Bids for the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) contract will close on 27 June, says Net 1 UEPS Technologies.
Net 1 has a deal to facilitate SASSA's social welfare grants distribution in five of SA's nine provinces. The contact was extended in January to September. In February, Net 1 said a new tender process for the distribution of social grants was expected “in the near future”.
Yesterday, the US-based company told the market that the deadline for submissions had been “revised” to the last Monday of this month. Bids were initially due next week. “We will participate in the tender process,” says CEO and chairman Serge Belamant.
Net 1's current contract with the agency dragged its local revenue lower in the first half of the year, because of a change in the terms of a contract.
The deal allows for a fee-per-transaction and a minimum amount of beneficiaries; however, the amount to be paid and the number of guaranteed beneficiaries are lower than in the previous contract.
The dual-listed company says it will “continue to abide by the bid submission guidelines provided by SASSA, while concurrently continuing to provide SASSA with its high-quality service”.
Meanwhile, the company has lost out on an application to the Constitutional Court to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeals ruling that allows SASSO to use the South African Post Office as a distribution agency.
Belamant says Net 1 is “obviously disappointed that we will not have an opportunity to argue our case at the Constitutional Court”. Net I expects the tender process to resolve the issue of which entity distributes SASSA's grants.
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