South African Weather Service High-Performance Computer contract in question.
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A FORMER South African Weather Service (SAWS) executive and an ICT manager have been placed at the centre of alleged corruption and interference relating to the procurement of a multi-million tender for a High-Performance Computer (HPC) system.
The Cape Times recently reported on the findings contained in a legal opinion which was solicited by the SAWS board “on the entire process relating to the procurement of the HPC system, and identify any irregularities and possible remedies available to the Consultant, as the accounting authority of SAWS”.
The legal opinion noted that the company supplying the system’s contract had been “unlawfully” entered from 2017 until 2024, citing allegations of wrongdoing.
There was, according to the document, prima facie evidence of a corrupt relationship between the former SAWS CEO and the contractor.
There was also interference by a SAWS ICT senior manager in the bidding process aimed at introducing the mandatory requirement for local support to ensure they received the contract, states the report.
“Shortly after the appointment of the bid specification committee (BSC) for SAWS 300/22, on 23 June 2022, a SAWS ICT senior manager and a member of the BSC of SAWS 270/21 and 300/22, communicated with a (contractor’s) employee wherein they discussed what ultimately became a mandatory requirement in SAWS 300/22 and SAWS 319/22. The communication clearly centered around (the contractor’s) status as the only certified company for local support of the HPC system. This correspondence demonstrates that there was collusion aimed at introducing the mandatory requirement for local support whilst knowing that (the contractor) is the only certified service provider that can do maintenance and upgrades on the HPE system in South Africa.”
The CEO and the IT manager, who were both not part of the bid committee, also apparently had notes on the bid specifications, with the latter requesting that all bids submitted with international engineers and or international support staff be excluded from bidding.
“The CEO interfered with the bid process as he actively participated in the formulation of the bid specifications and further facilitated the involvement of members outside the BSC by taking the bid specification document to the Executive Committee for input. The CEO insisted that the local support requirement must remain in the bid specifications despite the BAC raising a concern that the mandatory requirements of local support created a challenge of time-wasting and resources. What is more is that despite the BAC of SAWS 270/22 recommending that the bid committee members must be trained to understand SCM procedures and to avoid another HPC tender cancellation, the CEO ignored the recommendation and proceeded to re-advertise and appoint untrained members to bid committees,” the legal opinion read.
The legal opinion also flagged alleged contraventions of the SAWS and National Treasury supply chain policies and that despite numerous complaints and allegations of unlawful interference by the IT manager, the CEO failed to act within 60 days as required by law.
SAWS said it was not happy with the feedback it received from the police, having reported the matter concerning the former CEO.
“The matter was subsequently referred back to both the SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to reconsider their decisions in this regard and the SAWS has, to date, not received further feedback,” Saws spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe said.
Neither the NPA nor police responded to questions by deadline.
On the IT manager, Segalwe added: “There has been an investigation into this employee’s alleged conduct. The Board is, however, still attending to this matter, and the process is still underway. The SAWS is therefore not at liberty to elaborate on this matter to ensure the fairness of the process.”
Cape Times