E.com institute has announced a strategic partnership with Comparex Africa, as part of the latter`s black economic empowerment (BEE)/small and medium enterprise obligations in terms of "Tender 38", awarded at the end of January.
Tender 38 was awarded as a "blanket tender" and a means for government entities at all levels to avoid having to tender every time they need certain IT skills, says Cassim Parak, MD of e.com institute. In such cases, they can simply call on the State IT Agency (SITA) to procure those skills from a number of companies and consortia named in Tender 38, at tariffs already agreed and published.
Cassim says the 100% black-owned and Empowerdex-accredited e.com institute will supply specialised resources as part of the Comparex consortium, which comprises e.com institute and RGBS, a BEE company.
The Tender 38 process effectively eliminates the time-consuming process of releasing, submitting and evaluating tenders for every new requirement. This process can take as much as two months to complete, he says. For 33 government departments and 11 departments in every one of the nine provinces, this saves a lot of time and money, he adds.
Tender 38 has been awarded for one year, Parak says. It was first mooted one-and-a-half years ago, and finally awarded this year.
Thys Fourie, Comparex Africa regional executive, says only approved skills types are included in the tender. "It is not a product- or service-based contract as such, but rather based on an individual contract." This means that government can procure a selected number of skills only from these five companies or consortia for a period of one year only. This tender may be renewed in future.
Fourie says should a department for instance undertake a six-month analysis of a business process, and it needs skills, it may access those skills via Tender 38 from the companies named. Tariffs for skills are divided into three levels, based on the value of the skill.
The tender and all its circulars can be accessed on SITA`s Web site.
Share
