The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has taken aim at Sentech over a tender for the installation of digital television set-top boxes, warning that the state-owned company is trying to ram through the “massive” contract with indecent haste.

Outa said in a statement on Friday that Sentech is “signing up installers on a three-year deal that could be worth more than R300-million” and is doing so “at the last minute”, a week before the national deadline to switch off analogue broadcasts countrywide.

The tender, Outa said in its statement, was advertised for only three days, a move it warned raises questions about possible procurement-related graft. It accused Sentech of rushing through the tender “without the necessary transparency and appropriate advertising”.

“We do think that this points to possible serious irregularities, as [national] treasury’s procurement regulations require adverts to run for at least 21 days,” said Outa executive director Stefanie Fick. “This is how we believe corruption takes place: someone may sneak in a huge tender with a very limited public view, so only the bidders who are tipped off to see it bid.”

Outa did not provide any evidence of corruption related to the tender. But Sentech hit back at the allegations, saying it has advertised the tender 14 times previously (its response to Outa is provided in full later in this article).

Outa said that “at least five million poor households are supposed to have been given free set-top boxes so they can continue watching on the digital signal, but this programme has largely failed, and government is now simply turning off the analogue signal. By early February, five provinces had been switched off, leaving poorer households in the dark.”

“It is difficult to argue that this tender is ‘urgent’, as this project has been going on for years, and the deadline of 31 March has been publicly known about for more than a year.”

It said that although the tender advertised is for three years, there has also been no briefing session for potential bidders, further raising suspicions.

The tender is for the installation of digital set-top boxes in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. “The tender documents offer payment of R350 to R670 per installation, with the set-top box units being supplied by the Post Office. There’s no indication of how many households will be included,” Outa said.

But Sentech said later on Friday in an e-mail to TechCentral that it has advertised the tender 14 times previously and the ads “are always on the national treasury tender portal”.

“We needed to augment our panel of installers, and the process of augmentation of the panel is in aligned with the national treasury Guide for Accounting Officers, which requires panels to be augmented regularly to allow the inclusion of new service providers. This is done to promote the growth of SMMEs in the ICT sector. We will continue to advertise and augment the panel as the needs of our business grow.

“In terms of the three-day advert period that the Outa statement is referring to, a shortened advert period is permitted in terms of the national treasury 16A6.3(c) (sic). Sentech has extrapolated this principle and applies it as and when necessary. All internal processes as prescribed in the internal delegation of authority and standard operating procedures have been duly followed and complied with.

“In its supply-chain management policies, Sentech follows prescribed regulations and the law, always.  The shortened advert period adequately allows for submission of proof of accreditation as an installer and CSD (central supplier database) compliance,” the company said.  – © 2022 NewsCentral Media

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