The department awarded the initial Electronic National Traffic Information System (eNatis) contract to Tasima, which developed and still operates the system, in December 2001.

According to the Auditor-General’s (AG) performance audit on the use of consultants at selected departments, the consultant was appointed on a five-year contract, which expired in May 2007 for R594 million.

However, the AG found that after the contract expired, after a one-year extension, it was agreed that the consultant would continue operating on a monthly basis. A total of R936.2 million was paid to the consultant over four years, which included services not in the contract.

No handover

In May 2010, Tasima announced that the transport department extended its public-private partnership with Tasima by renewing its contract to manage, maintain and develop system for another five years.

The AG’s report found that Tasima was meant to start a handover of the deal in May 2007, and that it accepted responsibility for the transfer management plan, ‘‘but did not provide it’’. The transfer should have been wrapped up by last April.

‘‘In the absence of a documented transfer management plan it was not possible to determine how the department envisaged transferring eNatis and services to the department/state by April 2012. The department did not have the internal capacity to take over the management and maintenance of eNatis,’’ notes the report.

According to a legal opinion obtained by the department in May 2011, Transport was only obliged to pay for software maintenance during the transfer management period. However, from June 2007, costs unrelated to software maintenance were paid to the consultant, totaling R936.2 million, found the AG.

According to the report, R574.8 million was paid between June 2007 and April 2010, which included R269 million for additional services such as hardware and network maintenance, hardware resources, network resources and software. In addition, R361.4 million was paid between May 2010 and March 2011, which included payments for third party suppliers.

Contract extended

In April 2010, Tasima requested that the contract be extended for five years, notes the AG. Its report states that the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) was of the opinion that the contract should be re-advertised and that the rates charged by the consultant were high.

‘‘The department, however, adhered to the consultant’s request without a competitive bidding process being followed. The department initiated a process of withdrawing the extension of the eNatis contract, but, as at February 2012, the extension was still in place.’’

In addition, the AG found that department did not have the power to procure information technology goods and services other than through the State Information Technology Agency.

In the report, the department responds that National Treasury has approved a fully capacitated trading entity from where the management and operation of eNatis will be performed and all services provided by the consultant will be transferred to the trading entity.

Transport is in the process of establishing the trading entity and has appointed consultants to assist with negotiations with the service provider to facilitate the transfer of services to the department or another service provider or both.

In addition, it will look into whether there is a need for further software development or only maintenance of the current software.

Neither Tasima, nor the department, responded to a request for comment yesterday.

This article was first published on ITWeb.co.za