IT tender alert for Labour Department
With a R2 billion public private partnership (PPP) between the Department of Labour and Siemens nearing completion, the department says it will be working to recruit staff, issuing and awarding ICT tenders, and initiating new business projects.
The Department of Labour is on the last leg of an exit strategy in a partnership with multinational group Siemens, which comes to an end on November 30, 2012.
IT service provider, EOH Holdings has been appointed by the Department of Labour to provide termination support for a period of 12 months as the government body looks towards a new, modern ICT strategy.
In August, Siemens sold 100% of Siemens IT Solutions and Services South Africa to EOH.
The initial Department/Siemens contract was valued at R1.2billion over a 10-year period. At its conclusion in November, it is expected to have “nudged” up to about R2 billion – with budget overruns attributed mainly to additional services and the rise in consumer price index, the Department of Labour said.
Management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, Accenture was also appointed by the department to provide emergency capacity in developing the ICT strategy and manage the exit and services transfer plan.
The Department of Labour says it aims to enter a new phase of modernisation “to increase its operational efficiencies and strengthen its institutional capacity following the unveiling of a new five-year (2012-2017) ICT strategy”.
The services transfer handover process started in September, and the department said that the exit and transfer process would ensure the retention of all current staff.
ICT future
“The future ICT operating model is intended to improve the efficiency of the Department including operations within its public entities such as the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), the Compensation Fund (CF) and Sheltered Employment Factories.”
“The new strategy will also assist in making the Department a paperless and environmentally-friendly working environment,” the government body said.
The DoL’s director-general, Nkosinathi Nhleko, said: “We recognise the importance of ICT as a tool to ensure that we deliver services to the people in a manner we are designated by the constitution.”
“The move we have chosen is designed to deal with obstacles that have been bedevilling the Department and PPP contract.”
“The Department will now be able to build its own capacity to manage internal ICT operations. In designing future ICT needs, we will take into account the dynamics and complexities of the operating environment so as to ensure that these deliver solutions in key areas of operations, branches and the Department’s public entities,” Nhleko said.
Tenders
According to the department, the focus of the tenders issued will not only be on provision of operational services, but also on investment in ICT infrastructure as well as continuation of its modernisation agenda.
This, it added, will facilitate the improvement of process turnaround times, reduction of physical documentation and provision of improved access to citizen services through electronic channels.
“While progress has been made at UIF through the Virtual Office and U-Filing initiatives, it is the intention of the Department to roll out similar technology more widely,” it said.
In order to manage this process, the department said it has, in recent months, appointed an internal task team, filled the key ICT leadership positions of deputy director-general of corporate services and chief information officer, and appointed Accenture to provide capacity to manage the transition process.
The government department said that another positive feature of the new strategy is the pioneering by DoL of an ICT Skills Factory vision.
As part of this initiative, the department will seek to employ qualified individuals in the junior positions allowing them to grow and develop skills in key strategic and operational ICT functions within the organisation.
Through the ICT Skills Factory, the department says it will work in association with other public sector organisations and ICT industry players to develop relevant skills amongst the new generation of ICT employees.
Related article
Loading ...