The SABC seeks a revenue-share partnership for a direct-to-home satellite solution.
It’s another quiet week for tenders as national government departments take some time to digest finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement.
However, municipalities and state-owned entities fill the space with a variety of requests, largely skewed towards software.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) provides this week’s excitement, with the news that it wishes to enter a revenue-sharing partnership for a direct-to-home (DTH) satellite solution.
In its tender documentation, the broadcaster notes the Broadcast Digital Migration policy published in 2008 promoted digital terrestrial television (DTT) as the primary solution for digital migration and DTH as a gap-filler for households outside the DTT coverage areas.
“Today, however, a cursory study of reception devices at most households, even those in less privileged neighbourhoods, will reveal there has been a much larger uptake of the DTH satellite platform,” it says.
Meanwhile, the analogue switch-off project (ASO), which is due to be completed on 31 December, has been hamstrung by the slow progress of registering indigent households, as well as the procuring, manufacturing and installation of the much-needed set-top boxes (STBs).
“The slow progress of the ASO project has had a material impact on the SABC’s finances, as it resulted with a loss of audiences, in the ASO affected provinces, and a drop in revenue generation for the organisation,” it reveals.
It says DTT, in its current form, is limiting and will not allow the organisation to grow the number of channels or “be in control of its destiny”.
“Currently DTT can only carry six SABC TV channels: this is a very weak value proposition in a highly-contested broadcast environment, with most platforms easily offering upwards of 10 channels. The delays in rolling out DTT, as well as its mute value proposition, has allowed incumbent and new DTH providers to overtake the [Broadcast Digital Migration] process and solidify their base on the broadcasting landscape.”
The SABC, in establishing a DTH platform, wants to mitigate what it calls “this devastating effect of ASO”, on its audiences, while enhancing the broadcasting landscape and delivering on its digital transformational journey.
Accordingly, the SABC is looking to partner with a service provider for a turnkey solution that will include:
- The up-linking of content to the preferred DTH satellite platform.
- Procurement and manufacturing of STBs.
- Distribution of STBs to retailers.
- After-sales service (call centre).
The tender document states this should come at no cost to the SABC. Instead, the SABC proposes a revenue-share partnership, where the SABC will provide access to diverse audiences, investing in content and marketing on the SABC platforms. The bidder is, in turn, expected to cover the capital/cost of the turnkey solution.
It is asking bidders to propose a revenue-sharing model for its consideration.
The establishment of an integrated free-to-air DTH platform will enable the SABC to be in control of its destiny, position the SABC as a content aggregator, add additional TV channels to its bouquet, consolidate audiences through a single platform and deliver on its objective of providing varied programming.
Other tenders that make this week’s top 10 are:
- The Government Printing Works wishes to appoint a service provider for the design and implementation of its system development life cycle framework and methodology. It notes its current absence of a well-defined process for managing and executing ICT initiatives introduces several potential risks, which, if realised, could lead to a range of challenges in the implementation of its ICT projects.
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The City of Cape Town is inviting bids for the supply, support and maintenance of vulnerability management, cyber security assessments and services. The city currently uses systems from Tenable to perform extensive vulnerability assessments and web application scanning of the environment. However, it has become necessary to further expand the reach of the system, due to its IT security and compliance requirements.
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eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is looking for a service provider for support, maintenance and development/configuration on the JDE Enterprise One system, inclusive of all mSCOA functionality and processes. The metro notes its current support and maintenance agreement will end on 14 March 2025.
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The metro is also advertising for the migration of thecontact centre system for the Sizakala customer service unit to a cloud unified contact centre solution, including hosting, support and maintenance. The request follows the integration of the water and sanitation, revenue and electricity departments into a single call centre.
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Eskom wishes to replace its integration software and middleware, including specialised hardware setup, enablement of disaster recovery, subject matter expertise, as well as maintenance and support services. The utility notes there are a total of 422 services with 54 applications making use of its existing enterprise service bus.
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The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) is advertising for audit and data analytics software for the Free State Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. The request is in response to the department receiving a “partially conforms” rating on the External Quality Assurance review conducted by the Institute of Internal Auditors, South Africa, which was in part due to its Internal Audit Activity operating without audit software and not applying computer-assisted auditing techniques in the execution of the audits.
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Staying in the Free State, SITA is calling for network equipment, including support and installation for the province’s Department of Health. The equipment will be used at various hospitals and clinics in the region.
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SITA is also advertising for professional services, maintenance and support of the Kofax product for the Department of Defence’s South African Military Health Service. The health service currently uses the Kofax server solution, including the virtual recognition system, as part of its digital scanning solution at six scanning sites.
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Parliament closes the issue with a request for a legislative drafting solution. This should be an open-source system that can be customised to be used in the drafting, amending and processing of Bills in the parliamentary legislative process.
New tenders
Government Printing Works
GPW wishes to appoint a service provider for the design and implementation of the system development life cycle framework and methodology for three years.
Compulsory briefing: 11 November
Tender no: GPW-2024/25-09
Information: Noko Kekana, Tel: 012 764 3961, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 26 November 2024
Tags: Services, professional services, system development life cycle
City of Cape Town
Bids are invited for the supply, support and maintenance of vulnerability management, cyber security assessments and services.
Non-compulsory briefing: 14 November – Microsoft Teams, Link, Meeting ID: 387 763 509 208 Passcode: x6QR3f
Tender no: 097S/2024/25
Information: Alan Moon, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 2 December 2024
Tags: Software, security, services, vulnerability assessment, cyber security
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
The KwaZulu-Natal metro is looking for a service provider to provide support, maintenance and development/configuration on the JDE Enterprise One System for three years.
Tender no: 30010-1i
Information:Technical: Clinton Naidoo, Tel: 031 311 4937, E-mail:[email protected]. General: Mduduzi Mdletshe Tel: 031 322 1265
Closing date: 29 November 2024
Tags: Software, ERP, enterprise resource planning, services, support and maintenance, software development
The municipality is also advertising for the migration of its contact centre system to a cloud unified contact centre solution, including hosting, support and maintenance, for 36 months.
Tender no: 29891-1i
Information: Technical: Mduduzi Mdletshe, Tel: 031 322 1265, E-mail: [email protected]; or Nomvelo Mkhungo, Tel: 031 311 4923. General: Nompucuko Skweyiya, Tel: 031 322 8907
Closing date: 29 November 2024
Tags: Software, contact centre, cloud computing, unified communications, hosting, services, support and maintenance
Eskom
Bids are invited for the replacement of integration software and middleware, including specialised hardware setup, enablement of disaster recovery, subject matter expertise, as well as maintenance and support services for five years.
Non-compulsory briefing: 14 November – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: MWP2750CX
Information: Naledi Lekoto, Tel: 011 800 2776, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 2 December 2024
Tags: Software, middleware, integration, disaster recovery, services, professional services, support and maintenance
South African Broadcasting Corporation
A service provider is sought to partner with the SABC and supply a DTH satellite solution for five years.
Tender no: RFP/DTT/2024/10244589/32
Information: Mametsi, Tel: 011 714 4644, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 14 November 2024
Tags: Software, broadcasting, digital-to-home, streaming services, satellite
State Information Technology Agency
The agency wishes to procure audit and data analytics software with a 12-month licence period for the Free State Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
Compulsory briefing: 8 November – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: RFB 3029/2024
Information: Mphikeleli Radebe, Tel: 051 409 5102, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 25 November 2024
Tags: Software, audit, data analytics, software licensing
Network equipment, including support and installation, is sought for the Free State Department of Health for three years.
Compulsory briefing: 11 November – Microsoft Teams.
Tender no: RFB 3033-2024
Information: Mphikeleli Radebe, Tel: 051 409 5102, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 26 November 2024
Tags: Hardware, networking
SITA is also advertising for professional services, maintenance and support of the Kofax product for the Department of Defence South African Military Health Service for three years.
Non-compulsory briefing: 7 November – Microsoft Teams
Tender no: RFB 3032/2024
Information: Mpfareleni Muneri, Tel: 012 482 3114, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 25 November 2024
Tags: Software, services, professional services, support and maintenance
Parliament of the Republic of South Africa
Bids are invited for the provision of a legislative drafting solution.
Compulsory briefing: 12 November – Microsoft Teams
Notes: Bidders wishing to participate in the briefing should mail [email protected] by 11 November to request the link.
Tender no: B10/2024
Information: N Ntanjana, Tel: 021 403 8374, E-mail: [email protected]
Closing date: 19 November 2024
Tags: Software, legislative drafting
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