Government departments, as at November 2005, are accommodated in an inconsistent and fragmented manner. The standard of accommodation ranges from South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) grades A to C. Single departments in some instances occupy up to 28 buildings in the inner city, resulting in duplicated services such as reception and security which also results in fragmented organizational functioning. Re Kgabisa Tshwane seeks to ensure an integrated approach to the accommodation of departments in buildings that meet the A grade SAPOA standard.
The execution of the Re Kgabisa Tshwane mandate has necessitated the development of a framework, processes and strategies to guide the programme. A spatial framework has been developed as well as a needs assessment process and options analysis process. A communication and funding strategy has also been initiated. The processes and strategies are discussed below.
A needs assessment process was conducted for participating departments and agencies and is now substantially complete. The needs assessment aims to establish what is required in terms of accommodation by each participating department and agency in order to execute their mandate in the best possible manner. The assessment is of a qualitative and quantitative nature in order to for example, gauge space and parking requirements as well as to consider employee well-being issues such as requests for crèches, gym’s and an adequate canteen. The assessment takes into consideration each department’s mandate and anticipated future needs.
The needs assessment has revealed a gap between department needs and existing accommodation that Re Kgabisa Tshwane will seek to bridge in determining the accommodation solution for government departments through an Options Analysis Process that is presently taking place.
The options analysis process aims to link department and agency needs with the delivery of their accommodation solution. The process is a robust mechanism designed to identify the most appropriate location as well as the most appropriate methods of delivering the overall accommodation solution.
The process commences with the detailed needs assessment based on both current and future staffing and structure requirement. The next step of the process is the development of a short list of properties within the spatial framework that could potentially meet the current and future needs. Independent options analysis advisers are then required to perform a due diligence and feasibility analysis on the short listed options and develop a balanced scorecard to determine the best location option for the department. The Re Kgabisa Tshwane team works with the departments and agencies throughout the process and requires their sign-off at each stage of the process. Once the department has signed-off on a preferred location, a procurement analysis is then performed to assess the best method of delivery.
An options analysis manual has been developed by DPW in collaboration with National Treasury to assist in the implementation of this process. At this stage, although the options process has commenced, more detailed work has to be done before the exact location for many of the departments can be pin-pointed.
According to the database of available buildings within the inner city, there are sufficient buildings within the inner city to accommodate the departments. Government itself owns many of the suitable buildings. It has already been determined that the preferred accommodation solution is one that will maximize the use of existing government-owned assets.
A funding strategy that complies with the Public Finance Management Act requirements is being developed as part of the options analysis process, working in conjunction with National Treasury. It will be updated as each department/agency option is investigated. This essentially is designed to assess the funding and budgeting implications of the programme from both a macro and micro impact assessment.
A preliminary estimate of the overall anticipated cost of the accommodation under the programme in is expected to be in the region of R40 billion over a 25 year period (R14 billion in net present value terms). Assumptions have been made in the above estimates regarding the possible outcomes of the options analysis process, both in terms of the preferred accommodation location for each department and the best method of procuring and delivering the accommodation solution.
The estimate includes all costs associated with the accommodation including lease rentals, capital improvements, and anticipated payments under public private partnership arrangements (“PPPs”) and maintenance costs. It is anticipated that the delivery mechanism will include a combination of leases, improvements to government owned buildings under capital expenditure budget items and new building developments under PPPs.
The estimate of R40 billion must be compared with the anticipated cost of national Government department head office accommodation if the programme were not implemented. This is estimated to be in the region of R31 billion over the same 25 year period (R10 billion in net present value terms). The cost of improving the accommodation in order to meet the requirement to improve the physical work environment and achieve the programme objectives is therefore approximately R9 billion over a 25 year period (R4 billion in net present value terms). As the delivery mechanisms are expected to include a combination of leases, capital budget items and PPPs, the impact in each fiscal year of implementation under the programme (10 to 14 years) is expected to be achievable.
The estimated investment in construction activity for new buildings and improvements to buildings is approximately R8 billion over approximately 10 years. The majority of this is expected to be invested by the private sector through improvements to leasehold accommodation and investment in new buildings through PPPs.
Given the myriad of stakeholders that need to be informed and updated about the project on a frequent basis, a communication strategy has been devised aimed at ensuring ongoing communication to stakeholders.
The communication strategy has been, and will be, constantly updated and implemented by a Communications Task Team comprising representatives from DPW, DPSA, CTMM as well as the National Treasury. The Gauteng Economic Development Agency (GEDA) has also joined the task team.
Communication of the programme ahead of the official Re Kgabisa Tshwane launches in November 2005 were largely targeted at DPW, DPSA, CTMM, National Treasury, GCIS and the department and agencies being accommodated as they developed the core structures, policies and procedures to drive the project forward.
The official launch in the form of a media briefing was targeted at all stakeholders as the project is now at a stage where all stakeholders are expected to play an increasingly active role. The launch strategy included a communication specifically targeted at government employees whose physical work environment is being upgraded as a result of Re Kgabisa Tshwane.