The use of concession model to acquire and manage public office accommodation

Abstract

It has been noted with concern that in past 20 years of governing, the South African government still owns few office buildings to accommodate its departments. These government departments are accommodated in leased office buildings that are mostly poor maintained, have limited space, the budget to rehabilitate buildings is limited, and the Department of Public Works as custodian of state immovable assets has no effective internal control systems to manage leased buildings. The purpose of this research was to explore whether the concession model is the best in procuring and managing public office accommodation in South Africa, and to determine whether the use of PPP could reduce the costs of leasing buildings. The DIRCO PPP building was used as a case study. The methodology used was qualitative research strategy. The findings of the research indicated that PPP could indeed accelerate acquiring and management of office buildings by the state. However, the research also established that PPPs are costly but the return on investment is worth it, in a long term.