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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. THANK YOU