Question NW981 to the Minister of Home Affairs
23 October 2019 - NW981
Roos, Mr AC to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
What are the details of the (a) progress of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) process for the appointment of a new service provider for visa services and (b)(i) steps that must be followed and (ii) deadline of each step to ensure that the PPP process for the appointment of a service provider is completed before the expiry date of the Visa Facilitation Service contract? NW2133E
Reply:
(a) Implementation of a PPP process is dependent on the completion of a preliminary market evaluation. This is to be undertaken through the publication of a Request for Information (RFI). Specifications for the RFI had to be drafted, and this was undertaken by an appointed Bid Specification Committee (BSC). The specifications were approved by the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC) on 11th September 2019. On the same date the BAC also resolved to support the registration of the PPP with National Treasury (NT).
(b)(i) The resolution of the BAC is that the RFI specifications should be validated with the Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) of NT. Validity means that the specifications are complete and suitable for public gazetting of the RFI.
(b)(ii) The process of registering a PPP is guided by National Treasury Regulation 16 (attached). This process and the timelines attached to it are outside the control of Home Affairs due to the activities that are required such as those mentioned in paragraph 16.2 to 16.8 of the Regulations.
The Department is therefore unable to confirm with certainty on whether the PPP process would have been finalised before the expiry of the current contract. All effort is being made to ensure that any activity that falls within the ambit of Home Affairs in the value chain of this process is finalised within a reasonable time.
END