The competition commission is investigating a complaint by one of the losing bidders for the smart ID card system, reports City Press.
According to the newspaper Grant Son, CEO of Batho Phahameng Consulting, has laid a complaint with the auditor-general (AG), the Competition Commission and the presidency after his firm was disqualified from the R40 million tender for to provide printing equipment for the new smart IDs.
The paper reports that Son's company scored the same number of points as the winning bidder.
In May, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) awarded a R40 million contract to Altech Card Solutions, a division of the listed communications giant Altech, to provide the Government Printing Works (GPW) with card personalisation equipment.
Meanwhile a contract estimated to be worth R199 million was awarded to Gemalto Southern Africa to supply pre-printed polycarbonate cards, containing a contactless microchip.
City Press reports that a confidential bid notification from the CEO of the GPW, Anthony Mbewu, shows that Batho Phahameng and Altech both scored 98 overall in the bid adjudication - 90 points for price and eight points for black economic empowerment (BEE).
Son says when he wanted to investigate the award process to establish where his tender went awry, he was refused access to the minutes of the bid deliberation meetings, says the paper.
City Press quotes Son as saying he is curious as to how Altech managed to score eight points for BEE, the same as a 100% black managed and operated business. Online records apparently show Altech Information Technologies, of which Altech Card Solutions is a subsidiary, has four white male directors.
Holding company Altech, which has recently been bought out by parent company Altron in a R1.8 million deal, reportedly has eight white men, three black women and two black men on its board.
City Press says the GPW responded that the BEE score was based on the BEE certificates submitted by each bidder and that both firms' certificates showed the same level of empowerment contribution.
Son is apparently also questioning how Altech's technical documents were accepted, as he claims it was exactly the same as Batho Phahameng's technical bid, says the paper.
Batho Phahameng was reportedly using Altech as their technical partner for the supply of the card personalisation equipment, and Son says the department and bid adjudicators were aware of this agreement.
According to the report, Mbewu responded saying Batho Phahameng "failed to accept mandatory requirements" related to technical aspects of the equipment and failed to adhere to other terms and conditions relating to pricing and in fact submitted the incorrect version of the bid documents.
A spokesperson for the AG says a separate investigation into the award will not be launched, but will form part of the 2013/14 audit process, reports the newspaper. The commission is reportedly investigating the merits of Batho Phahameng's complaint.
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