Technology Corporate Management (TCM) has been caught in the crossfire of corruption and mismanagement at the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM).
According to an article on the front page of a weekend newspaper, on Saturday 14 May 2011, TCM is at the forefront of an investigation into corruption at the EMM. TCM has consistently denied all these allegations.
Andrea Cornelli, TCM's CEO, says: “Any company that won the tender would be in the same boat as we are now. It is not corruption but mismanagement at EMM that has resulted in the failed IT system. TCM prides itself on doing business in a professional and ethical way, and we welcome any investigation into the tender, which we won on merit.”
The article slating TCM was published on the eve of elections and it seems that whistleblowers had more to win from rehashing unsubstantiated stories than getting to the heart of the corruption. Izak Berg, an independent EMM councillor for Alberton, says he called for the initial investigations into the tender and that arrests are imminent. Berg is running as the Independent Rate Payers Association's mayoral candidate, in Ekurhuleni.
The article in the Saturday paper alleges that a report by special forensic investigators, Aurco, and other internal reports found that TCM should never have won the tender. However, numerous requests by TCM since November 2009 for copies of these reports outlining the suggested irregularities as well as IBM's tender, which was mooted as “a better option”, have proved futile.
TCM has on numerous occasions stated that it was awarded the business on merit, delivered to specifications, on time and at prices tendered. It denies any collusion or corruption and is not closely linked to companies such as the reported shell company or “post-box” vendor Meropa, as alleged.
Marika Miller at the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) confirms that the unit is investigating irregularities at the municipality. However, she states that the investigation is more far-reaching than the IT deal.
“The IT deal is an aspect of the investigation into the municipality that is being conducted at the request of concerned parties and the municipality itself,” says Miller, who was unable to comment on whether the Aurco report existed.
Aurco managing director, Jan Herbst, declined to comment.
TCM believes it is being blamed for what is essentially the EMM's ongoing IT ineptitude. The story is also being used by whistleblowers with political machinations just prior to elections.
TCM complied with all objectives outlined by the EMM with regards to the tender and the contract. TCM received multiple project signoffs during this period, together with payments. Maintenance services were charged and paid monthly and the last payment was received from the EMM in full and final settlement (after issuing them a summons) in August 2010.
TCM established its Cisco Learning Academy on the back of the project to ensure continual adequate skills available to support the network. TCM believes there is no reason why the system should not be fully functional; however, due to union scuffles, it is believed that the EMM is still struggling to implement the system. Since the end of TCM's contract, the EMM has failed to award a support contract despite going to tender twice.
The EMM has remained mute on the subject and was unwilling to meet with TCM to discuss the matter. TCM made numerous requests to meet with the management of the EMM subsequent to the departure of the previous City Manager, but these were declined. Requests to meet with the head of IT services, Peta Mashinini, were declined due to her “tight schedule”. The request was escalated to Deputy City Manager Tsholo Mthombeni, who never responded.
TCM tendered in November 2006, was awarded the contract in March 2007. Work commenced in May 2007 and the job was completed in June 2009. TCM stands by its opinion that internal disarray at the EMM is responsible for any systems not working after the TCM contract ended. TCM complied with all its objectives.
All the EMM IT management employed at the time of award have either resigned or been suspended.
TCM partnered with Cisco South Africa, which imported the top skills globally to ensure a world-class implementation. Together they developed the network design, which was not a tender requirement but part of the scope that TCM complied with. The tender requested unit prices to be supplied without a design and accordingly was not a fixed price tender. It is nonsensical to compare the price of IBM to TCM as the design was not approved at the time of tender.
All high-end infrastructure Cisco purchases were subcontracted to Dimension Data, which is South Africa's largest Cisco agent. IBM is not a dominant Cisco reseller in South Africa. BCX and Dimension Data are, and they did not tender for this contract.
In conclusion, Cisco also executed a post-completion evaluation of the environment, at the request of EMM, to determine whether a gap existed between the tender specification and the finished product, so they could determine whether final payment to TCM was due. At the conclusion of this evaluation, EMM paid TCM in full.
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