A distributed model for sharing tendering project information in the South African local government

Abstract

The South African Local Government uses the tendering system to deliver some of the basic services to the surrounding communities to promote social and industrial or environmental policies. However, this process still relies heavily on a manual process, which requires skilled personnel to deal with the forms and administrations of the entire tendering process. Some of the project information shared by the supplier during the tender bidding process plays a critical role when it comes to awarding a tender project to a particular supplier since it reflects the competency area and project history. Some of the tools used to share this project information are reports, meetings, presentations, and site visits. Therefore, this study proposes a distributed model that might be used to share tendering project information securely and efficiently with all the parties that have an interest in the tendering project. The proposed model seeks to promote the need for sharing project information while eliminating issues that are related to a single point of failure or having an organisation that has central powers over project information. Additionally, the proposed model can also be used to foster collaboration between the public and private sectors by becoming an essential tool that might be used to securely share project information without colluding. The proposed model also incorporates the benefits and promises that come with the adoption of distributed ledger technology (blockchain) as a technology solution.