12 / 56
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
MAY
2017
10
and demanding field,” said Reddy. “It
is also vital that business promotes
equity and social transformation, so it is
fitting that the awards recognise this in
their adjudication.”
The Top 500 Awards consider
employment profiles and diversity in
management and control, as well as
commitment to corporate social investment, employment equity
and skill development. As an independent network of consulting
engineers and scientists, SRK is owned and managed by its staff
and invests significantly in fostering talent in a culture of excellence.
Reddy said the growing social, environmental, financial and legal
pressures on industry have led SRK to broaden its expertise over the
decades from its mining base into fields including: civil engineering
and infrastructure; water and waste; environmental management,
social impact and governance; and the energy sector, including
renewables. The SRK approach is to integrate all aspects of project
success to optimise opportunities and manage risk.
MARKETPLACE
Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu has also recently released three
performance audit reports dealing with pharmaceuticals, water
infrastructure and urban renewal projects. The Auditor-General
reported in some instances the required skilled personnel were not
appointed at the start of a project.
The Association for South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS)
says that Quantity Surveyors are best placed to stem corruption
in government infrastructure projects. “The first step," says Larry
Feinberg, Executive Director of ASAQS, “is for both government
officials as well as the ordinary taxpayer to understand what the role
of a professional quantity surveyor (QS) is.
“Globally, construction projects are highly susceptible to cost-
overruns, owing to a number of factors. Here in South Africa, as in
many other countries, we have the additional problem of corruption,
where due process is flouted in order to benefit connected
individuals or companies, often during the construction process
itself,” says Feinberg. “The person best placed to identify deviations
from the original tender in terms of both scope and pricing is the QS
and, as such, they act as the client’s watchdog. In the case of public
projects, we should remember, the client is ultimately the taxpayer,
whose money is being spent – or wasted, in some cases.”
Feinberg goes on to say, “In order to have the greatest impact, QSs
should be involved right from the initiation stage of the project and
also be involved in the planning and feasibility reports in
addition to the approval of the actual procurement strategies”.
One of the key issues in any project is to ensure that the tender is
awarded to the right contractor at the right price. QSs play a critical
role here because they are trained to manage the financial and legal
processes of a project. During the design stage the QS’s estimate is
the tool to ensure the design remains within the budget. During the
procurement stage the QS produces the Bills of Quantities (BoQ) on
which fair and equitable tenders are based. The BoQ is the ultimate
document that provides the client with the knowledge of how much
the project is going to cost before construction begins, which is
invaluable in judging the tenders before they are awarded.
The QS’s professional experience and training makes them the
best persons to evaluate tenders. “The BoQ acts as the baseline for
the entire project. Any subsequent additions or omissions to the
project would also be assessed and costed using the BoQ as the
guideline,” Feinberg adds. “The QS then acts as watchdog throughout
the course of the project: monitoring progress against the BoQ,
authorising payments as work is completed, noting deviations from
the tender and, ultimately, producing the final account and be able to
defend it to any stakeholder.”
National, Provincial and Local Authorities (NPLA’s) are woefully
short of experienced and professional QSs thus finding themselves
not having enough bandwidth and experienced professional QS’s to
manage the many projects at any given time.
“Professional QSs are bound by a code of conduct and if they are
found to have contravened it, they will lose their licence to practice
as a QS,” Feinberg concludes. “This combination of professional
discipline, skill and experience makes them the best persons to
ensure that a tender is awarded to the right contractor – and that the
project is delivered on time and within budget. In this way, they serve
both the NPLA’s and its ultimate boss, provider the taxpayer.”
A QS against corruption on
government projects
Government will spend over R50-billion to fund
national and provincial economic infrastructure
requirements, according to the National Budget
2017 announced on by the former Finance Minister,
Pravin Gordhan. Noticably, however, according to the
Auditor-General report on local government audit
outcomes for the 2014-15, infrastructure was one
of the items that municipalities struggled with most
to correctly measure and disclose in the financial
statements over the past five years.
Rated as a top five company
The awards survey over 3 000 businesses and honour those
who excel in their sectors in terms of best practice standards
as well as implementing strong social, empowerment and
development policies.
Conducted by Topco Media and the University of Cape Town’s
Development Policy Research Unit, the survey singles out the five
top firms in each of 100 different economic segments; the top 500
companies currently have a collective turnover of R3,5-trillion.
Being ranked so highly among peers was gratifying and humbling,
said SRK managing director Vis Reddy.
“We are certainly known as innovators and perfectionists in our
efforts to create value for our clients’ businesses, and we work hard
to stay at the cutting edge of what is an increasingly competitive
SRK Consulting SA has been rated in the top five
companies in South Africa’s consulting engineering
(mining and infrastructure) segment in the recent
Top 500 Companies Awards.
Vis Reddy, managing director, SRK
Consulting SA.