The SA Army plans to spend R27 million on the first phase of its ICT-driven Project Legend battle management system. However, industry sources say the amount offered is far too little.
The project is the army's first foray into network-centric warfare.
Nine vendors have until 30 March to submit detailed offers to the South African military for an operationally urgent joint tactical landward command and control (C2) system for the SA Army's brigade headquarters.
C2 systems are part of a complex array of hardware and software that allows military commanders to direct their troops and plan ahead.
Project Legend is said to have been eagerly anticipated for several years now by defence contractors operating in the country, as it will set the tenor for the army's C2 programme for the next 30 years.
Riaz Saloojee, head of defence business at Saab Grintek, says the contract will be "hotly contested" as "whoever wins has business for the next 30 to 40 years".
Bidders must fulfil a range of requirements, including a commitment to "having a local support and enhancement capability within SA that can maintain/upgrade the full software suite for at least 10 years after commissioning".
The tender documents also require the "source code of the system shall reside in SA for Department of Defence use". This may pose a problem for vendors proposing imported solutions.
Other than Saab Grintek, quotations have been requested from Fulcrum Information Technologies, EADS SA, Denel, African Defence Systems, CyberSim, FIMM Works, Elmer Communications Systems and Unified Data.
The system architecture the army seeks must consist of a static C2 system to support the brigade staff, mobile C2 systems to support battalion and company commanders, and location sensors to track "blue force" units of all sizes. The army wants enough of these to support three simultaneous peace support operations elsewhere in Africa and one training exercise at home.
The army expects the system to have an initial operational capability by next year and for that to have an operational life of 10 years.
Related stories:
Army's missile buy benefits Fulcrum
Command and control system unveiled
Share