Standby generator tenders in South Africa run to 36 lines in our catalogue of public procurement, recounted from the live feeds on the morning of 12 October. That is 18 open tenders (17 on eTenders, one on Sedibeng's own tenders page) and 18 lines in the eTenders procurement plans due to advertise within 60 days. Four of those are not standby sets at all. The other 32 buy, install or maintain generators in four different ways, and each puts the specification in different hands.
For a generator brand or distributor, that is the useful split. A tender that names a model "or equivalent" has already chosen. Maintenance term contracts choose later, through whoever holds them. And a plan line with an engineer appointed first chooses before any contractor is in the room.
Who is buying standby generators right now?
Public buyers in at least five provinces, plus national departments, are in the market this month. These are the open tenders that buy, install or maintain standby sets, from our read of the eTenders open tenders page.
| Buyer | What | Closes |
|---|---|---|
| Defence | Four DA3-AJ66 diesel generators, water cooled, canopied, three phase "or equivalent", for the DoD School of Logistics Training | 22 Oct |
| South African Weather Service | Supply, installation and commissioning of 3-phase 40kVA silent diesel generators with built-in fuel tanks for the Mthatha, Bethlehem and Bloemfontein weather radar sites | 23 Oct |
| Eastern Cape Health | Framework contract to supply, deliver and install generators at health facilities | 23 Oct |
| Midvaal Local Municipality | Supply, delivery, installation, testing and commissioning of diesel generators, once-off | 26 Oct |
| Mayibuye Transport Corporation | Supply, install, commission and maintain a generator at the Alice depot | 27 Oct |
| ACSA, George Airport | Standby generator maintenance, five years | 22 Oct |
| ACSA, Western Precinct | Standby diesel generator maintenance, 36 months | 23 Oct |
| Rand Water | Maintenance and repair of generators at head office and scientific services, 24 months | 23 Oct |
| PRASA, Western Cape | Maintenance and repair of substations and generators, as and when, 36 months | 23 Oct |
| Thulamela Local Municipality | Panel for servicing, repair and emergency breakdown support of back-up generators, three years | 22 Oct |
| Public Works | Panel of cidb grade 4 to 5 EB and EP contractors for stand-by generator projects, 36 months | 27 Oct (extended from 13 Oct) |
Smaller jobs sit alongside these: a major service and condition assessment for the National Research Foundation, servicing at Matatiele and an assessment and repair at the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex. Postbank's 24-month quarterly maintenance contract and PRASA's installation at various stations both closed on 9 October.
Public Works extended the panel's closing date from 13 October to 27 October at 11:00, in a notice dated 8 October on its tenders page. Only grade 4 and 5 EB or EP contractors qualify, and grade 6 or higher will not be considered.
Check the briefing before you count a line as open to a new bidder. Midvaal holds a compulsory meeting at the Vaal Marina Fire Station at 10:00 on 14 October, according to its tenders page. The eTenders listing flags Mayibuye's 13 October briefing at the Alice depot as compulsory, and the National Research Foundation's RFQ sets a compulsory site visit in Braamfontein at 11:00 on 15 October. Mayibuye's RFQ gives the briefing time as 16:00 and eTenders gives 11:00, so confirm it with the buyer. The Weather Service, Eastern Cape Health, Thulamela and PRASA Western Cape held compulsory briefings on 12 October, 30 September, 1 October and 6 October.
The four lines that are not standby sets are worth naming, because a keyword search returns them. They are hydrogen generators for the Weather Service (closing at 11:00 on 12 October) and a zero air generator for Sedibeng. The other two are preservation of gas turbine packages for the Transnet National Ports Authority and a generator circuit breaker at Eskom's Kriel.
Four ways a model gets into the specification
Named, "or equivalent". Defence names a set, DA3-AJ66, and accepts an equivalent. The specification is written. A brand whose set is not named has to prove equivalence in the bid, line by line, and the evaluator decides.
Performance stated, model open. The Weather Service asks for 40kVA, three phase, silent, with an integrated tank. Midvaal and Eastern Cape Health buy supply and installation. Here the bidder chooses the set. The brand's customer is the electrical contractor pricing the job, not the buyer.
Maintenance terms. ACSA's two contracts run 36 months and five years, Rand Water's 24 months and PRASA's 36. The maintenance contractor is on site for years and is usually the first to be asked what a failed set should be replaced with. That firm is where the next specification starts, long before the replacement is tendered. Our piece on what a specification is worth in a municipal tender shows how quickly it gets lost to price once it reaches the advert.
Panels and appointed engineers. The Public Works panel appoints graded electrical contractors for stand-by generator projects over 36 months. The work then flows to panel members project by project. Our guide on how to join a contractor panel covers that route from the contractor's side.
What the procurement plans add
The 18 planned lines show where the next round of specifications will be written. They come from the department plans on the eTenders procurement plans page and none is advertised yet. The earliest envisaged advert date among them is 14 October, for the Western Cape High Court and a Correctional Services generator.
Public Works carries most of them. It plans back-up generators at the Nqutu, Msinga and New Hanover magistrate courts and a generator at the Western Cape High Court. It also plans 36-month preventative maintenance for standby generators in the Karoo and Gqeberha areas, and emergency power generators at two Labour offices in Mpumalanga.
Two plan lines are worth a brand's particular attention. The Supreme Court of Appeal upgrade in Bloemfontein includes "upgrading of generator capacity for full business continuity", and the plan lists a multi-disciplinary consultant for it. Pofadder Magistrate's Office plans additional accommodation and a generator, with an electrical engineer listed as its own line.
On projects run that way, the engineer usually writes the specification before a contractor is appointed. For a brand, the engineer is the person to reach now.
Arabella Infrastructure Solutions is a Johannesburg-based building maintenance and construction company that keeps the supply-only and maintenance lines other digests discard, and connects brands with the verified electrical contractors who install and maintain the equipment. How that works for a brand is on the brands page.
On Monday
Take the table above and mark each line by route: named, performance, maintenance or panel. For every maintenance and panel line, find out who holds the current contract.
Then open the Public Works plan lines for the Supreme Court of Appeal and Pofadder. Ask the regional office which consulting engineer has been appointed, and send that engineer your technical file.
