In a written response to Parliament, the Department of Transport has said it is in the process of extending the electronic National Information Traffic System (eNatis) contract with the Tasima consortium.
The five-year eNatis contract was awarded in 2002 to a consortium, Masiye Phambili, which subsequently formed a privately-owned company, Tasima. The consortium, says the department, consists of arivia.kom, Webcom Consulting and Thuthukani Information Technology Services. The contract expired yesterday (31 May).
Despite widely reported system failures, the department has told Parliament that it intends to extend its current contract with Tasima for a period of 12 months. The cost and conditions of this contract extension have yet to be finalised, it said.
The Democratic Alliance's transport spokesman Stuart Farrow says the department's move is a travesty.
"It is generally accepted that Tasima has up to now failed to deliver a properly functioning system, thereby causing SA utter licensing chaos over the past weeks. Tasima's original contract should not be renewed simply because the initial five years have passed. The renewal should be based on the company having delivered a properly working system."
Answers needed
He adds: "Serious questions need to be asked about the exact reasons for the minister's decision to even consider re-awarding the contract to a company that could not deliver a properly functioning system in the first place."
However, transport spokesman Collen Msibi says the extension is in place to deal with issues surrounding the transfer of services.
"We have invoked a clause in the original contract to allow us to work on a transfer management plan. We have cut off the time required for this to 12 months; we are hoping that it will be far quicker, but it certainly won't go past the 12-month deadline," he explains.
It was originally believed Tasima would be awarded the services and maintenance contract once the system's management was moved to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) on 1 June.
However, RTMC acting-CEO Thabo Tsholetsane says the transfer has not taken place as "the issues surrounding eNatis still have to be sorted out".
New entrants
Meanwhile, it is understood the State IT Agency (SITA) has been called upon to identify interventions which will bring the eNatis system up to speed.
One source, who asked not to be named, says the agency has been setting up meetings between the provincial transport representatives, Tasima and companies that might be able to provide insight into the cause of eNatis' problems.
"The meetings have been quite open about the problems that are still ongoing on the eNatis system. It's quite clear that SITA, Tasima and the transport representatives are not happy with its current state and want to sort it out. We are just waiting to see what the outcomes of these meetings will be," he says.
Additionally, SITA is aiding the department and RTMC to identify suitable candidates for the maintenance contract.
Tsholetsane explains: "We have had discussions with SITA and we are working on the tender. It is definitely not assured that Tasima will get the contract. We will transparently choose the best company for the job."
Msibi also confirms the department is considering who will take over the running of the system, but says he does not know if Tasima has asked to be considered for the contract.
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