Question NW1706 to the Minister of Transport
30 June 2017 - NW1706
Groenewald, Mr HB to ask the Minister of Transport
Whether regular maintenance is being undertaken on information technology facilities and systems within the Ports Regulator of South Africa; if not, (a) why not (b) what steps have been taken to change this (c) why have no officials been (i) charged and/or (ii) suspended for not ensuring that these systems and facilities are maintained; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
The PRSA has a contract with an IT service provider who are responsible for maintaining the information technology infrastructure of the Regulator in line with the approved IT policies and Asset Management policies of the Regulator.
Maintenance of the infrastructure falls within the scope of an IT service contract which is overseen by the Corporate Services Department which in turn is overseen by the Audit committee of the Regulator that regularly (at least on a quarterly basis requires IT maintenance and update reporting).
The Regulator has, in recent years upgraded the computers of Regulator employees and Members, the backup was system has been revised, and regular automated and manual backups are conducted by staff through the service provider. A weekly off-site backup facility is in place to ensure additional safety of information. Furthermore, maintenance contracts for recent assets are in place (printing equipment etc.) and turn-around time in the event of failure is less than 24 hours. Website maintenance is conducted by a specialized service provider and updated on a regular basis and whenever new documents are published by the Regulator.