
outlined by the framework
released in April.
The recommendations
serve as guidelines, which
departments must incorporate
into their own policies. From
October 1 this new policy
must be enforced.
Agent C asks: How far
has Treasury come with
standardising payment
processes?
Treasury is still in the process
of doing this.
Agent D asks: How many
departments have actually
adopted the use of lodge
cards?
Treasury can merely advocate
the use of lodge cards, but
cannot enforce it. Legislation
in the PFMA gives the
decision-making power to the
accounting officer of each
department on how payments
must be fulfilled.
Agent E says: Departments
don’t pay within 30 days as
stipulated in the PFMA. What
monitoring tools are in place
to ensure compliance?
Late payments must be
reported to the department’s
cfo who then takes it to the
department’s accounting
officer. Irregular and wasteful
expenditure must be recorded
on financial statements.
“Treasury is trying to combat
the issue, but late payment
is an issue endemic to
government organisations.”
Agent F says: I’m waiting for
payment on an account as
old as 2009, because the
department says it doesn't
have its batch of payment
documents.
In exceptional cases like
this the TMC can escalate
it to Treasury. Provincial
departments must escalate
it with provincial treasuries.
Agents can contact the
Department of Planning,
Monitoring and Evaluation
at 30daypayment@dpme.
gov.za and Treasury at
30daypayments@treasury.
gov.za.
Agent G says: We often have
to resubmit invoices, with
ridiculous cost implications.
At the time of contracting
agents can stipulate what the
SLAs should be, if charging
for duplicate invoicing is one
of them, agents must state
that. “It is up to the TMC to
govern their relationship with
the department.”
Agent H: In spite of SLAs,
there still aren’t any
repercussions for travellers
who misbehave.
Complying with SLAs is the
responsibility of both the TMC
and department and TMCs
must report any deviance
to the accounting officer of
the offending department.
“Treasury acts only as
a regulatory body and if
communication that Treasury
sends out isn’t enforced
it cannot be held liable.”
Treasury is also developing
a centralised GDS-agnostic
booking tool so that it can
see which departments are
deviating from policy.
Agent I asks: How certain is
Treasury that departments
have the expertise to
assess whether a TMC is
able (financially stable and
adequately resourced) to
fulfil its travel account?
Or are departments solely
choosing a TMC based on
service fees?
Treasury has good faith
that departments have
competent people in
decision-making positions.
In its bid specifications,
a comprehensive list,
including service indicators
and cost guidelines, was
included. Treasury will
conduct a roadshow in June
for departments that need
further education on bid
specifications and travel
policy.
Agent J says: Treasury
removed a revenue stream
from agents without
implementing the necessary
processes to enable agents
to serve departments without
major cash flow problems.
Departments are aware
that agents need to
charge higher fees now
and they are willing to pay
these fees. But, Treasury
wants to see a reduction
in rates. Agents continue
to book the highest
allowable rate as opposed
to getting the best price for
departments. “Changing
this policy was a massive
undertaking and Treasury
acknowledges that it has
serious implications for an
entire industry, but we expect
it to stabilise in the next
three to four years.”
