1 October, 2008

From: HP Chauke: Chairperson: PC on Home Affairs 

To: Ms Lily Zondo: Corporate Executive: Office of the Auditor - General 

Dear Ms Lilly Zondo,

Re: Request for an investigation into the process followed by SITA and the Department of Home Affairs in evaluating and awarding the "Who Am I Online" project

Due to the changes to the Parliamentary programme, the Portfolio Committee was not able to meet with you on the 11th of September or 26th September 2008. However, I would like to raise issues related to the "Who Am I Online" project as Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs to form part of your investigation on the project.

1. What procedure was followed in the identification and awarding of the project?

2. Was officials from National Treasury and the Department of Public Service and Administration involved in the adjudication and recommendation of the project? What is the role of the external advisors? At what level, was the Department represented in bid specification, bid evaluation and bid adjudication committees?

3. Why was the project not signed when it was recommended by SITA in 2007? For how much was it funded and how long? When did phase O of the project starts and how much has the Department of Home Affairs spent so far on the project, and if there are outstanding invoices and how much are these outstanding invoices?

4. How many phases of the project?

5. Does the Acting Chief Financial Officer has powers to sign a project of this magnitude?

6. What is the role of SITA currently on the project?

7. Is there a business agreement between SITA and the Department of Home Affairs on this Project and what does it entails?

8. How is Project 458 linked to "Who Am I Online? Project 458 has different components, which components are operational and which ones are not operational? Project 458 is supposed to be a foundation for "Who Am I Online" project and if it has not started, how does the Department of Home Affairs implements the "Who Am I Online" project without a foundation? The National Population Register (NPR) and HANIS cannot be a foundation for the project as NPR is contaminated.

9. Project 458, Interconnection of electronic document system: workflow was recommended to be awarded to Valor IT on 11 June 2006, why was the contract not awarded and which service provider is executing this project now? What has caused the delay in awarding the project and why is Valor IT taking SIT A to court and instead of the Department of Home Affairs?

10. Once a tender has been awarded to a service provider, who performs monitoring and evaluation of the project so that the service provider does not deviate from the agreed specifications or that the Department does not award a tender to a different service provider as recommended by Bid Adjudication Committee or SIT A?

The issues raised above may not be the only issues. The Committee was not able to consolidated issues on the project as the Committee did not have time to meet.

The Portfolio Committee would arrange another date to meet with you during the month of October 2008.

Yours sincerely,

HP Chauke: Chairperson: PC on Home Affairs