National research council
CSIR tenders — open bids and awards
What the CSIR buys is driven by the research contracts it happens to be executing, which makes its tender list less repetitive and far less predictable than any infrastructure buyer on the feed.
- Open now
- 1
- On record
- 48
- Awards published
- 17
- Total awarded
- R 2 310 558 751
Open the CSIR tenders
The Provision of IT support services for the South African Robotics Ocean Technology & Innovation Centre (SA-RobOTIC)…
Professional, scientific and technical activities · National · closes 2026/08/07
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Largest published the CSIR awards
(DIOPOINT)
Request for Proposals (RFP) For the Provision of Co-lo Enterprise Hardware (Server, Storage & Software) to the CSIR
R 1 243 538 193
—
BLUE NETWORKS AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Request for Proposals (RFP) The Supply, Delivery, Installation and Configuration of Equipment for the Co-lo Networking…
R 314 195 223
—
NKHUMELEMORITA TRADING AND PROJECTS
Request for Quotation (RFQ) For the provision of Waterproofing Services at the CSIR Scientia Campus, Pretoria.
R 221 597 232
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OPENSERVE
Request for Proposals (RFP) The Provision of Managed Bandwidth Link for the South African National Research Network…
R 128 228 680
—
(BLUE NETWORKS AND INFRASTRUCTURE)
Request for Proposals (RFP)The Supply of CISCO Data Centre Networking License Renewal, Support and Maintenance up to 31…
R 93 497 762
—
University of Johannesburg
Request for Proposals (RFP) The provision of consulting services to assist CSIR with profiling of silica sand suppliers…
R 85 102 875
—
LINYATSO TRADING ENTERPRISE
Request for Quotation (RFQ) For the Provision of Road Grading Services Including Fire Breaks within CSIR DBEL Perimeter…
R 70 722 125
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JATIN CONSULTING
Request for Proposals (RFP) Provision of Biomanufacturing Industry Development Centre Impact study to the CSIR
R 58 969 930
—
BABINA PHIRI DISTRIBUTORS
Request for Quotation (RFQ) For the Supply, Delivery, Installation, Testing and Commissioning of 4x 20KwGrid Tie…
R 36 095 136
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BOATWORLD
Servicing and maintenance of three (3) semi-rigid boats and six (6) outboard motors for the CSIR, Durban, on an…
R 30 000 000
—
(NEW INNOVATIVE KNOWLEDGE)
Request for Proposals (RFP) for the of services for a Company Technology Readiness Analysis for the CSIR
R 11 250 000
—
BABINA PHIRI DISTRIBUTORS
Request for Quotation (RFQ) For the Once- off Supply, Delivery, Installation and Commissioning of Grid Tie Inverters at…
R 8 892 950
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TECHNOSTAR ENGINEERING
Request for Proposals (RFP) ForThe Provision of a Store Integration pre- and postsimulation visualisation application…
R 7 195 550
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SARTORIUS SOUTH AFRICA
Once-off servicing and repairs of the Cplus fermenter used during the fermentation of biomass and other products.
R 845 986
—
(MTYESWANA CONSTRUCTION)
Request for Quotation (RFQ) for the Building Maintenance and Repair at the Cofimvaba Science Centre
R 249 999
—
Open work by category
- Professional, scientific and technical activities — 1
Open work by province
- National — 1
About the CSIR procurement
Scientific instrumentation is the signature category. Spectrometers, lasers and optics, analytical and test equipment, cleanroom and laboratory fit-out, calibration services and consumables appear constantly, and specifications are written tightly around a measurement requirement. Price alone rarely decides these: the CSIR weighs whether the instrument meets specification, who can service it locally, and what the calibration traceability is.
A second stream comes from the campus itself. The Pretoria site is effectively a small town, with laboratories, offices, conference facilities and a data centre behind it, so building maintenance, electrical reticulation, standby power, cooling, network infrastructure, catering, cleaning and security all reach the feed as ordinary works and service contracts.
The third stream is subcontracted research and specialist engineering. Because the CSIR delivers contract research for departments and industry, it buys in modelling, prototyping, precision machining, field survey and testing capacity it does not hold internally. Those notices suit a small technical consultancy better than anything else on the feed, and they are easily missed because they do not read like tenders at all.
the CSIR tenders — questions
- What does the CSIR buy most often?
- Laboratory and test equipment, scientific consumables, calibration and instrument maintenance, information technology and computing capacity, and the facilities services that keep its campuses running. Subcontracted research and specialist engineering support appears regularly alongside those.
- Must I be an authorised distributor to supply equipment?
- Frequently, yes. Where a specification names an instrument class with a short list of manufacturers, the CSIR generally wants evidence of manufacturer authorisation, local service capability and spares availability, because an uncalibrated or unsupported instrument is useless to a research programme.
- Where are the sites that this work is delivered to?
- The main campus is in Pretoria, with further sites and facilities elsewhere in the country, including high performance computing capability in Cape Town. Notices normally state the delivery or site address, which matters whenever the scope involves installation or commissioning.
- Is construction work tendered here at all?
- Some. Laboratory refurbishment, cleanroom construction, electrical and mechanical upgrades and general campus maintenance do come to market, and those notices carry CIDB grade and class requirements in the ordinary way. They are a minority of the list rather than its centre.
- How is a research subcontract evaluated?
- Usually on technical capability first: the qualifications and track record of the people who will do the work, the method proposed, and whether results can be delivered inside the parent programme timeline. The CSIR treats price as one factor among several here.
- Can I follow this buyer automatically?
- Yes, and the keyword field is what does the work here. A saved search matches on trade categories, province and keywords, so terms such as calibration, spectrometer or instrumentation are what catch these. Worth setting on the CSIR, where a relevant notice may surface a handful of times a year.