Questions surrounding discrepancies in the tender published by the State IT Agency (SITA) to fulfill the Department of Home Affairs' (DHA) intruder prevention and detection system (IPS/IDS) requirements have yet to be answered, the department alleges.
The same tender is believed by Home Affairs and the police's specialised Hawks unit to be the catalyst that ultimately resulted in last week's arrest of Lefatshe CEO Coltrane Nyathi and the DHA's chief director of infrastructure management, Hilita Nkosana. The two executives are facing charges of corruption in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
A senior Home Affairs executive has confirmed that the government department has yet to receive a satisfactory response from SITA to explain why its requirements were altered prior to the agency publishing a request for quotation (RFQ). The executive may not be named as he is not an official spokesperson for the department.
Talks to nowhere
The executive reveals the department sent an official complaint to SITA's acting head of procurement Bruce Ramfolo outlining these discrepancies.
“The business and system requirements that we submitted to SITA are not the same as those that appeared on the RFQ. The procurement engagement model requires that SITA consult with the client - in this case, us - before making changes. Home Affairs was not even notified, we discovered the discrepancies ourselves. This was indicative of irregularities in the processes SITA employed and we called for the organisation to explain what happened,” he says.
Several meetings have taken place between Home Affairs and Ramfolo's team, the department says, but SITA has yet to respond with any clarity on the matter, Home Affairs reveals.
“The last we were told was that SITA would conduct its own investigation and respond with the outcomes. Unfortunately, the tender had already been awarded by the time the discrepancies were picked up, so we were unable to take any other action ourselves,” the executive explains.
Jinxed from start?
The IPS/IDS contract is split into two parts: the supply and installation of the specified infrastructure; and support and maintenance to IBM's standards for the 12 months following deployment.
Said Home Affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni: “Accordingly, the department was left with no option, but to put a halt to the contract. It is this decision by the Department of Home Affairs, it is believed, that may have allegedly prompted [Nyathi's alleged attempt to hand R200 000 to Nkosana], with a view to restoring the contract to Lefatshe Technology.”
The Home Affairs executive declined to comment on whether the discrepancies in SITA's RFQ could have resulted in Lefatshe's inability to deliver as outlined above.
SITA smoke and mirrors
Earlier this week, ITWeb alerted SITA of Home Affairs' allegations, providing the organisation with the opportunity to give its account of the matter.
In response, SITA spokesperson Anthea Summers said: “Due process must be followed and, as such, SITA will not comment on ongoing investigations. As SITA, we will work together with all relevant agencies and departments where necessary, to ensure that services rendered are free from duplicity and corruption. At a broader level, SITA's turnaround strategy was approved by Minister [Richard] Baloyi this month and real changes in the way that SITA conducts its business can be expected. Our priority is to deliver a qualitative service and run a clean ship underpinned by compliance and good governance. This includes the future re-engineering of procurement, to a supply chain management service. We will engage with our clients on this change in the near future.”
“Further comment on the matter at this stage would be premature,” she concluded. Summers declined to provide clarity on the statement.
Share
