Question NW549 to the Minister of Trade and Industry
18 March 2019 - NW549
Van der Westhuizen, Mr AP to ask the Minister of Trade and Industry
(1) What are the details of the amounts (a) paid to, (b) recovered by and (c) lost by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), formerly known as the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO), due to the irregular tender awarded to Valor IT in 2010 for the development of content management software; (2) what monetary value did CIPRO derive from the specified tender; (3) were any charges of fraud and/or theft laid and followed-up with the SA Police Service regarding the tender; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (4) were disciplinary charges ever formulated and served on any employees of his department or CIPRO; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (5) (a)(i) what type of software and (ii) at what cost has software been developed for and implemented by the CIPC to meet the content management needs of the CIPC as envisaged in the 2010 tender
Reply:
1(a) An amount of: R97 948 634.00 was paid by CIPRO to Valor IT.
1(b) No amount was recovered from Valor IT as the litigation is still pending.
1(c) Amount lost by CIPRO: R97 948 634.
(2) There was no monetary value derived from the contract.
(3) Consultations regarding the investigation and institution of charges of fraud took place with the Special Investigations Unit of the South African Police Services. To the best of my knowledge these investigations never resulted in criminal prosecution being instituted.
(4) Suspension notices were served on the then CEO of CIPRO Mr Keith Sendwe and the CIO of CIPRO Mr Micheal Twum Darko.
Mr Sendwe passed away during the course of the investigation and Mr Twum Darko’s contract expired prior to any disciplinary processes being completed.
(5) Since 2010, content management requirements of the CIPC were addressed by innovating and developing extensions to the existing legacy systems using internal resources. This has been limited to specific and identified development using digital image file extensions and the use of email to replicate workflow processes. This is served by an eServices portal, self service terminals, USSD and mobility applications that permit customer interfacing and identified biometric/DHA authentication in a digital/dematerialised format. CIPC also recently concluded a number of tenders that provide the base software and data components that will enable procurement, development and deployment of the CIPC ECM requirements.
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