National Treasury’s eTenders Portal delivers a mixed bag for the ICT industry this week, with a rush of new advertisements favouring those companies that are eager to engage in lower value, quick turnaround quotation requests.
A new tender from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), however, is likely to draw attention. The advertisement will see the appointment of a service provider to deliver a cloud-based omni-channel contact centre as a service (CCaaS) solution, together with contact centre operations.
The procurement forms part of the agency’s drive to modernise citizen engagement and improve service delivery across its national footprint.
“SASSA currently provides customer support through internal and outsourced contact centre arrangements, regional and local offices, e-mail channels, online services and other customer engagement platforms,” it says.
“The current contact centre managed services contract ends in November 2026. The existing solution is fragmented and does not provide a fully integrated omni-channel experience, single customer view, unified reporting, automated self-service, or a sustainable distributed workforce capability.”
The new contract will cover both technology and workforce operations, requiring bidders to propose and justify the resources needed to meet SASSA’s service levels. The agency estimates demand at 1 million voice calls and 5 000 e-mails per month, with a target of answering and closing 90% of these interactions within agreed service levels. The average call handling time is set at five minutes, which will serve as the benchmark for workforce planning.
The solution must consolidate SASSA’s existing fragmented support channels into a single platform, enabling citizens to engage via voice, e-mail, WhatsApp, SMS, web chat, chatbots, social media and self-service channels. Digital-first capabilities, including AI-enabled virtual assistants, automated FAQs and customer journey analytics, are required to reduce reliance on voice calls and expand self-service options available 24/7.
Security and compliance form a critical part of the tender, with requirements for data residency in South Africa, adherence to POPIA, disaster recovery and full interaction recording across all channels. The platform must also integrate with SASSA’s grant administration and customer care systems, providing a single customer view and unified reporting.
Bidders will be expected to provide not only the technology but also supervisors, quality assurance teams, workforce management, AI specialists and overall operations management. The tender stipulates that 90% of enquiries and complaints must be resolved within five working days, underscoring the agency’s focus on service efficiency and accountability.
Interested parties have until 11am on 9 October to submit bids.
Other tenders that make this week’s top 10:
- Eskom wishes to procure an enterprise historian solution for its distribution and National Transmission Company of South Africa businesses. For both businesses to maximise the efficiency and resilience of the vast, largely analogue, network infrastructure, it says it needs to digitise operations to realise forward-thinking solutions. However, the utility admits that a significant challenge lies in capturing, storing, managing and analysing large volumes of data from various data sources to provide valuable insights and support informed decision-making. A suitable historian solution will fulfil a foundational role in such digitisation efforts and is the enabler and precursor to many of Eskom’s “Smart Grid” initiatives, as well as being in line with the Just Energy transition approved by senior management, it says.
Eskom is also advertising for an assurance data analytics system that automates routine tasks, applies AI/ML to identify risks and patterns, and provides advanced analytics to enhance audit precision for a contract period of six years, including maintenance and support. The lack of a modern assurance data analytics tool exposes the organisation to significant operational, financial, compliance, and reputational risks, Eskom says. Manual audit processes are inefficient, prone to human error, and restrict audit coverage to samples rather than entire data populations. This increases the risk of undetected fraud or errors, delayed decision-making, and missed opportunities for strategic insights, it adds.
The City of Cape Town is calling for the provision of a scanning, indexing and storage service for its motor vehicle registration and licensing section and ethics and forensics services department. The metro explains that due to the highly-confidential nature of ethics and forensic matters, these investigations cannot be disposed of and should be safeguarded in an environment where it is safe and readily available for future access from time to time through a controlled access retrieval system.
The Department of Water and Sanitation is looking for a professional service provider to develop, review and update a real-time decision support system for the lower Orange River system in the central planning area. The department explains that the decisions support system is made up of real-time modelling and monitoring, combined with annual operating rules, to enable timely decision-making.
Gauteng’s Mogale City Local Municipality wishes to appoint a service provider through licence fee of an audit system with artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics. The municipality explains its internal audit function is currently largely dependent on manual documentation and manual workflow management, which may extend audit turnaround times and constrain audit coverage and efficiency. The successful solution must be able to support the automation of internal audit processes, enhance risk management, and support compliance and governance requirements in line with the municipality’s operating environment, it says.
Staying with Gauteng, the City of Tshwane is looking for a service provider to provide an independent fraud hotline management service. The successful bidder will be expected to provide a multimedia environment in which a person can anonymously report fraud, corruption, maladministration, non-compliance with regulations, general misconduct, financial misconduct. It says it expects the hotline to receive an estimated 500 calls on a monthly basis.
The capital city also requires provision of ICT desktop support services. This will entail end user computing and desktop support; ICT service desk maintenance and support; ICT hardware break/fix and peripherals (including consumables supply and install services); and a handover/exit plan. The city notes it has a base of approximately 10 000 computer users, located in about 500 sites which are situated in the metro’s seven regions.
The South African Weather Service is looking for information on a forecast product generator solution. It says the solution will be used to facilitate the efficient generation, management, visualisation and dissemination of weather forecast products and other related meteorological and non-meteorological information. The intended solution should support operational forecasting, improve consistency of forecast outputs, facilitate multi-channel dissemination, and integrate with existing meteorological systems and future modernisation initiatives, it says.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research closes the issue with a request for information from interested service providers, product suppliers, research organisations and technology developers on radio frequency electronic warfare (EW) payloads for unmanned airborne and spaceborne platforms. The entity explains the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) is increasingly recognised as a military domain in its own right, and one that is increasingly contested, congested, constrained and shared. EW capability hosted on unmanned platforms is therefore of direct interest to the South African National Defence Force, both as an emerging capability and as an emerging threat.
New tenders
Eskom
The utility wishes to procure an enterprise historian solution for its distribution/National Transmission Company of South Africa (Dx / NTCSA).
Non-compulsory briefing: 21 September – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: E3481NTCSADX
Information: Herman Mhlongo, Tel: 011-516-7653, E-mail: mhlongh@eskom.co.za
Closing date: 13 October 2026
Tags: software, enterprise historian solution
Eskom is also advertising for an assurance data analytics system that automates routine tasks, applies AI/ML to identify risks and patterns, and provides advanced analytics to enhance audit precision for six years, including maintenance and support.
Non-compulsory briefing: 23 September – Microsoft Teams, Link
Tender no: E3536CXMWP
Information: Mbulelo Sidwell Mncengani, Tel: 011-800-2877, E-mail: MncengMS@eskom.co.za
Closing date: 15 October 2026
Tags: software, assurance data analytics, data analytics, services, support and maintenance
City of Cape Town
The Western Cape metro is calling for the provision of a scanning, indexing and storage service for its motor vehicle registration and licensing section and ethics and forensics services department.
Non-compulsory briefing: 6 October – Microsoft Teams, Link, Meeting ID: 372 294 853 768 381; Passcode: sE7dL3Lg
Tender no: 076S/2026/27
Information: Finance Tenders, E-mail: Finance.Tenders@capetown.gov.za
Closing date: 26 October 2026
Tags: hardware, software, services, imaging, scanning, indexing, storage
South African Social Security Agency
SASSA is inviting proposals for the appointment of a service provider for the provision of a cloud-based omnichannel contact centre as a service and contact centre operations services for three years.
Tender no: SASSA-11-26-ICT-HO
Information: Mandla Sibeko, Tel: 012-400-2634, E-mail: ccaasbid@sassa.gov.za
Closing date: 9 October 2026
Tags: software, services, managed services, contact centre, contact centre as a service, omnichannel contact centre
Department of Water and Sanitation
A professional service provider is sought to develop, review and update a real-time decision support system for the lower orange river system in the central planning area for 36 months.
Non-compulsory briefing: 23 September – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: WP11569
Information: Solomon Bulunga, Tel:012-336-6819, E-mail: bulungas@dws.gov.za
Closing date: 15 October 2026
Tags: software, services, professional services
Mogale City Local Municipality
The Gauteng municipality wishes to appoint a service provider through licence fee of an audit system with artificial intelligence and data analytics for three years.
Compulsory briefing: 25 September.
Tender no: MM (IA) 01/2027
Information: Poziswa Kolisile, Tel:011-951-2474, E-mail: scmenquiries@mogalecity.gov.za
Closing date: 14 October 2026
Tags: software, audit software, artificial intelligence, data analytics
City of Tshwane
The Gauteng metro is looking for a service provider to provide an independent fraud hotline management service for three years.
Compulsory briefing: 30 September.
Note: To respond to GAR 01-2026/27 copy the link below to the new browser: https://portal.us.bn.cloud.ariba.com/dashboard/public/appext/comsapsbncdiscoveryui#/RfxEvent/preview/1110024393?anId=ANONYMOUS.
Tender no: GAR 01-2026/27
Information: Ellaine Nkoana, Tel:012-358-8924, E-mail: EllaineN@tshwane.gov.za
Closing date: 22 October 2026
Tags: services, outsourcing, contact centre, fraud hotline
The city also requires provision of ICT desktop support services forthree years.
Compulsory briefing: 9 October.
Note: To respond to GICT 01-2026/27 copy the link below to the new browser: https://portal.us.bn.cloud.ariba.com/dashboard/public/appext/comsapsbncdiscoveryui#/RfxEvent/preview/1110024559?anId=ANONYMOUS.
Tender no: GICT 01-2026/27
Information: Olivia Matjila, Tel:012-358-6018, E-mail: OliviaMat@tshwane.gov.za
Closing date: 23 October 2026
Tags: services, desktop support, support and maintenance
Request for information
South African Weather Service
SAWS is inviting information on a forecast product generator solution.
Tender no: RFI-001/26
Information: Carol Lekalakala, Tel:012-367-6252, E-mail: Carol.lekalakala@weathersa.co.za
Closing date: 7 October 2026
Tags: software, forecast product generator, FPG
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Information is sought from interested service providers, product suppliers, research organisations and technology developers on radio frequency EW payloads for unmanned airborne and spaceborne platforms.
Tender no: CSIR RFI 7046/30/09/2026
Information: SCM, Tel:012-841-2911, E-mail: tender@csir.co.za
Closing date: 30 September 2026
Tags: radio frequency electronic warfare, defence technology
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