Sassa’s current tender processes to find a new service provider to replace Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) have been suspended by Social Development Minister Susan Shabangu.
In court papers filed at the Constitutional Court on Thursday, Shabangu said the suspension came after CPS competitors, G4S Cash Solutions, raised a red flag “on the inaccuracies in the tender document”.
G4S Cash Solutions indicated by letter that the tender documentation “contained discrepancies” and failed to provide bidders with accurate information pertaining to the number of beneficiaries to be serviced.
The minister also cited a lack of technical expertise on the bid evaluating committee as part of the reason for her decision.
Shabangu said Sassa received a letter from National Treasury on Thursday stating that the bid evaluation process should not proceed to the second stage until Treasury had previewed the outcomes of the first phase of the administrative evaluation.
Sassa has been looking for a replacement for CPS to handle the cash payments portion of the social grants system by September 30 this year.
This after the Constitutional Court had granted the agency a six-month extension to Sassa’s invalid contract with CPS so that cash payments for 2.8 million beneficiaries could continue in the interim.
Cabinet spokesperson and Communications Minister Nomvula Mokonyane announced in a media briefing in Parliament on Thursday that the issue was not brought to cabinet’s attention when it met on Wednesday, but the inter-ministerial committee headed by Nkosozana Dlamini-Zuma was aware of the minister’s actions.
“There is an inter-ministerial committee which met after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday and will be meeting again today at 4pm (on Thursday) to discuss the implications of the minister’s (Shabangu) court submission as well as the interventions that her department would propose,” said Mokonyane.