SA Connect is a government project that aims to ensure universal access to broadband services for all South Africans.
Last week’s Workers Day celebration saw overall activity levels take a dip on National Treasury’s eTender Portal; however, the tide seems to be turning for the ICT sector, which saw an uptick in the number of requests despite the short week.
While we don’t often include requests for quotations in the weekly top tenders, requests from Broadband Infraco (BBI) surrounding phase two of the SA Connect project caught our eye.
Launched in 2013, SA Connect is the national broadband project identified by government to ensure universal access to broadband services for all South Africans, prioritising rural and underserviced areas. Phase two of SA Connect officially kicked-off late last year and had initially been expected to connect 1.9 million households in the 2023/24 financial year, although this was revised down to 882 000 households.
In March, responding to a question from Democratic Alliance MP Tsholofelo Motshidi-Bodlani, communications minister Mondli Gungubele revealed that as of 1 January 2024, BBI had achieved 9 056 household connectivity and 231 community WiFi hotspots in various district municipalities.
Earlier this year, National Treasury noted in its Estimates of National Expenditure document that R2.4 billion was allocated for implementing the project over the medium-term. This figure includes one-off allocations for phase two made in 2024/25 (R1.9 billion) and 2025/26 (R267.4 million).
“As a result, 970 government facilities will continue to be provided with connectivity over the MTEF (medium-term expenditure framework) period through phase one of the SA Connect project, and 5.1 million households will be connected through phase two,” it said.
Now, BBI is calling for one project manager and six project co-ordinators to lead phase two of the rollout in eight provinces.
Western Cape is seemingly the only province to warrant a request at this time for project manager services. The 36-month project will see the successful bidder managing the day-to-day activities of the SA Connect phase two project deliverables in the province.
The key performance areas of this contract include preparation of the project investment pack; management of the project team, key stakeholders and external suppliers/contractors; regular reporting on project status, tracking risks and following up on outstanding items; overseeing the project work, managing multiple and simultaneous inter-dependencies end-to-end; ensuring strict adherence to BBI’s capital programme management policies, governance, processes and procedures; and ensuring the project is completed on time, within budget, scope and quality requirements.
Meanwhile, dedicated project coordinators are sought for Northern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. Gauteng and the North-West are to be serviced by a single project co-ordinator.
The key performance areas for each of the project co-ordinators require the planning and coordination of the provincial project deliverables; ensuring project work is completed on time, within budget, scope and quality requirements; and providing regular reporting on project status, tracking risks and following up on outstanding items.
While a project coordinator is required for the Free State, the RFQ document erroneously contains the key performance areas of the Western Cape’s project manager request. A request for the Eastern Cape rollout of phase two of the project had not been placed at the time of writing.
Other tenders that make this week’s top 10:
- Parliament is advertising for internet connectivity services. This is aimed at improving its connectivity to adequately service all users at its precinct in Cape Town.
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Parliament is also looking to replace its HPE 3 Par storage area network through a lease programme. It says it will lease all the infrastructure directly from the original equipment manufacturer or a certified OEM partner and pay for the storage space utilised or consumed. The leased SAN must be deployed and wholly interoperable with existing HPE server infrastructure in Parliament’s primary data centre.
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The City of Cape Town wishes to appoint a panel of up to a maximum of five service providers for the provision of SAP integration and implementation services. The metro envisions three types of services, namely short-term, such as proof of concept; medium-term, such as project integration and/or implementation services; and long-term for advanced project implementation.
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The State Information Technology Agency is calling for the supply, configuration and installation of local area network infrastructure (Aruba switches and WiFi) on behalf of the Department of Water and Sanitation. The agency notes the LAN is a critical component of the department’s ICT environment, and so it wants to replace all the end of sale and end of support switches and wireless access points.
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In a second request, SITA is advertising for the supply of two Cisco Core switches for the National School of Government head office. This is required to avoid LAN downtime that might arise and lead to a negative impact on service delivery due to lack of productivity and slow responsiveness of IT systems.
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The South African Weather Service requires a LAN refresh based on the latest technology capabilities. The organisation notes it is looking for a network-as-a-service solution with embedded security capabilities to carry critical data.
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The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development wishes to appoint a service provider to supply provincial IT support services. This will entail services delivery management, network and server management, user support management, ICT assets management (hardware and software), printers and scanners managed services, shared services, service request management and projects.
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The Road Accident Fund is looking for an experienced and suitable service provider to supply, implement and support a security service edge solution to protect its endpoints and multi-cloud environment. This is aimed at securing the organisation’s digital assets in a cloud-centric environment, accommodate the modern ‘work from anywhere’ model, streamline IT security management, enhance user experience and promote business operations agility. The RAF says it also wishes to consolidate security tools and services for improved efficiency and effectiveness.
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Eskom returns with another request for information, this time on the availability of asset investment planning and management systems options, as well as associated estimated timelines and indicative costs for acquiring and implementing the solution. The utility notes its transmission division operates in a volatile, uncertain, ambiguous and complex environment, and it has adopted asset management principles to best manage the balance between network performance, risk and cost. One of the levers required to achieve and sustain this is through effective and efficient delivery of capital investments. The system should enable the organisation to allocate capital investments to capital projects which demonstrate value in achieving Eskom Transmission’s strategic objectives, it says.
New tenders
Broadband Infraco
The state-owned entity is calling for a number of project skills across the country for phase two of SA Connect.
Tender numbers:
–06052 – Project manager, Western Cape
–06051 – Project coordinator, Northern Cape
–06053 – Project coordinator, Free State
–06064 – Project coordinator, Mpumalanga
–06055 – Project coordinator, Limpopo
–06056 – Project coordinator, KwaZulu-Natal
–06057 – Project coordinator, North West and Gauteng
Information: Siyabonga Khuzwayo, Tel: 011 235 1658, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 10 May 2024
Tags: Telecommunications, broadband, services, project manager, project co-ordinator
Parliament of the Republic of South Africa
South Africa’s legislative body is advertising for internet connectivity services.
Tender no: B4/2024
Information: N Ntanjana, Tel: 021 403 8374, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 24 May 2024
Tags: Telecommunications, broadband, internet, internet service provider, ISP
Parliament also requires the supply, delivery, installation and configuration of a storage area network.
Tender no: B5/2024
Information: N Ntanjana, Tel: 021 403 8374, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 24 May 2024
Tags: Hardware, storage, network, storage area network, SAN
City of Cape Town
The Western Cape metro wishes to appoint a panel of service providers for the provision of SAP services.
Non-compulsory briefing: 17 May – Link
Tender no: 242S/2023/24
Information: E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 3 June 2024
Tags: Software, services, SAP
State Information Technology Agency
SITA is calling for the supply, configuration and installation of local area network infrastructure (Aruba switches and WiFi) on behalf of the Department of Water and Sanitation for the head office (phase two) in Pretoria.
Non-compulsory briefing: 10 May – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: RFB 2866-2024
Information: Thembeka Mdwara, Tel: 012 482 3217, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 27 May 2024
Tags: Hardware, networking, wireless, WiFi, switches
The agency also requires the supply of Cisco Core switches for the National School of Government head office.
Non-compulsory briefing: 10 May – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: RFB 2867-2024
Information: Thembeka Mdwara, Tel: 012 482 3217, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 27 May 2024
Tags: Hardware, networking, switches
South African Weather Service
Bids are invited for the upgrade of existing local area network infrastructure with a five-year warranty and support, next business day on-site service.
Non-compulsory briefing: 14 May
Tender no: SAWS-390b
Information: Zandile Nzula, Tel: 012 367 6000, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 27 May 2024
Tags: Hardware, networking, local area network, services, support and maintenance
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
The national department wishes to appoint a service provider to supply provincial IT support services for three years.
Non-compulsory briefing: 14 May – Microsoft Teams, Link
Tender no: RFQ 02 2024 SITA RFB 1183 2022TRANSVERSAL CONTRACT
Information: Supply Chain Management, Tel: 012 315 1187, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 27 May 2024
Tags: Software, ERP, enterprise resource planning
Road Accident Fund
The RAF seeks to appoint an experienced and suitable service provider to supply, implement and support a security service edge solution to protect its endpoints and multi-cloud environment for a three-year period.
Non-compulsory briefing: 9 May
Tender no: RAF/2024/00019
Information: Matome Patrick Ramathoka, Tel: 012 649 2015, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 22 May 2024
Tags: Software, security, security service edge, cloud computing
Request for information
Eskom
The utility is calling for information to determine asset investment planning and management systems options available in the market, as well as associated estimated timelines and indicative costs for acquiring and implementing the solution.
Tender no: MWP2538TX
Information: Matshipi Mosima, Tel: 053 830 5623, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 7 June 2024
Tags: Software, asset management, asset investment planning
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