The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) wishes to address the false claims made in the media regarding a report into alleged irregularities in a State Information Technology Agency (SITA) procurement process.
In accordance with the State Information and Technology Agency Act 88 of 1998, the procurement of “non-mandatory” services is attended to by SITA which acts as the procurement agent for any government department. The WCED required the supply of school Local Area Networks services for a period of five years, and accordingly requested SITA to undertake the procurement of such services.
Following an extensive procurement process which was run and administered by SITA, SITA made a recommendation to the WCED to award the tender for Local Area Network services at WCED schools to a service provider. This recommendation was made in March 2023, and the WCED executed the recommendation made by SITA in May 2023.
During August 2023, SITA informed the WCED that there were allegations of irregularities which occurred during the SITA procurement process and that an investigation would be conducted to determine whether such irregularities occurred.
The WCED was not aware of any irregularities which allegedly occurred during the SITA procurement process, and SITA did not divulge any information to the WCED about alleged irregularities prior to the award being made.
SITA provided the WCED with a copy of a forensic report into the alleged irregularities in the SITA process in November 2023, six months after the contract had been awarded.
While WCED officials provided technical input on the bid evaluation committee, the report made no findings against any Western Cape Government officials, and claims to the contrary are false and malicious.
The WCED asked SITA to provide it with all relevant documentation and information which the investigators had relied on, to verify the findings made. This was only received from SITA in February 2024, nine months after the contract had been awarded.
The WCED appointed senior counsel to consider the findings made in the report. Counsel concluded that none of the conclusions in the forensic report demonstrated any reviewable irregularities in the procurement process, and SITA was advised of counsel’s conclusions.
Since no legal basis currently exists to terminate the contract, the WCED will continue to honour the contract unless and until there are valid and substantiated reasons to take steps to set the contract aside.
* Bronagh Hammond is the Director Communication at the Western Cape Education Department.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.