There is no excuse for procurement fraud in the construction sector, but then it is ingenious to pretend that it does not occur. And some of the professional bodies that have acknowledged the existence of bad apples within their membership are theSA Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession (SACQSP) and the Association of SA Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS).
To root out corruption, which, on recent press reports, seems to be growing at an alarming rate, it is critical for government to engage registered professionals from the commencement of projects, suggested Steve Lyons, registrar of the SACQSP.
“Unregistered ‘professionals’ in these state departments are all too often expected to fulfil the function of a professional quantity surveyor. You don’t rely on a nurse to undertake heart surgery,” he said.
Lyons explained that the quantity surveying profession has a mandate of ensuring that the public and client’s financial interests in respect to construction projects are properly managed and safeguarded at all time.
“The ethics of the profession is such that we regularly encourage both clients such as government and private enterprise, plus the registered professionals themselves to report any unacceptable behaviour for the SACQSP to take strict and decisive action.”