Smart card tender cancelled

Durban, 15 Sept 2009

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has cancelled its smart card ID tender, following lengthy delays in the awarding of the tender by the State IT Agency (SITA).

The department says the open tender process for the supply of the smart cards, which was managed by SITA, was bungled several times and no more delays would be tolerated.

“In the ensuing tender process, the Department [of Home Affairs] was, subsequently, advised by SITA, in April 2009, that a forensic audit of the tender process was being carried out to investigate apparent irregularities. As at the end of August 2009, the department had not been advised of the outcome of the forensic audit. The department has, since, cancelled the tender,” the DHA said in a statement.

The department added it is in discussions with the National Treasury and is looking to start the process from scratch.

The project was originally supposed to be piloted at the end of last year, using pensioners as the sample group, but this did not happen. In March, ITWeb reported the pilot was delayed and it would take about three months to start the project once the tender to manufacture the ID cards had been awarded.

Red tape

In June, Home Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma blamed delays in the often-postponed project on poor administration of the tender by SITA. She previously said the DHA was looking at the most effective way of getting the process back on track.

Speaking at the GovTech conference, in Durban, DHA director-general Mavuso Msimang steered clear of any blame, choosing only to say the cancellation of the tender indicated poor government processes.

“The smart card tender, which has kept everyone interested, has been delayed and we have had some problems. But, even if we manage to get it going before the end of the financial year, the bureaucracy is such that I'm not sure if we go ahead, select a service provider, have a pilot, that we will have the funds available,” he said.

The department says, despite the delays, the smart card ID project is still one of its crucial plans. The DHA was mandated by Cabinet to replace the national identity document with a smart ID card.