Proving CIDB track record project by project
Which documents from a completed project count as CIDB track record, why the Register of Projects matters, and how to file evidence as each job closes.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Construction businesses in South Africa
Three years ago the business completed a community hall for a district municipality, its biggest job to date. Now it is applying for a higher CIDB grade, and that hall is the project that should carry the application. The completion certificate is in a lever-arch file somewhere. The payment certificates were e-mailed to a quantity surveyor who has since retired. Nobody is sure whether the project was ever placed on the CIDB's Register of Projects.
Track record is half of what a CIDB grade rests on, and it is proved one project at a time, with specific documents. A contractor that collects those documents as each job closes has an easy application. One that goes looking for them years later may find it cannot prove the work it did. This article explains what counts and how to file it.
Who needs a grade, and how applications are made
The CIDB says its Register of Contractors applies to all contractors who want to do public sector work, grading them from 1 to 9 by financial and works capability, with no qualifying criteria for grade 1. Subcontractors, home builders regulated by the NHBRC and labour-only contractors are exempt; joint venture partners must each be registered.
The CIDB says grade 1 registration is done online and takes 48 working hours, while applications for grades 2 to 9 go to a provincial office with supporting documents and take up to 21 working days. It is those supporting documents, for grades 2 and above, that this article is about.
The largest contract in the class of works over five years
The CIDB's track record requirement is based on the largest contract completed in the class of works during the five years before the application. At the time of writing, the figure runs from R130 000 for grade 2 and R450 000 for grade 3 up to R30 000 000 for grade 8 and R90 000 000 for grade 9.
Three features of that rule shape how you keep records:
- Largest single contract. It is one project that carries the grade, not the total of several, so the evidence for your biggest jobs matters most.
- Five years. A project older than that drops out, so the evidence needs to be complete while the project still counts.
- Class of works. A large building contract does not prove capability in civil engineering, so file evidence by class.
The CIDB's requirements for grading list the track record and financial figures for every grade.
The four documents the CIDB asks for
For any grade from 2 to 9, the CIDB says it assesses track record from completed projects supported by:
- The client's project award, such as the letter of award or signed contract.
- A certificate of project completion.
- A payment certificate.
- Bank statements showing the payments were received.
The CIDB may also request additional supporting documentation where it needs it. A project with three of the four is a project the CIDB may not accept.
Projects awarded from 1 April 2021 must be on the Register of Projects
There is a further condition for newer work. The CIDB says construction projects awarded from 1 April 2021 must be registered on the cidb Register of Projects before contractors can use them as track record.
For a project awarded after that date, check that it appears on the Register of Projects while the job is still running, and keep evidence of the registration in the project file. Discovering at application time that a key project was never registered is one of the most frustrating ways to lose a grade.
A close-out folder for every job
The simplest discipline is a close-out folder, built as each contract finishes rather than when an application is due. Achekam's Document Centre is a folder-based store where a business uploads files or whole folders, previews, downloads, renames, moves, tags, archives and searches them, and a new version keeps the earlier ones. A structure that works:
- Contract: letter of award or signed contract, with the contract value and class of works noted.
- Register of Projects: proof of registration, for projects awarded from 1 April 2021.
- Completion: certificate of project completion.
- Payments: every payment certificate, and the final account.
- Bank: the bank statement pages showing each payment received.
Tag each folder with the class of works and the completion date, so that at application time you can find the largest contract in each class within the last five years at once.
Tracing each payment to the bank
The bank statements are the piece most often missing, because they sit in a different place from the project documents. Tie them together as the payments arrive.
In Achekam, a business imports bank statements as PDF, CSV, Excel, OFX, QIF, MT940 or CAMT.053, and each import is checked so that the opening balance plus movements equals the closing balance. Customer payments are recorded against one invoice or spread across a customer's invoices, and a part payment leaves an invoice part-paid. Recording each client payment against the progress invoice it settles creates a trail from payment certificate to invoice to bank line. Save the relevant statement page into the project's close-out folder as each payment lands.
Checking evidence before you rely on it
Before including a project in an application, check it as the CIDB will:
- Was it completed within the last five years?
- Is it in the class of works being applied for?
- Is its value at or above the track record requirement for the grade?
- Are all four documents present and consistent with each other?
- If awarded from 1 April 2021, is it on the Register of Projects?
For agreeing the final value of a job with the client, see reconciling the final account; for the financial side of grading, read what the CIDB reads from your financial statements.
A completed project is only track record if you can prove it. The close-out folder is how the proof survives until you need it.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
