North West LTSM Presenation Presenter: Mr. K.B. Moepedi Director: Asset Management 27 June 2018

PRESENTATION LAYOUT Purpose NWDOE`s Centralized Procurement System - including Ordering process, advantages and challenges Unspent LTSM Funds Roles of the Provincial and District Offices Conclusion

PURPOSE To brief the Select Committee on Education and Recreation on Centralized Procurement Systems with reference to the following: Advantages and Challenges of Centralized Procurement What happens to unspent school LTSM funds The correct time of ordering Why delivery of wrong books to schools Role of Province & Districts in monitoring the implementation of retrieval system

LTSM Centralized Procurement The province had since (more than 10 years) adopted a centralized procurement model LTSM service providers (Stationery Manufacturers and Distributors) are appointed by the Province for a period of three years. Publishers are appointed through National Contract, and the Province signs SLAs with them. Stationery Manufacturers and Publishers supply and deliver stationery and textbooks to appointed distributors. Distributors deliver both stationery and textbooks directly to schools Approximately 50 publishers are supplying textbooks 03 Stationery Manufacturers supply stationery 37 distributors appointed across the province

Stationery & Textbooks Ordering The correct time for ordering by schools is May/June – in line with the DBE Sector Plan LTSM Delivery Plan is crafted and monitored aiming at ensuring that deliveries to schools are completed by end of November every year Activities in the plan include meetings with Service providers, LTSM displays with schools, ordering, delivery by service providers, monitoring of deliveries, etc. Circumstances beyond control sometimes derail our Delivery Plan, and adjustments to the plan become necessary

Ordering process continued The province developed its own Stationery Catalogue, and used the National Catalogue as a guide The province relies on National Catalogues for ordering of Textbooks. All cataloques (Stationery and Textbooks) are uploaded on the E-LTSM system Schools order LTSM on-line using the internally developed electronic system (e-LTSM system). Wrong delivered books results from incorrect selection of books by schools during on-line ordering Once wrong deliveries are detected, replacement is done.

Advantages of Centralized Procurement Economy of scale (bulk procurement) allows savings through discounts on prices of LTSM items Uniform model or system is applied to all schools Same Cataloques are used and thus same quality of materials to all schools The E-LTSM system ensures that all schools utilize the LTSM budget as intended – accountability is maintained Minimized irregularities if schools were to procure on their own The risk of transferring LTSM funds to schools with poor or inadequate financial management

Challenges related to Central Procurement Schools capturing wrong ISBN numbers thus receiving wrong books. Delivery notes not captured timeously on e-LTSM causing delays in confirming deliveries or shortages by schools. To date the province does not have serious challenges. Schools are treated the same although some can manage their funds Delays of deliveries through central procurement may pose a risk - mainly due to: Delay in tender processes by SCM Disputed awarded tenders by service providers Delayed appointment of service providers resulting in delay of procurement

Unspent LTSM funds by schools The question is what happens to the change (money) left? Firstly schools are advised to prioritize stationery packs and Textbooks for all learners What is left is then spent on other supplementary LTSM items Where (change) funds remain, these have not been given to schools but remained with the Department. With implementation of the E-LTSM system in the past financial year, schools unspent funds will be reimbursed going forward. We are able to identify those schools that spent less than their allocations

Role of Provincial Office on retrieval system No uniform or standardized retrieval system existed before introduction of E-LTSM system Manual retrieval and reporting systems were used by schools up to the end of the 2017 academic year. An electronic ordering and retrieval system by schools was introduced in 2017. The province will implement the e-LTSM retrieval system to ensure satisfactory textbook retrieval for 2018. The Province will monitor implementation of retrieval by reports drawn from the E-LTSM

Role of District Offices on retrieval system Currently districts monitor retrieval of books through curriculum officials visiting schools. Not enough is done in this regard. Districts should consolidate and report on the percentage of textbook retention by the end of the academic year, and citing reasons for the non-return of textbooks and plans to retrieve outstanding textbooks. This is not done The District should ensure that schools establish and implement Textbooks Retention Plans. They must undertake periodical checks on LTSM to ensure effective use and safekeeping.

Districts` role continued Currently districts` LTSM units rely solely on manual retrieval reports compiled by schools, hence they are not able to detect shortages timeously. Monitoring tools used by Circuit Managers should be standardised to include adequate evaluations of the LTSM management systems at schools. Any verification to confirm correctness and completeness of statistics requires a lot of time and effort, hence it is not done thoroughly. Implementation of e-LTSM is intended to also serve as a Stock register for textbooks held by schools.

Plans to address improve retrieval system The Curriculum Chief Directorate and the Directorate for Asset Management are working on: Appointment of Provincial LTSM Committee members by 30th June 2018 Review of existing LTSM Policy and the 50 Point Plan Documents by Provincial LTSM Committee - end of July Provincial LTSM Policy to advocated to schools through districts- Aug/Sept Schools` LTSM Committees to be revived and made functional. 2018 retrieval to be completed before schools closure – December.

THANK YOU