Valor IT has threatened to go to court to stop a vital maintenance and support contract that would ready the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office's (Cipro's) information systems for the new Companies Act, which comes into effect in April.
Cipro has contracted Waymark to maintain and upgrade its current legacy systems as a stop-gap measure to make sure it is ready for the new Companies Act. The deal will cost R11 million, over an 18-month period.
However, Valor IT alleges the deal is actually a covert plan to continue with the implementation of the stalled electronic content management (ECM) system, which is the subject of a court wrangle.
Valor IT chairman Josias Molele has threatened to go to court to stop Waymark from implementing the ECM system, which could derail the office's IT upgrades and see it missing the April deadline.
Molele says it's not his intention to derail Cipro, but contracts must be awarded properly in an open and transparent way. He alleges that internal Department of Trade and Industry documents prove that Waymark is implementing the ECM system.
“They [Waymark] can't do what they are doing when they've been brought in under false pretences when the department didn't go out on tender.” He says Waymark unsuccessfully bid for the canned ECM contract.
Urgent upgrades
Implementation of the system halted last year, when the Department of Trade and Industry canned Valor IT's R153 million contract, following a forensic investigation that found irregularities in the awarding of the deal. Valor IT is fighting the issue in court, and the ECM implementation cannot go ahead until the legal battle is sorted out.
The ECM system was meant to move Cipro onto a fully electronic platform and improve its current controls. It should have been up and running in time for the new Companies Act, which was initially set to come into force last October, but was then delayed to this April.
Cipro is currently upgrading its current systems as a stop-gap measure to make sure it is ready in time to implement the new Act. The new law will place a larger burden on the office, which will have several new electronic requirements and oversight duties to fulfil.
Sidwell Medupe, the department's director of media and public relations, denies Waymark is doing any more than maintaining and upgrading Cipro's current systems. “It's our responsibility to make sure Cipro runs efficiently. Waymark is not overhauling or doing [sic] ECM.”
Trade and industry minister Rob Davies previously said Valor IT's court action will not stand in the way of Cipro's conversion to a commission. “This matter is not something that is going to stand in the way of us making that transformation.”
Jacques Smalle, Democratic Alliance shadow deputy minister of trade and industry, says if Valor IT successfully interdicts Waymark “then there is no way for Cipro or the commission to be ready at all for the new Companies Act”.
Smalle says it is currently unlikely Cipro will be completely ready, even if Valor IT does not successfully stop Waymark.
Valor IT will be in court next Tuesday to try and enforce a settlement agreement it claims was reached with the department. Davies has denied that any settlement was agreed between the parties.
ITWeb unsuccessfully attempted to get comment from Waymark yesterday afternoon and this morning. Cipro did not respond to a request for comment.
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