Question NW1519 to the Minister of Home Affairs
13 August 2020 - NW1519
McGluwa, Mr JJ to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
Whether any progress made has been made regarding the investigation of the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) contract which according to the Auditor general was irregularly awarded to a certain company (name furnished); if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
- The Department has appointed an independent audit firm to investigate the matter. This firm was appointed in March 2020 but due to the COVID 19 pandemic, they were only able to commence with the investigation in May 2020.
- The investigation is still under way, the audit firm has completed the review of phase one (RFB1412/2016) which is the qualification phase of the bid process and they have also interviewed some of the officials from both DHA and SITA. They are now busy with phase two (RFB1498/2016) of the bid process. This also include reviewing of the service level agreement, review of digital imaging data of individuals from SITA, interviews of all other officials from various stakeholders (CSIR, SAPS, ARMS, BIG Group, Core Focus, ENS, Gartner) who formed part of the bidding process.
END