Although the State Information Technology Agency (Sita) in November announced the list of 31 preferred suppliers for the R2,5-billion Seat Management Services tender, the state-owned company is yet to sign contracts with the vendors.
The tender’s three components are the Outright Purchase Option (OPO), the Leasing Purchase Option and the Provision of Services Option. Sita will spend R2-billion on the OPO component with the balance being spent on the other two categories.
While Sita is expected to sign contracts with various vendors some time this month, it remains unclear when the actual procurement processes will get off the ground and the company has not been able to give an indication of when procuring will start.
The OPO was early last year put on hold and then revised as its requirements drew opposition from empowerment and small enterprises who had argued that certain clauses put them at a disadvantage.
Subsequent to that, Sita committed itself to ensuring that a minimum of 40% of goods and services is procured from empowerment entities.
The tender — spanning a period of five years — means that the government will be able to save on information technology (IT) goods and services as the process involves a comprehensive cost-cutting procurement exercise.
In breaking with the past where government structures acquired their IT goods and services, Sita will now lease them from suppliers while ownership, maintenance and technical support remains with the suppliers. The only exception is with the OPO component where the government will fully own such goods. — I-Net Bridge