Central Supplier Database
National Treasury's single supplier database for the whole public sector: one registration, checked automatically against CIPC, SARS and B-BBEE.
What the register is for
The CSD is where an organ of state verifies a supplier before it pays one. Registration is free and done once; the database then reads the company's CIPC status, its SARS tax compliance and its B-BBEE status on its own, and generates a summary report a buyer attaches to a bid. If SARS shows non-compliant on the CSD, the bid is dead before it is read.
Who must be on it
Every supplier or contractor to any organ of state. Most municipalities also keep their own supplier list for formal written quotations, and the CSD does not replace that.
Where it comes from
National Treasury instruction notes under the Public Finance Management Act; municipal supply chain regulations for the local lists.
How to check
A supplier registers and maintains its own record; a buyer verifies it by supplier number. The summary report is regenerated per bid.
What a listing does not prove
That the firm can do the work. The CSD is a compliance check, not a competence one.
Read the detail
The panel
A contractor on the panel is checked on Central Supplier Database before it quotes, and the check is repeated when the registration falls due. You see one quote from one company, with this already done.