SANRAL's routine road maintenance tender round is open in nine provinces at once: at least 40 contractor lots on eTenders on 10 October, closing between 15 October and 6 November. Most compulsory briefings have passed. Eleven lots still have one ahead, between 12 and 19 October, all on Microsoft Teams.
That last point is the useful one. A briefing on Teams costs a contractor in Gauteng nothing to attend for a Free State lot. If your firm does road maintenance work and you missed the September briefings, there are still five days next week when you can get into the room, and one more the Monday after.
Which SANRAL briefings are still open?
Eleven lots in seven provinces still have a compulsory briefing ahead. The South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) lists every one as compulsory and every one as a Teams meeting. Many lots bundle several separate contracts under one bid number, and the term varies contract by contract. The KwaZulu-Natal and newest North West lots are one contract each.
| Briefing | Province | Lot | cidb | Term | Closes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Oct, 10:00 | Eastern Cape | NRA 2026/0749 (D) and (E) | 8CE or higher | 54 months (D), 60 months (E) | 3 Nov (D) and 6 Nov (E) |
| 12 Oct, 11:00 | Mpumalanga | NRA 2026/0752 (B) | 7CE or higher | 48 months | 26 Oct |
| 12 Oct, 11:00 | Limpopo | NRA 2026/0759 (E) | 8CE or higher | 36 to 60 months | 30 Oct |
| 13 Oct, 11:00 | Free State | NRA 2026/0758 (C) | 7CE or higher | 42 to 60 months | 27 Oct |
| 13 Oct, 14:00 | Northern Cape | NRA 2026/0164 (C) | 7CE or higher | 48 to 54 months | 30 Oct |
| 14 Oct, 11:00 | KwaZulu-Natal | N2 Section 27 to Section 29, Elembe (N002-279-2025-1) | 8CE or higher | 60 months | 28 Oct |
| 15 Oct, 11:00 | Free State | NRA 2026/0758 (D) and (E) | 7CE or higher | 36 to 60 months | 30 Oct |
| 16 Oct, 10:00 | Mpumalanga | NRA 2026/0752 (C) | 7CE or higher | 42 months | 28 Oct |
| 19 Oct, 11:00 | North West | NRA 2026/0756 (D) | 7CE or higher | 36 months | 6 Nov |
Three more had their briefing on 9 October: the two Northern Cape lots NRA 2026/0164 and 0164 (B) at 14:00 and Limpopo's NRA 2026/0759 (D) at 11:00. The North West lot is the newest in the round. It was posted on 9 October, for the R49 and R505 near the Botswana border.
Every date here is from the eTenders listing and the notice on SANRAL's own tenders pages. Open the notice itself on the eTenders open tenders page before you plan around it, because addenda can change a notice and at least two Free State lots already carry one.
The whole round, province by province
The 40 lots split as follows. The briefings for most of them have gone, which narrows what a firm that did not attend can do.
| Province | Lots | Closing | Briefings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Cape | 5 (0749 A to E) | 16 Oct to 6 Nov | 28 Sep, 6 Oct, 12 Oct |
| Free State | 5 (0758, B to E) | 23 to 30 Oct | 29 Sep, 8 Oct, 13 Oct, 15 Oct |
| Northern Cape | 6 (0169, A, B and 0164, B, C) | 19 to 30 Oct | 21 Sep, 29 Sep, 9 Oct, 13 Oct |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 6 (N2 Elembe, X004-112, X004-113, X004-114, 0034 A, B) | 28 Oct to 2 Nov | 18 Sep, 2 Oct, 6 Oct, 14 Oct |
| Limpopo | 5 (0759 A to E) | 21 to 30 Oct | 2 Oct, 6 Oct, 9 Oct, 12 Oct |
| Mpumalanga | 4 (0752, A to C) | 21 to 30 Oct | 30 Sep, 6 Oct, 12 Oct, 16 Oct |
| North West | 4 (0756 A to D) | 21 Oct to 6 Nov | 5 Oct, 19 Oct |
| Western Cape | 3 (0379, A, B) | 19 to 20 Oct | 21 Sep, 29 Sep |
| Gauteng | 2 (0754 A, B) | 15 to 16 Oct | 29 Sep |
Two quirks in the listings are worth knowing before you phone anyone. Both eTenders and SANRAL's own site file NRA 2026/0169 (A) under the Western Cape, but its notice covers Northern Cape roads, the R27, N14, N8 and R382, so it is counted there above. And the Free State lots give Pietermaritzburg as the town because they are run from SANRAL's KwaZulu-Natal provincial office at Mkondeni, Pietermaritzburg. The notices put the tender box there and the queries go to ProcurementER8@sanral.co.za on a 033 number.
Gauteng is the tightest for a firm based here. Its two lots close on 15 and 16 October, and their only briefing was on 29 September. For a Gauteng contractor that did not attend, the realistic route into the home province this round is through a firm that did.
SANRAL is also tendering routine road maintenance consulting work alongside these, such as NRA 2026/0019 (C) in Mpumalanga, with a briefing on 13 October. That is a separate appointment and is not counted above.
Why this is a programme, not a one-off
Forty lots across every province at once is a round, not a single job. Each lot is a term contract: the notices give terms from 36 to 60 months, so the firm that wins a lot needs crews and local subcontractors along those routes for years, not weeks.
The grades matter for who can bid. Every lot in the first table asks for cidb 7CE or 8CE or higher, which puts the main contracts out of reach of most small firms and makes subcontracting the realistic way in for them.
If you missed the briefing
Most lots are now closed to anyone who did not attend. The notice marks each briefing compulsory, and SANRAL's notice for the Gauteng lot says that late arrivals "will not be allowed to participate in the meeting, and their submissions shall be declared non-responsive". Read the notice for your lot for its exact wording.
That changes the question rather than ending it. The firms on each briefing register are the only firms that can put in a responsive bid. Ask the procurement office for the register, then approach those firms as a subcontractor for the work they will need done locally. The same logic is behind reading closed tenders for client matching: the list of who can win is published before anyone wins.
Main contractors will check you before they name you. Have your cidb grading and registration current.
Arabella Infrastructure Solutions is a Johannesburg-based building maintenance and construction company that reads the portal across open, awarded and cancelled notices and matches verified members to the main contractors who need them, section by section. How that works for a subcontractor is on the contractor page.
On Monday
Open the eTenders notice for the one lot in the first table that is nearest your crews. Register for its Teams briefing before Monday's sessions: the Eastern Cape starts at 10:00, Mpumalanga and Limpopo at 11:00.
If every lot near you has passed its briefing, email the procurement office named on the notice and ask for the attendance register. Phone three firms on it by Friday.
