On a day's notice, the State IT Agency (SITA) and the Government IT Officer's Council (GITOC) convened a briefing session in Johannesburg yesterday, to advise the media of an extension in the time allowed for a portion of the all-in-one seat management services tender.
The extension of the outright purchase option (OPO) part of the tender became necessary, said Mavuso Msimang, CEO of SITA, when IT suppliers falling in the small and medium enterprise (SME) and black economic empowerment (BEE) categories "objected strongly" to the wording of the tender. It had singled out original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Hewlett-Packard and local manufacturers of IT equipment, as the only ones invited to tender for the OPO section, he said.
The OPO part of the tender represents a "significant portion" of the total tender, Msimang added.
BEE companies and SMEs complained that distributors, which generally act as their suppliers, were sometimes able to offer products more cheaply than the makers themselves, which generally sell to distributors.
Guy Whitcroft, MD of Tarsus Technologies, a distributor, says these companies would argue that if they can get IT products from a vendor or distributor at a price that doesn't disadvantage SITA, and they satisfy BEE requirements, they should not be left out.
Wrong and sorry?
Asked whether this was an admission that the tender wording had been faulty, Msimang replied that although he did not want to prejudge the outcome, it was likely to be much the same, and that the change had been made in the interests of fairness and openness.
Kgabo Hlahla, CEO of GITOC, said OEMs had been singled out in the first place because it had not been thought possible or likely that distributors, further down in the supply chain than original manufacturers, could be in a position to undercut them. He said the OEMs had been informed of the change in procedure.
Instead of being awarded at the end of this month, all portions of the tender are now likely to be awarded in August, added Msimang.
No system?
A statement on SITA's Web site advises that an interim measure -a database of accredited PC manufacturers and distributors - would remain in use until the end of the month or when the tender is awarded, "whichever comes first". With the failure of the original tender, this seemed to mean that government procurement would from month-end operate in a vacuum.
Msimang denied this and said the statement would be updated to say the interim measure remains in place until the awarding of the seat management services tender in August.
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