Wyndham Hartley
20 November 2008
Cape Town — The Bosasa group of companies - which are at the heart of the row in the correctional services department - won a contract worth almost R1bn despite it being about 17% more expensive than other tenderers, Democratic Alliance (DA) MP James Selfe said yesterday.
Selfe was speaking at a news conference where he presented the information he has supplied to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) which is investigating alleged irregularities in the awarding of feeding contracts for seven correctional services management areas. Over three years the contract for the feeding of prisoners amounts to more than R800m.
Selfe said he had intended to place the information before the SIU at a meeting on Monday but could not as the meeting was summarily cancelled by African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Nyamezeli Booi.
"Had the meeting taken place, I would have passed on to the SIU the information we are releasing today. These documents raise serious questions about the way in which this contract was awarded, which the DA hopes the SIU will be able to answer when it finalises its investigation.
"The contract was for catering and training services in seven management areas -- Pollsmoor, St Albans, Krugersdorp, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban-Westville and Modderbee -- and was to run for three years. It has been extended twice, once for a year, and once for a further six months. The dispute between Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour and the National Commissioner, Vernie Petersen, which resulted in the commissioner's recent 'redeployment' to the department of sport, can be traced to this contract, its extension and the way in which it was proposed to be re-awarded," Selfe said.
He said the department had admitted that the huge contract was awarded without a feasibility study into whether the contract was necessary at all. Criteria were arbitrarily set for bidders seeking the contract.
He said 14 companies expressed interest. Five were excluded on technical grounds and the remaining nine were allocated points for the criteria and for price.
"The points allocated to the various companies for 'criteria' were such that only two were competitive -- Bosasa and Sechaba, which received 182,60 and 138,20 points respectively out of a possible 200. Overall, Sechaba's quote for the annual price of the contract was R617911011 compared with Bosasa's quote of R724111274, a full 17,1% lower. And yet Bosasa was awarded the entire contract. The question arises, why?" Selfe said.
This price increased when the contract was extended by a further R80m without going to tender.
"The contract came to an end in July 2007. It was extended for a year because the department had not taken a policy decision about how to provide catering services at that stage. In July 2008, the minister wished to extend it for a further year, but the national commissioner refused to do so, and extended it only for a further six months, thus kicking off the current dispute between the minister and the national commissioner," he said .
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