There is a smell familiar to anyone who has watched South African institutions fight over money and power - the unmistakable scent of a turf war dressed up as “policy”.

This time, the battlefield is public procurement. The battle lines are drawn between the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), on the one side, and the Black Business Council In The Built Environment (BBCBE), at the opposing end.

At stake is the R1 trillion that government is planning to spend to build and refurbish infrastructure to boost economic growth and keep South Africa internationally competitive.

Tensions started after the CIDB published its draft second edition of the Standard for Uniformity in Construction Procurement (SFU) for public comment on 24 July 2026.

The construction industry regulator has described the draft SFU as an expanded framework for construction procurement and delivery management. It also explicitly presented the draft as aligned with the Public Procurement Act (PPA), which was passed into law in 2024 to promote efficient and accountable public procurement, thereby curbing corruption.

But the BBCBE, which has black contractors in its ranks, is skeptical about CIBD’s decision to publish the draft SFU before the PPA is operationalised.

The PPA has not been operationalised because the National Treasury is still in the process of drafting regulations that will give effect to the PPA, implying the Act’s operationalisation depends on the promulgation of the regulations. The PPA regulations closed for public comment on 31 July 2026.

The BBCBE, an affiliate of BBC, SA’s main mouthpiece for black business, sees CIDB as putting the cart before the horse. The BBC affiliate has gone as far as describing the regulator’s rushed decision as an attempt at “procurement policy grab” because it fears the promulgation of PPA regulations will erode its existing procurement powers.

This is why the CIDB is allegedly hastily ramming through the 2026 SFU before the PPA regulations are enacted into law. So, there is no public procurement framework in place to justify CIDB’s development of a new SFU.

The BBCBE has requested a meeting with the CIDB, where it is expected to tell the regulator to halt the ongoing SFU public consultations until the PPA regulations are promulgated.

For years, the CIDB has occupied a powerful perch in public sector infrastructure procurement. Its procurement prescripts govern how public sector construction procurement is conducted, giving it considerable influence over the rules governing an industry in which billions of rands of public money are spent.

Its regulatory muscle stems from National Treasury regulation 16A, which requires public sector clients to apply CIDB regulations and prescripts when procuring infrastructure. But BBCBE believes regulation 16A does not trump PPA.

The CIDB kicked off the SFU reform process after it appointed a service provider in January this year to review, update and align the SFU with the PPA. The regulator is embarking on this alignment initiative because the existing 2019 standard needs to be updated to reflect changes in SA’s procurement and infrastructure-delivery environment.

The CIDB published a gazette on 24 July 2026 inviting industry stakeholders like contractors, public sector procuring entities, built-environment professionals, and industry bodies to provide public input on the draft SFU.

The deadline for public comment was initially set for 31 August 2026, but was later extended to 30 September 2026. Once adopted, the current draft will replace the 2019 SFU.

The ongoing turf warfare surrounding the draft SFU will not only be felt primarily in boardrooms. It could spillover into courtrooms as disgruntled parties decide to litigate to protect their interests.

Ultimately, the losers of this turf war will be emerging black contractors and tenderers, which already face a maze of registration requirements, compliance costs, and administrative hurdles.

Every additional layer of bureaucracy makes it harder for smaller contractors to compete with established companies possessing armies of consultants, lawyers, and compliance specialists.

That is why the BBCBE is scrutinising the proposed changes to the SFU, particularly proposals or rules related to eligibility, preference, functionality, subcontracting, and tender evaluation.

These requirements or criteria could be used to exclude black contractors from performing complex, lucrative engineering and construction works.

So, the BBCBE will fight to ensure that any future SFU procurement requirements are aligned with PPA regulations and that the interests of its members are protected.

Hopefully, the proposed meeting between the BBCBE and CIDB will iron out the differences between the two institutions.

The clock is ticking towards the 30 September deadline.

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