Municipal tenders: how municipalities buy
How municipalities procure under the Municipal Finance Management Act: each municipality's own supply chain management policy, the quotation and bidding thresholds, where municipal tenders are advertised, and the CSD.
Checked against the official sources listed below on 11 October 2026.
Their own law and their own policy
Municipalities and municipal entities buy under the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (MFMA), not the law that governs national and provincial departments. Section 111 of the MFMA requires each municipality and municipal entity to have and implement its own supply chain management policy, within the Municipal Supply Chain Management Regulations that National Treasury made under the Act.
The thresholds
Since the regulations were amended on 14 December 2023, and including VAT:
- petty cash: purchases up to R2 000;
- formal written price quotations: above R2 000 up to R300 000 for a local municipality, up to R200 000 for a district municipality and up to R750 000 for a metropolitan municipality;
- competitive bidding: above those amounts.
- A requirement may not be split into smaller parts to avoid competitive bidding, and the regulations allow a municipality to put a purchase below these amounts out to competitive bidding.
Where municipal tenders are advertised
National Treasury's MFMA Circular 83 requires municipalities and municipal entities to advertise all their bids on the eTender Publication Portal, in addition to the advertising the regulations already require, and to publish notices of awards, cancellations and deviations there. The Western Cape Government notes that municipalities also advertise their tenders in local newspapers and in public places, so check the municipality's own website and notices as well.
The CSD applies too
The Central Supplier Database has been fully effective for municipalities and municipal entities since 1 July 2016, and they use a supplier's CSD supplier number (it starts with MAAA). Register there before you respond to a municipal quotation or bid.
Read the municipality's policy
Because each municipality writes its own supply chain management policy within the regulations, details such as how quotations are invited can differ from one municipality to the next. Ask the municipality's supply chain management unit for its policy, or look for it on its website, before you respond to its first tender.
Where Govermate fits
Govermate lists the open tenders it holds by province, with their recorded closing dates. A municipality's own notice is always the final word on how and when to bid.
Official sources
- Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act 56 of 2003)(opens the official page in a new tab)South African Government
- Amendments to Regulations regarding Supply Chain Management (Government Notice 4198, 14 December 2023)(opens the official page in a new tab)National Treasury
- Supply chain management: a guide for accounting officers of municipalities and municipal entities (2005)(opens the official page in a new tab)National Treasury
- MFMA Circular No. 83: eTender Publication Portal(opens the official page in a new tab)National Treasury
- MFMA Circular No. 81: Web-based Central Supplier Database(opens the official page in a new tab)National Treasury
- Tenders(opens the official page in a new tab)Western Cape Government