Service Level Agreement tender process dubious
CHRISZANNE JANSE VAN VUUREN
The Service Delivery Movement previously raised concern around the fact that the term of the Service Level Agreement between Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality (DBNLM) and Gap Security Management (Pty) Ltd has come to an end on 30 June 2021, but the contract for the provision of security services for the next 36 months has only been placed on tender on 21 June. The deadline for tenders was 21 July but, to date, no service provider has been contracted.
Jason Hendricks (Mpondo Security Services) is of the opinion that the entire tender process was dubious. He claims that at least three Small, Medium and Micro-Enterprises (SMMEs) who expressed interest in tendering for the new Service Level Agreement have been attempting to secure a meeting with the DBNLM to discuss the tender and bid specifications, but their requests were disregarded.
On 23 June DBNLM Local Economic Development (LED) Officer, Ntombizanele Kubashe, at the request of the Chief Operating Officer, Hans Hendricks, informed him that a tender has been advertised and that service providers who are interested are free to participate in the bidding process. However, according to Hendricks, the tender has not been advertised on the website at the time and this was confirmed by Ruwlado Jegels, manager at the DBNLM Supply Chain Management, who indicated that they were experiencing technical issues with the website. When Hendricks requested a copy of the advertisement from the LED Officer, she indicated that she was not in possession thereof.
Amos Mcinga, spokesperson for the Service Delivery Movement, says that the tender specifications are not designed to promote local economic development but rather to exclude SMMEs and accommodate GAP Security
Management and other big companies. This could be deliberate or by default.
However, Mcinga claims that the failure to enforce these high specifications in the implementation of service level agreement has essentially negated the specifications. “The vandalised properties and stolen assets, for example, were supposed to be covered by GAP security’s insurance. It never happened.”
Regarding the tender specifications, a concerned member of the community also noted that it appears as if GAP Security Management has been falling short in terms of capacity and that they have, therefore, been subcontracting other local security companies to deliver security services at some of the municipal sites that they have been responsible for in terms of their service level agreement with DBNLM.
Ralton Salters (Eyona Fire & Security Services) also expressed his concern around the failure of the LED office to develop small upcoming businesses. “Local government has an obligation to develop and promote small business, but our municipality is failing us and preventing us from participating in the local economy.” Hendricks also raised concern around the fact that Jegels confirmed that he has not received the e-mail relating to local SMMEs and how they will benefit from the upcoming 3-year security contract despite the fact that this was requested from the LED Officer.
Regarding the SMMEs request for a meeting, the LED Officer notified Hendricks that the office of the Municipal Manager requested the SMMEs to make arrangements for 1 July. The meeting was arranged by the SMMEs, but the DBNLM failed to attend.
On 14 July DA councillor Eldridge Ruiters tabled an urgent Notice of Motion, in terms of Rule 27 of the standing rules, for the unbundling of the security tender for the next three years with the primary objective of promoting local economic development by allowing SMMEs to benefit from the tender.
Council voted on the motion on 4 August and the DA (11) was outvoted by the ANC (13). In effect, this means that the ANC voted against the security tender unbundling and that SMMEs will remain excluded.
According to Mcinga, GAP Security Management continues to “provide” security services to the DBNLM irrespective of the fact that the term of the Service Level Agreement has come to an end, as well as the fact that there have been countless incidents of vandalism and theft of municipal assets, many of which occurred whilst security guards were posted to safeguard these assets. This particular Service Level Agreement, as well as Powervac and Ascon, need to be placed under a magnifying glass. Allegedly, Powervac was responsible for the cleaning of stormwater pipes in the DBNLM, but they are now based at the DBNLM workshop where they assist with the servicing of municipality vehicles. It is further alleged that they do not have a contract with the municipality and that no tender was advertised. Ascon was responsible for bulk water supply (boreholes) in Graaff-Reinet. The Service Level Agreement started in July 2016 and ended in July 2017. It is alleged that this was a R42 million project, but the municipality spent over R60 million. Allegedly, no tender process was followed.
On 12 August the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs engaged on the state of the DBNLM. During this engagement service level agreements and the high cost relating to contractors and consultants were questioned. It included questions relating to the cost of security services, as well the water project and drilling of boreholes. The DBNLM failed to give a detailed account in this regard.