In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—
‘‘accounting authority’’ means an accounting authority as defined in section 1 of the Public Finance Management Act;
‘‘accounting officer’’ means—
(a) in relation to a department or constitutional institution, the accounting officer as defined in section 1 of the Public Finance Management Act;
(b) in relation to a municipality, the municipal official referred to in section 60 of the Municipal Finance Management Act; or
(c) in relation to a municipal entity, the official of the entity referred to in section 93 of the Municipal Finance Management Act;
‘‘bid’’ means a written offer, which is capable of acceptance and conversion into a contract, in the form determined by the procuring institution through any prescribed procurement method;
‘‘bid committee’’ means persons appointed by the accounting officer or accounting authority to a committee to perform functions within the bid committee system;
‘‘bidder’’ means any person or an association of two or more persons that submit a bid;
‘‘black people’’ has the meaning assigned in section 1 of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, 2003 (Act No. 53 of 2003);
‘‘capital asset’’ means an asset that is tangible or intangible which a procuring institution intends to use for more than 12 months;
‘‘confidential information’’ means any information which, on a request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000), must or may be refused in terms of that Act;
‘‘Constitution’’ means the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996;
‘‘co-operative’’ has the meaning assigned in section 1 of the Co-operatives Act, 2005 (Act No. 14 of 2005);
‘‘corruption’’ means an offence envisaged in the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004 (Act No. 12 of 2004);
‘‘days’’ means any days other than Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays as defined in the Public Holidays Act, 1994 (Act No. 36 of 1994);
‘‘economically active population’’ means all persons, within the population of the Republic, who contribute to economic activity or are available to contribute to economic activity;
‘‘emergency’’ means an event which is unexpected and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, human rights, property, financial loss, livestock, environment, cybersecurity or the ability of the procuring institution to maintain critical business functions and requires immediate action;
‘‘geographical area’’ means the geographical area of a municipality or province;
‘‘immediate family member’’ means a spouse, civil partner, life partner, child, stepchild, parent or sibling;
‘‘income-generating contract’’ means an agreement between the procuring institution cand a third party that produces revenue for the procuring institution, and includes, but is not limited to, leasing and disposal of assets and concession contracts, excluding direct sales and disposal of assets through public auctions;
‘‘infrastructure’’ means the physical facilities or structures and systems, including digital or analogue communications systems that are required to provide services to the public directly or indirectly;
‘‘instruction’’ means an instruction issued by the Public Procurement Office in terms of section 5(2) or a provincial treasury in terms of section 6(2);
‘‘member of the Tribunal’’ means a member of the Tribunal referred to in section 37;
‘‘military veteran’’ means any South African citizen who rendered military service to any of the non-statutory military organisations which were involved in South Africa’s Liberation War from 1960 to 1994;
‘‘Minister’’ means the Cabinet member responsible for financial matters;
‘‘municipal entity’’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act No. 32 of 2000);
‘‘Municipal Finance Management Act’’ means the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act No. 56 of 2003);
‘‘municipality’’ when referred to as—
(a) a corporate body, means a municipality as described in section 2 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000; or
(b) a geographic area, means a municipal area determined in terms of the Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Act, 1998 (Act No. 27 of 1998);
‘‘national security’’ includes the protection of the people of the Republic and the territorial integrity of the Republic against—
(a) the threat of use of force or the use of force;
(b) foreign acts directed at undermining the constitutional order of the Republic;
(c) terrorism or terrorist related activities;
(d) espionage;
(e) exposure of a state security matter with the intention of undermining the constitutional order of the Republic;
(f) exposure of economic, scientific or technological secrets vital to the Republic;
(g) sabotage;
(h) cyber-attack;
(i) serious violence directed at overthrowing the constitutional order of the Republic; and
(j) acts directed at undermining the capacity of the Republic to respond to the use of, or the threat of the use of, force and carrying out of the Republic’s responsibilities to any foreign country or international organisation in relation to any of the matters referred to in this definition, whether directed from, or committed within, the Republic or not, but does not include lawful political activity, advocacy, protest or dissent;
‘‘National Treasury’’ means the National Treasury established by section 5 of the Public Finance Management Act;
‘‘official’’ means an employee of a procuring institution;
‘‘open data’’ means machine-readable data that is made available with the technical and legal characteristics necessary for it to be freely used, reused and redistributed without restrictions, based on a standard determined by an instruction;
‘‘organ of state’’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 239 of the Constitution;
‘‘panel’’ means a panel of the Tribunal constituted in terms of section 45;
‘‘people with disabilities’’ has the meaning assigned in section 1 of the Employment Equity Act, 1998 (Act No. 55 of 1998);
‘‘prescribed’’ means prescribed by regulation in terms of section 63;
‘‘procurement’’ means—
(a) the acquisition of goods or services for construction, repair or maintenance of infrastructure or capital assets;
(b) the acquisition of goods or services, other than goods or services referred to in paragraph (a);
(c) the acquisition of infrastructure or capital assets; or
(d) the letting or disposal of assets; by a procuring institution;
‘‘procurement system’’ means a procurement system envisaged in section 24(1);
‘‘procuring institution’’ means an institution referred to in section 3(1);
‘‘Promotion of Administrative Justice Act’’ means the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, 2000 (Act No. 3 of 2000);
‘‘provincial treasury’’ means a provincial treasury established by section 17 of the Public Finance Management Act;
‘‘Public Finance Management Act’’ means the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999);
‘‘public office bearer’’ means—
(a) a member of Cabinet or a Deputy Minister;
(b) a member of the National Assembly;
(c) a permanent delegate to the National Council of Provinces;
(d) a member of an Executive Council;
(e) a member of a provincial legislature;
(f) a judicial officer envisaged in section 174 of the Constitution;
(g) a member of a Municipal Council;
(h) a member of the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders; or
(i) a member of a provincial house of Traditional and Khoi-San leaders;
‘‘public-private partnership’’ means a contract between a procuring institution and a private party where the private party—
(a) performs a function on behalf of the procuring institution or acquires the use of property of an organ of state for its own commercial purposes;
(b) assumes substantial financial, technical and operational risks in connection with the performance of that function or the use of that property; and
(c) receives a benefit for performing that function or from using that property, either by way of—
(i) a consideration payable by the procuring institution;
(ii) charges or fees to be collected by the private party from users or customers of a service provided to them; or
(iii) a combination of such consideration and such charges or fees;
‘‘Public Procurement Office’’ means the Public Procurement Office established by section 4;
‘‘publish’’ means publication in the Gazette or on an official website or on an easily accessible central online portal that is publicly available;
‘‘regulation’’ means a regulation made in terms of section 63;
‘‘related persons’’ means persons who are connected to one another in any manner envisaged in section 2(1)(a) to (c), read with section 2(2), of the Companies Act, 2008 (Act No. 71 of 2008);
‘‘small enterprise’’ has the meaning assigned in section 1 of the National Small Enterprise Act, 1996 (Act No. 102 of 1996); ‘
‘strategic procurement’’ means a comprehensive approach to procurement that aligns with the strategies and objectives of a procuring institution, thereby enhancing cost-effectiveness;
‘‘supplier’’ means a bidder awarded a bid in terms of this Act;
‘‘this Act’’ includes the regulations, codes of conduct, instructions and notices made or issued in terms of this Act;
‘‘transformation’’ in relation to public procurement, means the process of change that seeks to—
(a) redress the unfair discrimination of the past;
(b) achieve representation of the economically active population of the Republic; and
(c) achieve socio-economic objectives;
‘‘transversal term contract’’ means a contract arranged by the relevant treasury or another procuring institution mandated in terms of legislation, for procurement that is required by two or more procuring institutions;
‘‘treasury’’ means the National Treasury or a provincial treasury;
‘‘Tribunal’’ means the Public Procurement Tribunal established by section 36;
‘‘Tribunal rules’’ means rules made in terms of section 46; and
‘‘youth’’ has the meaning assigned in section 1 of the National Youth Development Agency Act, 2008 (Act No. 54 of 2008).