Despite the trail of irregularities which have once again been highlighted following a forensic investigation into the awarding of a R1.2 billion tender by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), the Western Cape Education Department says it will continue to honour the contract.
IOL reported in November last year that the R1.2 billion tender for the provision of Local Area Network (LAN) services to Western Cape schools hung in the balance, at the time, after a comprehensive forensic investigation conducted by Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc. exposed significant irregularities.
Last week, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies was briefed on the findings of an extensive investigation conducted by the law firm. The findings point fingers at officials in the Western Cape Education Department in the lucrative tender for the provision of LAN services to schools around the Western Cape.
The respected law firm conducted the investigation at the behest of SITA, before briefing the parliamentary committee on the its findings on Friday.
The tender was initiated to expand the LAN services in Western Cape schools, as the provincial Department of Education wanted to enhance LAN infrastructure to sustain and advance existing network facilities.
On Tuesday, Western Cape Education Department (WCED)’s spokesperson Bronagh Hammond told IOL that the WCED IT tender was awarded to the winning bidder on SITA’s recommendation following their procurement process.
“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,” said Hammond.
She said five months after the contract was awarded, SITA provided the WCED with a copy of a forensic report into irregularities in the SITA process.
“No Western Cape government staff were implicated in the report. The WCED asked SITA to provide it with all relevant documentation and information which the investigators had relied on, to verify the findings made,” she said.
“The WCED appointed senior counsel to consider the findings made in the report, and they concluded that none of the conclusions in the CDH report demonstrated any reviewable irregularities in the procurement process.”
On that basis, Hammond said the WCED will continue to honour the contract.
“Since currently, no legal basis 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,” she said.
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