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Government workers to get unlimited data next year

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 27 Oct 2020

Government is set to offer some of its employees uncapped data, without applying a fair usage policy.

This emerged from National Treasury’s multibillion-rand tender looking for a new cellular service provider to supply government with information on the provision of mobile communication services.

Vodacom has been government's exclusive supplier of mobile communication services since September 2016. The contract was a result of an effort by National Treasury to address what it called an “exorbitant spend category”.

Pursuing a commodity strategy, the tender seeks to eradicate duplicate tender processes, leverage the scale of government spend, and utilise cellular services more innovatively to improve service delivery.

The National Treasury has now issued the conditions for RT15, a transversal contract for the provision of mobile communication services to the state.

The closing date for applications is 27 November, says Treasury.

In its mandatory requirements form for applicants, National Treasury says this bid is a request for proposals (RFP) for the supply and delivery of mobile communication services to the state for a period of 60 months, from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2026.

It explains that an RFP means the state has indicated its ideas of mobile communication services it requires, and therefore, seeks bidders to propose mobile communication service solutions that address the indicated ideas of the requirements.

There are some mandatory requirements for this bid, says National Treasury. “They [mandatory requirements] must all be met to qualify for further evaluation. Failure to comply with any of the mandatory requirements will disqualify the bidder.”

National Treasury notes the first stipulation is that the state requires uncapped data without applying a fair usage policy.

It adds that the state has a maximum spend limit of R500 inclusive of value-added tax per mobile user per month.

A fair usage policy is a policy utilised internationally by broadband providers of all types of mobile Internet to ensure every subscriber uses mobile data in moderation. When subscribers use large amounts of mobile data, other users on the same network can be adversely affected. In order to prevent those few mass-data consumers from eating into the bandwidth of the other users, the provider will cap said abuser’s data speed.

The second requirement stresses the “national coverage declaration”. Treasury notes the state requires a mobile network coverage solution that is “stable, uninterrupted, and reliable for all organs of state nationally at any places of service delivery”.

It points out the mobile network coverage solution must be able to support any connectivity challenges experienced by any organ of state operating in poor or very limited or no network coverage service delivery areas within the Republic of South Africa.

“The state requires 100% network coverage; however, the state will accept a minimum of 80% from the bidder with a plan to close the deficit at no cost to the state. Examples of any place of service delivery includes air operations, special task force, sea operations, satellite phone and more,” National Treasury says.

It adds that bidders must have licences that enable them to provide electronic communications services to the state over its own or via another mobile network.

The licences must also allow the bidders to roll out and operate an electronic communications network in different areas for the provision of access services to the state in all its areas of service delivery.

“All bidders must submit valid and certified Individual Electronic Communications Service Licence and Individual Electronic Communications Network Service Licence issued by the Independent Communications Authority of SA.”

Finally, National Treasury says the state has provided its minimum pricing structure with minimum mobile products and services.

It points out that bidders are to adhere to the pricing structure even for any additional proposed mobile products and services.

“Proposed prices must be furnished based on supply and delivery. The prices are fixed for five years except for mobile products and services susceptible to exchange rate,” it concludes.

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