Temporary accommodation for government expatriate employees-Admin department drops tender plans |10 May 2005

Along with the responsibility for providing stop gap accommodation to newly arrived expatriate government workers, PMC has also picked up the R1.2 million budget and handful of staff that go with the job.

Adverts asking for tenders to offer catered accommodation for incoming expatriate workers were run on February 15 and the bids were opened nine days later.

According to the director general for Administration and Finance, Yvonia Richardson, only four bids were received by the National Tender Board, all of which proved unacceptable, and not just because of the cost involved.

"Some were more (than the R1.2 million budget), some were around that figure. There were also other issues that were taken into consideration, not just the cost, what sort of service, whether they fitted all the conditions," said Mrs Richardson.

Mrs Richardson claimed that the time lag between deciding against the tender bids and informing the public of the decision was due to internal discussions.

"The decision was taken not too long after the tenders were opened, but we've been having some discussions, sometimes the people concerned are not in, perhaps out of the country, that's what has delayed it to today."

Although PMC has been given the same budget for the temporary accommodation, the organisation's managing director, Charles Bastienne, said that he hopes savings will be possible.

Having taken responsibility for all of government's permanent housing stock earlier this month, PMC, Mr Bastienne said, would offer greater efficiency in getting employees out of expensive temporary accommodation and into cheaper permanent accommodation faster.

"We will be able to coordinate better, we will try as much as possible to keep the expatriate the minimum time possible in the hotel or guest house."

He said that one week had been set as a target for the maximum amount of time newly arrived expatriate staff would spend in temporary accommodation before being given a permanent address.

According to Mr Bastienne the next step for PMC is to seek quotations from hotels and guesthouses for temporary accommodation.

However, he did not rule out the possibility that a government owned house could be converted for use as a short stay home for incoming expatriate workers.

Mr Bastienne said that PMC is, "still exploring this decision."

Including the R1.2 million for temporary accommodation, the PMC budget for housing expatriate government employees is roughly R6 million, said Mr Bastienne.