A deviation is a procurement process that falls within the ambit of Regulation 36 of the Municipal Supply Chain Management Regulations (Municipal Finance Management Act). Tebello Mpuru, Manager responsible for Stores, Data & Supply Chain Management at GRDM, explains: “It allows the Municipal Manager to dispense with the prescribed procurement processes established by the organisation’s Supply Management Policy of Council and to procure any required goods and services through any convenient process, provided that the reason for having to deviate falls within the allowed categories as per the legislation. This may include direct negotiations,” he said.

The SCM Regulations stipulates the following five (5) specific circumstances that legitimise the use of deviations:

• In an emergency situation
• If such goods or services are produced or available from a single provider only
• For the acquisition of special works of art or historical objects where specifications are difficult to compile
• Acquisitions of animals for zoos
• In any other exceptional case where it is impractical or impossible to follow the official procurement process; and
• To ratify any minor breaches of the procurement processes by an official or committee acting in terms of delegated powers or duties which are purely of technical nature.

The use of deviations for unjustifiable reasons leads to irregular expenditure. According to Mpuru, irregular expenditure due to the abuse of deviations, is frowned upon by stakeholders at all levels of the organisation, as the practice negatively affects the performance of the organisational. For that reason, this practice rarely ever escapes the public eye, as it creates a perception of intentional financial misconduct and the contravention of the relevant Municipal Finance Management Act (in a municipal context). On the question, why it is important not to follow the deviations route, Mpuru highlighted: “Through proper procurement planning by an organisation to put measures in place to have appropriate goods and service contracts for Council, a deviation would be an exceptional occurrence”. Each deviation would then allow the Council to update their procurement plan and put measures in place to avoid similar situations in the future, if possible. An event would rarely be entirely new; therefore, through proper planning, procurement contracts can be put in place ahead of time and ensure that minimal deviations can occur.

In further elaborating on the practice of deviating, De Jager explains that with emergencies that could still arise, considering that GRDM delivers disaster management and fire fighting services, would mean that some deviations would still be justifiably required. However “the organisation has shown great progress to identify every possible eventually for which we would be required to procure goods/services and has ensured that legislated procurement processes were followed to get adequate contracts in place for such goods/services”.  In closing, he highlighted: “The success of this drive to reduce deviations is evident from how the total annual deviations has decreased over the last number of years”.