14. (1) If an accounting officer, an accounting authority, a member of an accounting authority or an official of a procuring institution (herein called ‘‘the affected person’’) is Directed, in writing or verbally, by any person with authority over the affected person (herein called ‘‘the person with authority’’), to do or omit to do anything in respect of procurement, which the affected person believes he or she is not authorised to do in terms of this Act or is contrary to a provision of this Act, the affected person must not comply with the direction.
(2) The affected person—
(a) must inform the Public Procurement Office or relevant provincial treasury, in the prescribed manner, of the direction, the objection and the reason for the objection;
(b) may submit in writing to the person with authority, the objection, and the reason for the objection;
(c) may inform, in writing, the line manager of the person who must initiate an investigation into the allegation within a period determined in the procuring institution policies; and
(d) may report to the Public Service Commission or any other relevant body for investigation.
(3) If the line manager was informed of the allegation in terms of subsection (2)(c) but does not initiate an investigation, the Public Procurement Office or the relevant provincial treasury must initiate an investigation in the prescribed manner unless reported in terms of subsection (2)(d).
(4) The affected person may not, despite any term of employment, be subjected to occupational detriment as defined in section 1 of the Protected Disclosures Act, 2000 (Act No. 26 of 2000), due to the non-compliance with the direction of the person with authority.