CAPE TOWN, March 19 (ANA) – The City of Cape Town is embarking onan innovative approach to boost skills development and employment opportunitiesfor residents through an outcomes-based tender system that is a first of itskind for the city.
“Akey need in our economy is to improve the skills of our people for real jobs.It is thus essential that skills training can be proved to be appropriate forCape Town’s needs,” deputy mayor Ian Neilson said on Sunday.
Usually,the specifications to service providers were very prescriptive in terms of themethods used to deliver the required service. What set the city’soutcomes-based tender apart was that it focused on results, or outcomes, ratherthan the associated activities and tasks to deliver the end result.
“Oneof the challenges we face as a city is the high number of unemployed residents.In addition we are confronted with an economic growth environment that does notalways result in the creation of a significant number of new jobs. For thisreason we cannot afford to proceed with a business-as-usual approach,” Neilsonsaid.
“Wehave to constantly evolve and innovate to deliver value for our residents. Wethus have to extract more value from our service providers to deliver betterresults. This places us and our service providers under increasing pressure toremain competitive through innovation in the current economic climate. Althougha first for the City of Cape Town, outcomes-based contracting is gathering pacelocally and globally,” he said.
Theproposed outcomes-based tender system aimed to support economic inclusion,achieve a more productive workforce, reduce the number of discouraged workseekers, and engage businesses in integrated employment plans.
Thecity’s intention was clearly articulated at a briefing session held this weekfor prospective service providers.
“Weare looking for a strategic partner who must deliver a workforce developmentsolution that is responsive to the changing labour markets. The successfulbidder is expected to present and deliver an outcomes-based, high impactthree-year plan to develop residents’ skills further and increase the currentemployment rate. We would like to acknowledge the Bertha Centre for SocialInnovation and Entrepreneurship which was instrumental in designing thisinnovative tender,” Neilson said.
Essentially,this contracting method meant that the service provider would only be paid oncethey had placed residents into education, training, or employmentopportunities. The more sustained placements made, the more they stood to earnfrom the city. In this way, the city would only pay for success, he said.
– African News Agency (ANA)
