The South African Construction Industry Development Board

The South African Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) was established by a Parliamentary Act 38 in 2000. The CIDB was established to provide leadership for the reconstruction, growth and development of the South African construction industry. The Constitution mandates the board to create a nation-wide record of contractors and projects to thoroughly regulate, monitor and improve the performance of the construction industry to ensure sustainable growth, delivery and empowerment; encourage management capacity improvement and the consistent application of procurement policies at all levels of government; help improved performance and best practice of both public and private sector clients, contractors and other stakeholders in the construction delivery process; promote sustainable involvement of the emerging sector; provide strategic direction; and develop effective partnerships for the growth, reform and improvement of the construction sector.

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Country perspective on monitoring

Figure 10.1 A comprehensive infrastructure delivery implementation framework.

Source: Department of Provincial and Local Government, 2006

In line with the mandate of the CIDB and with the support of other organizations such as the South African Public Works Department (PWD) and the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) performance indicators are formulated which are linked to the best practice standards and guidelines and which serve as the basis for measuring the performance of the South African construction industry at separate project levels (Marx, 2014). The Construction Industry Indicators (CII) established by the CIDB and the PWD serve as the standards for the performance of construction firms and all other related stakeholders for the M&E of the performance of their function in the industry. Also, in the M&E function of the CIDB to monitor and evaluate industry performance and support contractor development, the CIDB publishes on a regular basis the CIDB Compliance Monitor, CIDB Quarterly Monitoring (now Construction Monitor), CIDB Business Condition Survey and sector-specific status reports (CIDB, 2014)-

According to the CIDB (2017a), the Construction Monitor offers a summary of the South African contracting sector with the emphasis on supply and demand, contractor development, employment and transformation. Also, the Compliance Monitor of the CIDB outlines indicators to measure the level of conformity of i-tender/record of projects by public sector client bodies. Clients use indicators to verify their conformity level with CIDB regulations in line with the CIDB programme of action to support compliance and enforcement (CIDB, 2017b). The roles of the CIDB in the South African construction industry generate some reform recommendations to be enacted and implemented for the ultimate growth and development of stakeholders and the industry at large. For example, in the 2015/2016 annual report of the CIDB, the draft report on prompt payment details is published of the critical issues of late payment to construction industry suppliers, which threatens the survival of businesses, especially emerging businesses (CIDB, 2016b). The outlook of the CIDB has been positive in driving the compliance by contractors and stakeholders to the CIIs to maintain some significant level of performance of the industry. Nonetheless, some challenges are faced in the performance of this mandate. These M&E implementation challenges faced by the CIDB, the PWD and other statutory bodies and organizations are considered under the challenges in the construction project M&E in South Africa.

Challenges in construction project monitoring and evaluation in South Africa

Challenges seem inevitable in the M&E of projects, programmes and policies for many reasons. The relationship between M&E and the entire project life cycle is very much integrated. Hence, any challenge faced in the project cycle affects the implementation of M&E. Hence, owing to the similarities of the South African construction industry to the Ghanaian construction industry and to many other developing countries regarding the challenges facing the industry, it is safe to admit that project features such as the uniqueness and complexity of projects, limited and scanty information on projects, poor planning and budgeting and the capacity of constructors pose as great challenges to the implementation of M&E (Tengan & Aigbavboa, 2016).

In 2014, the DPME reported on the empirical findings of a survey amongst the national and provincial government departments regarding the challenges in M&E. Accordingly, the report revealed that there exists no formal culture of M&E amongst government departments as M&E is viewed as a regulating and controlling function rather than a tool for continuous improvement (Republic of South Africa, 2014). Also, it was evident that about 81% of the departments surveyed do not plan or undertake any evaluation of activities. This therefore has delinked the function of planning to inform policy decision making and budgeting at the national and provincial departments. Again, the general understanding of M&E is low amongst government departments and has led to less influence of M&E on the departments’ policy priorities (Republic of South Africa, 2014).

Similarly, the survey report by the DPME revealed that the M&E of activities and outputs received much attention, being the focus of M&E while the M&E of outcome and impact of implemented activities were of less importance. Further, poor data quality, low adoption of information technology systems to support M&E and the inadequate capacity of departments to undertake M&E were rated high on the list of challenges. Finally, departments were worried about the lack of a common guiding framework to complement M&E concepts and practices across the South African public sector and the lack of support from the National Policy Framework to enable departments’ effective use of the M&E frameworks (Republic of South Africa, 2014).

Findings and lessons learnt from South Africa

In the case of South Africa, M&E of projects have been faced with challenges in its implementation across all the three spheres (national, provincial and municipal). However, some lessons can be learnt:

i There appear to be a well-structured M&E system, plans and processes for national, provincial and municipal infrastructure delivery with clearly stated M&E responsibilities (Figure 10.1).

ii The regulatory, policy environment and support for M&E appear sufficient to give independence to institutions to effectively monitor and evaluate for performance.

iii The South African Construction Industry Development Board (SACIDB) is well integrated with the national government-wide M&E structure. Hence, with the support of other constitutional bodies such as the Public Works Department, the C1DB exercises oversight responsibility to ensure the growth, development and sustenance of the South African construction industry. That is to say that the CIDB monitors, evaluates and sanctions non-compliance industry players.

iv Like some construction industries across developed nations, the SA construction industry with the collaboration of the CIDB, PWD and the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CS1R) have instituted construction

Monitoring and evaluation: African experience 149 industry indicators (CIIs) as performance standards specific to the construction industry and these are reviewed consistently. These CIIs are measures for the compliance of all stakeholders, suppliers, contractors, clients and consultants.