IT contract linked to missing textbooks saga

The award of an IT system tender early this month appears to be at the centre of the delay in the delivery of textbooks to Limpopo schools. The Limpopo Education Department awarded the contract, said by internal sources to be worth R1.2 million, to ELCB Information Services (Pty) Ltd. The company was given the tender to manage and distribute textbooks from the department’s warehouse in Polokwane. The appointment was made by Mzwandile Matthews, the department’s administrator. Limpopo was placed under national administration in December.

The Star has seen a copy of the appointment letter. Three internal sources said the tender was worth about R1.2m, but The Star could not independently verify this. Now, sources in the department allege that the IT system at the warehouse has experienced unending technical glitches. “Initially, the system struggled to monitor the number of books that arrived and (those that) left the warehouse,” said a source, who added this was what had partly delayed the delivery of books. But ELCB’s John Heath has denied this allegation. Last Wednesday, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga blamed “trusted service providers” for the delay in meeting the June 15 deadline set by the Pretoria High Court.

The contract’s terms of reference indicate that the contractor was responsible for “receiving stock in a central warehouse and dispatching the stock, packed per school, to six satellite warehouses through the department’s vehicles”. Motshekga shifted the blame after her ministry had said on SAfm earlier that day that 97 percent of the textbooks had already been delivered. This turned out to be untrue. Motshekga later apologised for the non-delivery of textbooks and said this was unacceptable. But Heath denied he was responsible for the delay. “I don’t think the (IT) system (at the warehouse) had anything to do with the meeting of the deadline.” Heath said he signed the service-level agreement with the department on June 8. “We arrived on (June 10) and the system was up and running on the 12th because we still needed information and data about schools.”

This meant the delivery of textbooks started only three days before the June 15 deadline. A new deadline was set for today. The IT contract was not issued for tender to allow competitive bidding. Instead, the department invited five companies to submit quotations. The awarding of the contract has raised concerns that it has violated the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury regulations, which require all tenders above R500 000 to be advertised.

Matthews and Basic Education Department spokesman Panyaza Lesufi refused to comment. Treasury regulation 16A6.4 dictates that only in emergencies, and if goods and services are provided solely by one service provider, can government departments deviate from normal bidding processes. National Treasury practice note 6 of 2007/2008 states: “It is, however, emphasised that a lack of poor planning does not constitute a reason for dispensing with the prescribed (quotation) bidding process.”

The department first became aware in April that it would need the IT system at the warehouse, after a contract with EduSolutions was cancelled. Only ELCB Information Services was able to meet the deadline, according to sources. This has angered some of the bidders, who had expected to be given at least two weeks to submit credible quotations. “To be frank, it was a joke. We read (the invitation) and then disqualified it because submitting a tender within five (working) hours is silly,” said a director from one of the companies that were asked to submit quotations.

He did not want to be named, for fear he would be victimised. The department sourced details of the five companies from a Sita database, which contained a list of 118 service providers. The invitation to submit quotations was extended to the first four on the list and to ELCB Information Services, which had been number 32 on the list.