Category Archives: News

Workshop on public procurement (law) reform in South Africa 2026

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As part of APLU’s ongoing project of supporting public procurement (law) reform in South Africa, we will host an in-person workshop in Johannesburg on 4 to 5 June 2026.

The aim of the workshop is to create a space for deliberation on the draft General Public Procurement Regulations, 2026 published by National Treasury and open for public comment until 15 June 2026. By convening this workshop, APLU strives to sustain the South African public procurement community of practice and to facilitate a co-creation approach to crafting South Africa’s new public procurement system. The timing of the workshop was deliberately chosen to enable participants to refine their submissions on the draft regulations ahead of the submission deadline of 15 June. The workshop is complimented by a 10-part webinar series through which experts on various aspects of the draft procurement regulations discuss the draft (click here for more details on the series).

The workshop programme will entail sessions focusing on distinct parts of the draft regulations. In each session one or more experts will introduce the relevant part and highlight some considerations for discussion. The sessions will allow ample time for discussion among participants.

The workshop will be hosted at the Premier Hotel OR Tambo. Registration is open to anyone. The registration fee for the two full days is R250 (including lunch on both days). Given the limited capacity, bookings can only be secured once payment has been received.

Any queries can be directed to Ms. Yolisa Majali at yolisa@sun.ac.za.

Click here to register.

Policy Position Paper on Public Procurement of Cloud Services in South Africa

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South Africa’s digital transformation agenda — anchored in the National Data and Cloud Policy (2024), the Digital Government Policy Framework and most recently, the Roadmap for the Digital Transformation of Government (2025) — is structurally misaligned with its public procurement framework. The PFMA, MFMA, PPPFA and related instruments presuppose fixed specifications and static pricing, whereas cloud computing and digital public infrastructure operate through consumption-based, modular and iterative modalities. The result is implementation delays, fragmented adoption and reliance on deviations. The Public Procurement Act 2024, and particularly its imminent Regulations, offer a critical opportunity to realign procurement law with the technical and commercial realities of cloud and DPI.

This comprehensive report, prepared by Prof Geo Quinot and Mr Joshua Swart for APLU, is positioned as an intervention in both the public cloud policy development and public procurement reform in South Africa. Specifically, the report analyses the interaction between these developments. The ultimate aim is to inform the continued development of South Africa’s public procurement system, currently primarily through the development of the PPA Regulations, to align procurement law with the technical and commercial realities of cloud computing and DPI.

The central finding of this paper is that South Africa’s digital transformation challenge is no longer one of policy formulation, but of legal and institutional operability.

Jurisdictions that have successfully implemented cloud-enabled government have done so by adapting procurement frameworks to the technical and commercial realities of digital infrastructure. South Africa faces the same imperative: digital policy must now be translated into enforceable procurement rules, standards and institutional arrangements.

The Public Procurement Act 2024 provides a critical opportunity to achieve this translation, especially through the drafting of detailed implementation regulations under the Act.

To enable lawful, secure and scalable cloud adoption and DPI development, the PPA Regulations should incorporate the following elements.

Click here to download the full position paper.

Webinar series on draft South African Public Procurement Regulations

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On 16 April 2026, the South African National Treasury published draft regulations under the Public Procurement Act 2024 for public comment (see at this link). Once promulgated, these regulations will enable the Act to commence.

Two sets of regulations were published, the draft Public Procurement Tribunal Regulations, 2026 and the draft General Public Procurement Regulations, 2026. In combination, these sets of regulations constitute a comprehensive set of rules to govern public procurement in South Africa in future. Public comments on the draft Tribunal regulations are due by 15 May and on the draft General regulations by 15 June.

APLU in partnership with Shaun Scott of Public Procurement Innovation Research (PPiR) is hosting a series of webinars on the Public Sector SCM Collaboration Platform to unpack the draft Regulations. The aim is to generate debate around the draft regulations and facilitate meaningful submissions. The series starts on 29 April at 10am (CAT) and continues until 10 June. Anyone is welcome to register at the link below.

Click here to register
Click here to view recordings of past sessions on YouTube

APLU participates in the first South Africa Innovation week

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In March 2026, the first SA Innovation Week was hosted by the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) in partnership with South African Innovation Summit (SAIS) and supported by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI). SA Innovation Week (SAIW) is the official national platform connecting innovators, investors, industry leaders and policymakers in a coordinated, unconference, deal-making, outcomes-driven innovation platform designed to accelerate commercialisation and strengthen competitiveness.

SBRI Colloquium during SA Innovation Week (March 16–20)

APLU participated in one of the key events of the SA Innovation Week 2026, namely the SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) Colloquium. The Colloquium, which was sponsored by the UK High Commission, focused on how public procurement can be a driver of innovation. Prof Quinot participated in one of the panel discussions at the Colloquium focusing on the role that law generally and the unfolding procurement law reform in South Africa in particular, can play in unlocking the potential of public procurement as a driver of innovation.

Quinot delivers keynote opening speech at the 5th APPN Assembly

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At the end of November 2025, APLU Director, Prof Geo Quinot, delivered the keynote address at the 5th Assembly of the African Public Procurement Network (APPN) that was hosted by the Government of Zimbabwe (which held the 2025 presidency of the APPN) at Victoria Falls. The APPN is the continental body bringing together the chief procurement offices of 53 African states to deliberate on matters of mutual interest. The General Assembly, composed of heads of national public procurement authorities, is the highest decision-making body of the APPN, setting strategic direction, electing leadership, and guiding key decisions at its annual assembly.

Speakers with the APPN Executive at the 5th APPN Assembly
Quinot delivering the keynote opening at the 5th APPN Assembly

In his opening keynote speech, Quinot argued that public procurement is one of the keys to unlocking the African continent’s full potential, but that it will only be possible if African states collectively and intentionally tailor their public procurement systems with optimal developmental objectives as primary objective while pursuing maximum integrity within and integration across national procurement systems. He outlined the various strands of public procurement law and policy where innovation is required to achieve these goals.

Prof Quinot also participated in a panel discussion during the course of the Assembly on Reinforcing Governance Through Public Procurement: A Social Contract Approach. This panel explored the ways in which public procurement systems should intentionally be anchored in the needs of societies turning such societies into primary structures of governance.

Panel on Reinforcing Governance Through Public Procurement: A Social Contract Approach

APLU researchers contribute to international deliberations on public procurement

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APLU researchers, Prof Geo Quinot and Prof Sope Williams, participated in several international engagements on public procurement law and policy during 2025.

Prof Williams participated in the 3rd International Congress of Public Procurement in Buenos Aires in November 2025, where she presented a paper on gender responsive procurement. In December, Williams participated in the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption, held in Doha.

The 3rd International Congress of Public Procurement, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

In September 2025, Prof Geo Quinot contributed to the 6th Interdisciplinary Symposium on Public Procurement, held in Lisbon, Portugal. He presented a paper on public procurement integrity at the digital frontier. In October, Quinot (virtually) delivered the keynote address at a conference on local content in public procurement hosted by the Polish Public Procurement Law Association (PPLA) and the Chair of European Law at the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Law and Administration, Warsaw, Poland.

6th Interdisciplinary Symposium on Public Procurement, Lisbon
Local content in public procurement, Warsaw

APLU again assists NRF to host international procurement conference

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For the second year in a row, APLU assisted the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) to host an international conference on public procurement. The 2024 conference focused on specifications and methods in public procurement and was hosted on 4 and 5 September 2024 at the NRF Headquarters in Pretoria. For more information, click here.

Workshop on Public Procurement Reform in South Africa 2024

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On 24 to 25 July 2024, APLU convened a national workshop on public procurement reform in South Africa.

The aim of the workshop was to bring together all stakeholders to discuss current developments in public procurement reform in South Africa. The workshop is a continuation of a project started in 2023, broadly aimed at collective reflection on what public procurement system the procurement community wants and needs in South Africa and how all stakeholders can collaborate to get there.

Chief Justice Zondo delivering the opening address at the Workshop on 24 July.

The 2024 workshop was opened by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, in which he reminded delegates that public procurement was at the heart of state capture as identified by the State Capture Commission which he chaired. He thus emphasised the importance of the aims of the workshop in pursuit of a reformed public procurement system in South Africa. The Chief Justice called on all delegates to carefully scrutinise current reform projects, such as the new Public Procurement Act and regulations to be made under the Act, to ensure that the weaknesses that enabled state capture through public procurement are effectively addressed.

The presentations by the various speakers can be viewed at the link below and recordings of the live stream are available on APLU’s YouTube channel.

Programme
Presentations
YouTube

This project is funded by the Millennium Trust.

APLU CONTRIBUTES GLOBAL REVOLUTION 2024 CONFERENCE

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On 17 to 18 June 2024, the Public Procurement Research Group at the University of Nottingham hosted its biennial international conference on public procurement law. The 2024 conference again gathered scholars from multiple disciplines around the world to discuss current research and developments in the field of public procurement.

APLU was again one of the collaborating partners for the conference and contributed to several sessions. Prof Geo Quinot delivered a plenary keynote that focused on reconceptualising public procurement (law and practice) globally. Prof Sope Williams shared insights from her most recent research addressing the corruption barriers to gender responsive procurement in a session that focused on diversity in procurement. Prof Quinot also joined Prof François Lichère of the Université Jean Moulin Lyon and Director of the Chair of Public Contract Law (Chaire de droit des contrats publics), Prof Christopher Yukins of the George Washington University School of Law and Prof Tünde Tátrai of the Corvinus University of Budapest on a panel that discussed deference to contracting authority decisions in procurement disputes.

Prof Quinot delivering his keynote plenary address
Prof Quinot, Prof Tatrai, Prof Lichere
Prof Williams sharing insights on diversity in procurement
Prof Annamaria La Chimia, Director of the PPRG and APLU Associate Researcher opening the conference

APLU Deputy Director graduates from prestigious GWU postgraduate procurement programme

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APLU Deputy Director, Dr Allison Anthony, graduated on 19 May 2024 from the prestigious LLM in Government Procurement Law from George Washington University School of Law in Washington DC in the United States. This programme is the oldest dedicated degree programme focusing specifically on public procurement law. APLU and the Government Procurement Law Program at GWU have a long-standing close relationship of collaboration in the field of public procurement law. With Dr Anthony now an alumni of both entities, these bonds will inevitably continue to grow stronger.