Local black empowerment technology business Bihati Technologies has filed a R1.7 billion legal claim against Telkom for another tender process alleged to have gone sour.
The company's chief marketing officer, Malikhanye Mabena, says Bihati was in the final phases of contract negotiation with Telkom for a large tender to implement both wireless and wire-line infrastructure for the World Cup, when negotiations stopped and it was sidelined from the process.
Mabena explains that the company has been sitting on its hands for the last 18 months, waiting for some acknowledgement from the fixed-line giant, and has now had enough.
The lawsuit was filed in the South Gauteng High Court this week, and Bihati hopes to get a court date soon to square off against Telkom.
Six companies were part of the process and Bihati was expected to get R1.7 billion from the deal, which had a total value of R2.7 billion.
Mabena says the last Bihati heard from Telkom was that it would bring the losing bidders back into the tender process, which may see Bihati sidelined from re-entering the tender process.
Tender on hold
Telkom says the company's board made a conditional award to the six winning bidders for the tender. However, it was hit with queries by the Public Protector during the negotiation phase. “We also received a letter from the legal representative of some of the unsuccessful bidders.”
The company says the legal notices and queries put the process on hold, while it consulted its legal counsel. “The issues that were considered included the validity period of the tender and the date of the award in light thereof.”
Telkom then applied to the courts to review its decision to award the tender. “Telkom is currently busy with the preparation of this application. All affected parties will be notified shortly.”
The fixed-line operator has not had a clean record when it comes to the tender process. Last year, it faced two major claims on irregularities in how it awards jobs to companies.
Phutuma Networks, a 51% black-owned business, hammered Telkom on a R1.5 billion tender, which it had been working towards since 2003. The tender dealt with the provision of telex machines supplied to the post office.
The company accused Telkom of rigging the process to allow a competing bidder to work on the project, without tendering, and entrench itself in the business.
Maredi Telecom and Broadcasting also placed Telkom's senior executives into the spotlight, accusing them of shady dealings with Ericsson and Telsaf Data.
The accusations surfaced when Maredi alleged that a bid to install a point-to-point microwave system for cellphone base stations and a broadband wireless access network was not done in accordance with proper procedure.
Ericsson reportedly did not meet the tender requirements, because it failed one of the technology trial runs, a fact not disputed by the international technology business. However, it won the tender anyway.
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