How to register on the Central Supplier Database (CSD)

The Central Supplier Database (CSD) is National Treasury's single list of businesses and people who can supply goods and services to government. If you want to quote or bid for government work, register on it first: the SBD 1 invitation-to-bid form asks for your CSD supplier number, and government buyers use the CSD to check your details instead of asking for paper copies. Registering is free.

What you need

National Treasury says a valid email address, ID number, cellphone number and bank account details are mandatory. Also have:

• Your business's registration number from CIPC, if it is a company or close corporation.
• Your SARS tax reference number.
• The names and ID numbers of the directors, members or owners.
• Your physical and postal address.
• A list of the goods or services ("commodities") you can supply.
• Your B-BBEE affidavit or certificate details, if you have them (see our B-BBEE affidavit guide).

The steps

1. Create an account at www.csd.gov.za with your email address and cellphone number.
2. Activate it from the email you receive, entering the one-time PIN sent to your phone, then log in.
3. Capture your supplier information, section by section: identification (supplier type, ID or registration number, name, trading name), contact details, addresses, bank account, tax information, ownership (for entities not registered with CIPC), associations with other suppliers (branches, consortia), the commodities you supply, and B-BBEE information.
4. Submit. The CSD verifies your details electronically against outside sources, including SARS for tax and CIPC for business registration. The CSD home page reminds suppliers: don't forget to hit submit.
5. Receive your supplier number and security code. The number starts with MAAA. You give it, with the security code where asked, to the government bodies you deal with.

What the CSD checks

The CSD checks your information electronically: tax compliance with SARS, business registration and directors with CIPC, and your bank account details. It re-checks regularly, so what a buyer sees is your status now, not when you registered. Separately, SBD 4 warns that a bidder on the Register for Tender Defaulters or the List of Restricted Suppliers is disqualified automatically.

Keep it current

• Tax. Your CSD record shows your SARS tax compliance status as it is now. File returns and settle debts on time, or you'll show as non-compliant and bids can be rejected.
• Changes. Update the CSD when your directors, bank account, address or contact details change. National Treasury asks suppliers to confirm at least once a year that their details are current.
• Your login. Don't give your CSD login to anyone. National Treasury has warned suppliers not to get registration help from strangers: anyone with your login can change your banking, business and tax details without your knowledge.
• Fake RFQs. Scammers send fake requests for quotation in a government department's name. Treasury advises checking the department's website and phoning it on the number there, not the one in the RFQ, and not delivering goods or services you aren't registered for on the CSD.

Get help, for free

The CSD website has user guides and lists provincial contacts. Provincial treasuries and departments help suppliers register, and National Treasury's CSD call centre takes queries. Be wary of agents who charge to register you or keep your login details: you never need to pay anyone to be on the CSD.

Next steps

With your CSD number, you can fill in the SBD forms that come with every government tender. Construction work also needs CIDB registration. New to the jargon? Our tender glossary explains the terms. Then browse open government tenders; on the Max plan, Honde reminds you before your CSD, tax and B-BBEE documents expire.