Review and align johannesburg water and sanitation tariffs – RFQ in gauteng

Closing date: 22 October 2026 at 16:00.

Advert date: 15 October 2026.

Briefing session: venue Fennel Road Depot Flow Lab; date and time to be confirmed (not stated as compulsory).

Briefing session venue: Fennel Road Depot Flow Lab. Date and time to be confirmed. Attendance not stated as compulsory.

Supply Chain Management:

• Name: Simphiwe Mdlalose
• Telephone: 011 688 1825
• Email: [email protected]

End User Department:

• Name: Frans Phatlane
• Telephone: 011 688 1634
• Email: [email protected]

Submission: e-Tender portal (https://www.etenders.gov.za/).

Organisation address: Johannesburg Water SOC Ltd, Turbine Hall, 65 Ntemi Piliso Street, Newtown, Johannesburg 2107.

Submission method: e-Tender portal (https://www.etenders.gov.za/).

Closing time: 22 October 2026 at 16:00.

Quotations must be on company letterhead and in PDF format only (MS Word, MS Excel, pictures not allowed).

Quotations received after the closing date and time will not be accepted.

Total quotation value must include all applicable taxes; failure to do so leads to disqualification.

Returnable documents (all compulsory, must be completed and signed):

• MBD 3.1 (Pricing Schedule – Firm Prices): only firm prices accepted; offer valid for 60 days from closing date.
• MBD 4 (Declaration of Interest): discloses any connection to persons in the service of the state.
• MBD 6.1 (Preference Points Claim): claims specific-goal points under the 2022 Preferential Procurement Regulations.
• MBD 8 (Declaration of Bidder's Past SCM Practices): declares past supply chain management conduct.
• MBD 9 (Certificate of Independent Bid Determination): certifies no collusion or price disclosure.
• Original valid Tax Clearance Certificate or valid SARS PIN.
• Certified/original/valid B-BBEE certificate or compliant sworn affidavit (non-compliant affidavit scored zero).
• Municipal rates and taxes account statement not older than 3 months and not in arrears for more than 90 days.
• Proof of CSD registration / MAAA Supplier Number.
• Company registration documents with ID copies of directors/shareholders.
• Joint Venture Agreement, where applicable, properly signed by all parties.

Disqualification risks:

• Any compulsory returnable document omitted or unsigned.
• Quotation not in PDF or not on company letterhead.
• Quotation received after closing time.
• Bidder in the service of the state, or blacklisted by National Treasury or any National Authority for non-performance.

Evaluation system: 80/20 point scoring system per PPPFA 2022.

• Price: 80 points.
• Specific goals: 20 points.

Technical/functional evaluation criteria (indicative weights):

• Understanding of assignment and methodology: 25 points — detailed methodology addressing DWS, cost-of-supply, tariff design and CoJ alignment.
• Relevant water/sanitation tariff and cost-of-service experience: 25 points — at least three completed comparable projects with dated and signed reference letters.
• Qualifications and experience of proposed team: 20 points — CVs, qualifications and professional registrations.
• Financial modelling and scenario-analysis capability: 15 points — examples of comparable models/methodologies.
• Municipal regulatory / by-law experience: 10 points — evidence of municipal or water-services regulatory assignments.
• Knowledge transfer and skills development: 5 points — training and handover approach.

No minimum qualifying score is stated.

Scope: Review and align Johannesburg Water (JW) water and sanitation tariffs with DWS norms and standards and City of Johannesburg (CoJ) by-laws.

Key work areas:

• Regulatory and legislative compliance review: gap analysis against DWS and CoJ requirements, producing a compliance matrix.
• Existing tariff diagnostic: review all water, sanitation, availability, fixed, volumetric, industrial effluent and ancillary tariff categories; identify obsolete, duplicated, inconsistent or non-cost-reflective tariffs.
• Cost-of-supply / cost-of-service study: determine efficient full cost of water and sanitation services, covering bulk water purchases, wastewater treatment, electricity, chemicals, employee costs, repairs and maintenance, contracted services, fleet, metering, billing, customer services, depreciation, asset renewal, finance costs, corporate overheads, environmental/regulatory compliance and other costs.
• Revenue requirement: develop annual and multi-year revenue requirements, reconciled to JW budget, MTREF and audited financial information.
• Financial ring-fencing and cost allocation: assess ring-fencing of water and sanitation activities; recommend improvements to allocation of direct costs, shared costs, revenues, subsidies and cross-subsidies.
• Multi-year tariff model: minimum five-year tariff model (extendable) incorporating bulk purchase increases, demand, inflation, electricity, chemicals, employee costs, maintenance, capital expenditure, depreciation, financing, customer growth, collections, bad debts, NRW, demand-management and indigent support.
• Water tariff structure: evaluate domestic, business/commercial, industrial, institutional, schools, government, indigent, informal settlement, multi-dwelling, sectional title, mixed-use, prepaid, bulk, temporary, tanker and other categories.
• Domestic inclining block tariffs: assess against DWS requirements; model alternatives and quantify effects on revenue, affordability, household bills, cross-subsidisation, demand management, indigent households and high-consumption customers.
• Fixed versus variable charges: determine balance based on cost drivers; assess alternative fixed-charge bases (meter size, connection size, property/customer category).
• Sanitation tariffs: review independently of potable-water tariffs, including domestic, multi-dwelling, commercial, industrial, sewer availability and volumetric/percentage-of-water-consumption methodologies.
• Industrial effluent: review/develop tariff methodology with reference to effluent volume, pollutant load, COD, suspended solids, treatment cost, sampling/testing costs.
• Affordability, indigent support and cross-subsidisation: assess social and affordability impacts; identify explicit and implicit cross-subsidies.
• Water conservation and demand management: assess tariff architecture to support WDM objectives (inclining blocks, excessive-consumption charges, drought/seasonal tariffs, scarcity mechanisms).
• Non-revenue water: analyse relationship between tariff requirements and physical/commercial losses, authorised unbilled consumption, meter inaccuracies, billing deficiencies; model NRW reduction trajectories.
• Metering, billing and system implementability: assess whether proposed structures can be implemented through current JW/CoJ metering, billing, SAP and revenue systems.
• CoJ by-law and policy alignment: map every tariff/charge to CoJ Water Services By-laws; produce a By-law/Tariff Alignment Matrix.
• Benchmarking: benchmark against Cape Town, eThekwini, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City and Mangaung on tariff architecture, fixed charges, blocks, sanitation methodologies, indigent support, cost recovery, NRW, industrial effluent and regulatory approaches.
• Scenario modelling: model at least six scenarios (status quo escalation, full efficient cost reflectivity, DWS regulatory alignment, affordability/social protection, NRW improvement, financial sustainability), quantifying revenue, cashflow, bill impacts, cross-subsidies, consumption/demand and financial sustainability.
• DWS tariff submission readiness: prepare a DWS-ready evidence and submission pack.
• Implementation roadmap: prioritised roadmap distinguishing immediate, short-, medium- and longer-term actions.

Tariff financial model requirements:

• Deliver a fully functional Microsoft Excel tariff model that is formula-driven, auditable, transparent, unlocked, capable of scenario and sensitivity analysis, and updatable annually by JW officials without reliance on the service provider.
• Model must contain clearly separated modules for assumptions, customer data, consumption, revenue requirement, cost allocation, water tariffs, sanitation tariffs, customer/bill impact, affordability, NRW, scenario analysis, MTREF projections, DWS submission schedules and management dashboards.

Stakeholder engagement:

• Facilitate structured engagements with JW and CoJ stakeholders (Finance/Management Accounting, Revenue and Billing/Meter Reading, Operations, Water Demand Management, Bulk Wastewater, Networks, Asset Management/PMU, Strategy, Legal, Risk and Compliance, ICT/SAP, CoJ Group Finance/Budget, CoJ Revenue, DWS where required).
• Include at least one executive workshop and one technical tariff workshop.

Deliverables (23 items):

• Inception report, detailed project plan and data request register.
• Legislative and regulatory review.
• DWS Section 10 compliance gap analysis and compliance matrix.
• CoJ By-law/Tariff Alignment Matrix.
• Existing JW tariff diagnostic report.
• Cost-of-Supply / Cost-of-Service Study and cost allocation methodology.
• Revenue Requirement Model and report.
• Customer and consumption analysis.
• Recommended water tariff architecture.
• Recommended sanitation tariff architecture.
• Industrial effluent tariff methodology.
• Fixed versus variable charge study.
• Cross-subsidy and affordability/social-impact assessment.
• NRW and tariff sensitivity analysis.
• Metropolitan benchmarking report.
• Multi-year tariff scenarios and customer bill-impact analysis.
• Fully functional, editable and unlocked Excel tariff model.
• DWS-compliant tariff proposal/evidence submission pack.
• Draft JW tariff methodology/policy framework and recommended CoJ policy/by-law amendments.
• Stakeholder consultation report.
• Training and knowledge-transfer material.
• Final tariff strategy and implementation roadmap.
• Executive/EXCO/Board/Council presentation pack.

Knowledge transfer:

• Provide formal training to nominated JW and CoJ officials on DWS Section 10 requirements, cost-of-supply methodology, revenue requirements, cost allocation, tariff design, cross-subsidisation, affordability analysis, scenario modelling and annual updating of the tariff model.

Project duration: approximately 16–20 weeks from commencement, subject to data availability and stakeholder consultation.

Indicative programme:

• Weeks 1–3: inception, data gathering and regulatory gap analysis.
• Weeks 4–8: cost-of-supply, customer, consumption and revenue requirement analysis.
• Weeks 9–12: tariff design, financial modelling and scenarios.
• Weeks 13–15: stakeholder consultation, legal/by-law alignment and refinement.
• Weeks 16–18: final model, DWS submission pack, recommendations and implementation roadmap.
• Weeks 19–20: knowledge transfer and executive/Board presentations where required.

Tariff financial model requirements:

• Deliver a fully functional Microsoft Excel tariff model that is formula-driven, auditable, transparent, unlocked, capable of scenario and sensitivity analysis, and updatable annually by JW officials without reliance on the service provider.
• Model must contain clearly separated modules for assumptions, customer data, consumption, revenue requirement, cost allocation, water tariffs, sanitation tariffs, customer/bill impact, affordability, NRW, scenario analysis, MTREF projections, DWS submission schedules and management dashboards.

Stakeholder engagement:

• Facilitate structured engagements with relevant JW and CoJ stakeholders (Finance/Management Accounting, Revenue and Billing/Meter Reading, Operations, Water Demand Management, Bulk Wastewater, Networks, Asset Management/PMU, Strategy, Legal, Risk and Compliance, ICT/SAP, CoJ Group Finance/Budget, CoJ Revenue, DWS where required).
• Include at least one executive workshop and one technical tariff workshop.

Deliverables: 23 items as listed in the scope (inception report, regulatory review, compliance matrix, alignment matrix, tariff diagnostic, cost-of-supply study, revenue requirement model, customer analysis, water tariff architecture, sanitation tariff architecture, industrial effluent methodology, fixed vs variable charge study, cross-subsidy assessment, NRW sensitivity analysis, benchmarking report, multi-year scenarios, Excel model, DWS submission pack, policy framework, consultation report, training material, implementation roadmap, presentation pack).

Knowledge transfer:

• Provide formal training to nominated JW and CoJ officials on DWS Section 10 requirements, cost-of-supply methodology, revenue requirements, cost allocation, tariff design, cross-subsidisation, affordability analysis, scenario modelling and annual updating of the tariff model.
• Intended outcome: JW can maintain and update the model internally after completion.

Project duration: approximately 16–20 weeks from commencement, subject to data availability and stakeholder consultation.

Indicative programme:

• Weeks 1–3: inception, data gathering and regulatory gap analysis.
• Weeks 4–8: cost-of-supply, customer, consumption and revenue requirement analysis.
• Weeks 9–12: tariff design, financial modelling and scenarios.
• Weeks 13–15: stakeholder consultation, legal/by-law alignment and refinement.
• Weeks 16–18: final model, DWS submission pack, recommendations and implementation roadmap.
• Weeks 19–20: knowledge transfer and executive/Board presentations where required.

Minimum team and expertise:

• Project Lead / Tariff Specialist: minimum 10 years relevant experience in municipal or water-utility tariff modelling, utility regulation or cost-of-service studies.
• Financial Modelling / Management Accounting Specialist: CA(SA), CIMA/CGMA or equivalent professional competence, with at least 5 years demonstrated experience in cost-of-service analysis and financial modelling.
• Water/Sanitation Economist: minimum 5 years' experience in utility economics, tariff design, affordability and demand analysis.
• Water Services / Engineering Specialist: professionally registered engineer/technologist or equivalent, with minimum 5 years' relevant experience in water and wastewater infrastructure and operating-cost management.
• Legal / Regulatory Specialist: minimum 5 years' relevant experience in municipal law, the Water Services Act, MFMA, Municipal Systems Act and municipal by-laws.

Bidder must demonstrate successful completion of at least three comparable assignments, supported by contactable client references.

Quality and acceptance requirements:

• All calculations must be traceable to source data and supported by documented assumptions.
• Recommendations must distinguish legal/regulatory requirements from policy choices and management recommendations.
• The model and reports must reconcile to agreed JW financial, customer and consumption data.
• Draft deliverables shall be subject to JW review and comments before final acceptance.
• The final methodology must be practically implementable within the JW/CoJ governance, billing and budgeting environment, or clearly identify prerequisite changes.

Pricing must be submitted on MBD 3.1 (Pricing Schedule – Firm Prices). Only firm prices accepted; non-firm prices (including prices subject to exchange rate variations) will not be considered. A separate pricing schedule must be submitted for each delivery point where pricing is affected. Offer valid for 60 days from closing date. Total quotation value must include all applicable taxes (VAT, PAYE, income tax, UIF, skills development levies).

Pricing format: MBD 3.1 Pricing Schedule – Firm Prices. Only firm prices accepted; non-firm prices (including prices subject to exchange rate variations) will not be considered.

Total quotation value must be inclusive of all applicable taxes (VAT, PAYE, income tax, UIF, skills development levies).

Offer valid for 60 days from the closing date.

A separate pricing schedule must be submitted for each delivery point where pricing is affected.

No bid security, bond, guarantee, retention or payment terms are stated.

CSD registration: all suppliers must be registered on the Central Supplier Database (CSD); proof of CSD registration / MAAA Supplier Number required.

Tax compliance: original valid Tax Clearance Certificate or valid SARS PIN required.

B-BBEE: valid B-BBEE certificate or compliant sworn affidavit required; non-compliant affidavit scored zero.

Municipal account: municipal rates and taxes account statement not older than 3 months and not in arrears for more than 90 days (regulation 38).

Company registration: company registration documents with ID copies of directors/shareholders required.

State service: no bid considered from persons in the service of the state.

Blacklisting: no bidder blacklisted by National Treasury or any National Authority due to non-performance will be considered.

Joint Venture: properly signed Joint Venture Agreement required where applicable.

No CIDB grading requirement is stated.

The cost-of-supply study must include environmental/regulatory compliance costs as part of the full cost of providing water and sanitation services.

Confidentiality: all information provided by JW and CoJ must be treated as confidential and used solely for the assignment; the successful bidder must comply with applicable information-security and data-protection requirements.

Intellectual property: all tariff models, calculations, methodologies, datasets, assumptions, reports, source files, working papers and IP developed specifically for JW under this assignment become the property of Johannesburg Water, subject to any pre-existing IP expressly disclosed and agreed at contracting stage.

Model format: all financial models must be delivered in fully editable and unlocked format, including formulas, calculation logic and supporting schedules; a proprietary, password-protected or 'black-box' model does not fulfil the contractual deliverables.

POPIA: bidders must consent to Johannesburg Water processing personal information in terms of POPIA; consent forms are included in the bid pack.

Mandatory requirements:

• Full completion of the Bill of Quantities (BOQ)/Specification where applicable.
• Attendance of compulsory site briefing where applicable (briefing details to be confirmed).
• Attachment of datasheet, reference letter, proof of certification, proof of accreditation and functionality requirements where applicable.
• No RFQ will be considered from persons in the service of the state.
• No bidder blacklisted by National Treasury or any National Authority due to non-performance will be considered.
• All quotes must be submitted in PDF on company letterhead (MS Word, MS Excel and pictures not allowed).
• Submission of a properly signed Joint Venture Agreement where applicable.
• All suppliers must be registered on the Central Supplier Database (CSD).

Evaluation uses the 80/20 point scoring system: 80 points for price and 20 points for specific goals per PPPFA 2022. Technical/functional evaluation criteria and indicative weights: Understanding of assignment and methodology (25) — detailed methodology addressing DWS, cost-of-supply, tariff design and CoJ alignment; Relevant water/sanitation tariff and cost-of-service experience (25) — at least three completed comparable projects with dated and signed reference letters; Qualifications and experience of proposed team (20) — CVs, qualifications and professional registrations; Financial modelling and scenario-analysis capability (15) — examples of comparable models/methodologies; Municipal regulatory/by-law experience (10) — evidence of municipal or water-services regulatory assignments; Knowledge transfer and skills development (5) — training and handover approach.