It’s another busy week on National Treasury’s eTenders Portal as municipalities get stuck into making the most of their budget allocations. While networking is a repeated theme in this week’s roundup of top tenders, it is the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) that stands out with multiple projects.
In its first tender, proposals are invited for the refresh of the CSIR next-generation firewall (NGFW), including support and maintenance.
The council notes its current environment consists of a pair of physical enterprise-grade firewalls deployed in high-availability mode in separate data centres, supported by a virtualised management server and an event logging/monitoring server for centralised administration, reporting and threat visibility.
The proposed technology solution should maintain a similar architecture, while meeting or exceeding the technical, performance and security requirements outlined in the specifications.
This is followed by a call for multiple 10Gbps managed bandwidth services for the refresh of Eastern Cape rural links. Due to increased vandalism, theft and other risks, the CSIR says it prefers underground fibre solutions, but overhead solutions will be accepted if there are no underground fibre solutions that are available and/or affordable.
“The proposed links will be evaluated taking the whole project into account. The purpose is to design a solution that has no overlap or shared infrastructure. If that is impossible, the aim is to minimise the overlap or shared infrastructure of links that make up the solution, to minimise common failures,” it says.
Finally, the CSIR is calling for the modernisation of its telephony system with a cloud-based telephone solution, inclusive of ongoing maintenance and support of the associated telephony infrastructure.
The organisation explains its current telephony infrastructure is deployed at its head office in Pretoria, with primary and secondary PABXs connected in fail-over mode. Voice traffic breaks out from the Pretoria campus onto the incumbent's network. Additionally, there are Telkom PRI lines that provide the number ranges to the CSIR’s offices, none of which have been ported.
From Pretoria, each of the regional offices is connected with wireless and physical links to the MPLS network of the incumbent. Regional offices have a secondary gateway installed if connectivity to the primary PABX, situated in Pretoria, is lost.
The CSIR notes it has successfully deployed Microsoft Teams and is seeking proposals for the provision of a cloud-based PABX solution that seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Teams. The solution must include softphone functionality and 40 Microsoft Teams-compatible handsets to ensure optimal communication capabilities.
Other tenders that make this week’s top 10:
- The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) wishes to appoint a service provider for the planning, design, supply, installation and configurations of a total network access control (NAC) solution with maintenance and support. The solution will ensure a secure and protected network that will allow greater access control in the whole organisation, improved visibility and accurate device identification, it says.
SITA is also calling for proposals for the procurement of an EAS essential cloud tool software-as-a-service subscription and implementation service for the Western Cape Government (WCG). As the provincial government continues to rely more heavily on technology to support its operations, it has now become increasingly important to manage its application portfolio more effectively, the agency says. To mature application portfolio management and enterprise architecture in the WCG, the province requires a user-friendly enterprise-level solution that supports the strategic management of the province’s multimillion-rand software environment.
The Department of Land Reform and Rural Development is looking for a service provider to develop a municipal corporate geographic information system (GIS) implementation plan for each of the 18 local municipalities in the North West province. The department notes local municipalities are in the process of implementing the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA). It adds that GIS has been identified as a critical tool for the effective implementation of SPLUMA, successful and swift review of land use schemes, as well as effective land use management.
The Road Accident Fund is advertising for a service provider to redevelop its legacy claims applications from desktop-based to web-based applications. The organisation explains its technology and digital department aims to undertake a comprehensive re-development, including the design and architecture, of legacy claims applications. Bidders should have a reputation of developing robust web applications. The source code (Visual Basic and .Net) of the legacy desktop applications will be shared with the successful service provider.
The City of Cape Town requires services of a ‘neutral’ interconnect data centre hosting facility so as to directly “peer” with network service providers (NSPs) via a neutral public peering platform. The public peering point must provide interconnect between the city, local carriers, international carriers, internet service providers, application service providers, content providers and cloud providers, such as Microsoft ExpressRoute, AWS Direct Connect, Google Cloud Connect and Oracle Cloud, it says.
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is calling for bids for the supply, installation and maintenance of a NAC solution. The municipality sees the solution as part of its commitment to a ‘Zero Trust’ security model. The chosen solution must integrate seamlessly with its existing Fortinet infrastructure, including FortiGate firewalls. NAC solutions that offer strong interoperability and smooth integration with Fortinet environments will be considered.
The coastal municipality also requires supply, installation and maintenance of a public WiFi solution. This forms part of its project to provide free public WiFi to residents and visitors across the city. The initiative was designed to improve digital access, promote smart city objectives and bridge the digital divide. The project was structured in phases, starting with a pilot during the 2016/2017 financial year, and a full-scale rollout beginning the next year, with annual deployments planned to steadily increase coverage. Each site comprises multiple access points (hotspots) to ensure sufficient connectivity and coverage per location and redirects users to the eThekwini WiFi portal where they can register or log in via social media. Every user receives 1GB per day.
New tenders
State Information Technology Agency
The agency wishes to appoint a service provider for the planning, design, supply, installation and configuration of a total NAC solution with maintenance and support for five years.
Non-compulsory briefing: 26 August – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: RFB 3139/2025
Information: Lesley Chauke, Tel: 012 482 2025, E-mail: Lesley.Chauke@sita.co.za
Closing date: 12 September 2025
Tags: Software, hardware, networking, security, network access control, NAC, services, support, maintenance
SITA is also calling for proposals for the procurement of an EAS essential cloud tool subscription and implementation service for 12 months.
Compulsory briefing: 25 August – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: RFB 3135-2025
Information: Aphiwe Mtshetsha, Tel: 021 442 8572, E-mail: aphiwe.mtshetsha@sita.co.za
Closing date: 9 September 2025
Tags: Software, enterprise architecture, cloud computing, EAS
Department of Land Reform and Rural Development
The national department is looking for a service provider to develop a municipal GIS implementation plan for each of the 18 local municipalities in the North West province for nine months.
Tender no: NW-TEN 02 (003) 2025/2026
Information: Bongani Moolman, Tel: 018 388 7158, E-mail: Bongani.Moolman@dlrrd.gov.za
Closing date: 15 September 2025
Tags: Services, professional services, consulting, software, GIS, geographic information system
Road Accident Fund
The RAF is advertising for a service provider to redevelop its legacy claims applications from desktop-based to web-based applications for 12 months.
Non-compulsory briefing: 28 August
Tender no: RAF/2025/00028
Information: Bathabile Mahlangu, Tel: 012 629 1721, E-mail: bathabilem@raf.co.za
Closing date: 16 September 2025
Tags: Software, software development web development
City of Cape Town
The Western Cape metro requires network interconnect facility and data centre hosting services.
Non-compulsory briefing: 8 September – Microsoft Teams, Link
Tender no: 036S/2025/26
Information: Tender Enquiries, E-mail: SCM.Tenders20@capetown.gov.za
Closing date: 23 September 2025
Tags: Data centre, hardware, networking, services, hosting, network interconnect, data centre hosting
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Proposals are invited for the CSIR NGFW refresh, including support and maintenance for five years.
Compulsory briefing: 28 August – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: CSIR RFP 3695/05/09/2025
Information: Supply Chain Management, Tel: 012 841 2911, E-mail: tender@csir.co.za
Closing date: 5 September 2025
Tags: Hardware, software, networking, security, firewall, next-generation firewall, NGFW, services, support and maintenance
The organisation also requires provision of multiple 10Gbps managed bandwidth services for the refresh of Eastern Cape rural links.
Tender no: CSIR RFP 3693-10-09-2025
Information: Supply Chain Management, Tel: 012 841 2911, E-mail: tender@csir.co.za
Closing date: 10 September 2025
Tags: Telecommunications, hardware, services, managed bandwidth
Finally, the CSIR is calling for the modernisation of its telephony system with a cloud-based telephone solution, inclusive of ongoing maintenance and support of the associated telephony infrastructure for five years.
Compulsory briefing: 26 August – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: CSIR RFP 3692/03/09/2025
Information: Supply Chain Management, Tel: 012 841 2911, E-mail: tender@csir.co.za
Closing date: 3 September 2025
Tags: Telecommunications, hardware, software, telephony, cloud-based telephony, services, support and maintenance
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
The KwaZulu-Natal metro is calling for bids for the supply, installation and maintenance of a NAC solution for 36 months.
Compulsory briefing: 28 August
Tender no: 33055-1i
Information: Technical: Sithembiso Njeke, Tel: 031 322 9602, Contractual: Senzo Ngesi, Tel: 031 322 8243, E-mail: Senzo.Ngesi@Durban.gov.za
Closing date: 26 September 2025
Tags: Hardware, software, security, networking, network access control, NAC, services, support and maintenance
The coastal municipality also requires supply, installation and maintenance of a public WiFi solution over 36 months.
Compulsory briefing: 28 August
Tender no: 33082-1i
Information: Technical: Sithembiso Njeke, Tel: 031 322 9602, Contractual: Senzo Ngesi, Tel: 031 322 8243, E-mail: Senzo.Ngesi@Durban.gov.za
Closing date: 26 September 2025
Tags: Telecommunications, hardware, software, networking, WiFi, services, support and maintenance
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