Question NW272 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
14 July 2023 - NW272
Horn, Mr W to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
(a) What progress has been made to ensure that court proceedings will be recorded from 1 April 2023 onwards and (b) on what date will the existing extended contract come to an end? [
Reply:
a) The Court Recording Technology (CRT), software and/or hardware licences belongs to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. The Maintenance and Support contract has been outsourced to an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) company, namely, Datacentrix (PTY) Ltd. All court proceedings will always be recorded using this technology (CRT).
b) The current maintenance and support contract with Datacentrix came to an end on 26 June 2023, and has been renewed on a month to month basis until November 2023, so as to ensure that service delivery is not impacted, whilst awaiting the procurement processes to unfold for the longer term contract.
c) The longer term two-year maintenance and support contract is procured via SITA. SITA delays have been experienced in this regard and in mitigation the Department’s executive had met with SITA executive in February 2023. SITA executive had undertaken to fast track the procurement and provide regular feedback.
d) The bid (SITA RFB 2713-2022 ) was subsequently advertised and initially meant to close on 31 March 2023, however, due to an erratum that had to be issued by SITA, the bid closing date had to be extended to 05 May 2023. The bid has since been evaluated and is undergoing SITA quality assurance processes.
e) SITA has provided a project plan indicating that the final recommendation for award by the Department, will be submitted to the Department by 06 November 2023.
f) The existing contract has therefore been renewed on a month to month basis until November 2023, so as to ensure that service delivery is not impacted, whilst awaiting the SITA procurement processes to unfold.