A South African black owned technology company is heading back to court with further proof to back its claim its BEE status was used to clinch a lucrative tender from Airports Company SA (ACSA).
Johannesburg based InfoVerge, headed by Musa Mahlaba, claims it recently received the bid specification from ACSA for a contract which states 30% of work must be awarded to a BEE firm.
The tender was awarded to French/South African firm, Idemia, for the provision of an automated border control project at major airports across South Africa.
"We requested the tender specification from ACSA and they complied. The criteria for a BEE company is clearly outlined in the bid document, which is why we are going ahead with our challenge to set aside this contract," Mahlaba told IOL.
An irate Mahlaba added the practise of multinationals using BEE companies to win tenders was becoming common.
"We need to partner with them to grow in an industry where we need the opportunity and to learn from their expertise, but black companies have to guard against their BEE status being used and they then find themselves left out," he said.
According to an affidavit by InfoVerge - seen by IOL, they were promised, in writing, a minimum of 30% of the total contract value worth more than R100 million.
InfoVerge claims Idemia suddenly terminated their partnership once the tender was secured - with idemia having the benefit of continuing its work without InfoVerge.
This, claims Mahlaba, is in violation of the tender requirement, and the contract, they argue, should be reviewed.
He added they were still willing to work with Idemia, the main awardee of the contract, but wanted to be included as the BEE partner which formed part of the tender submission.
The legal challenge also relies on ACSA's own criteria which states 'Any tender that fails to meet the above-mentioned pre-qualifying criteria will not be considered for evaluation and will be disqualified.'
This refers to the criteria of including a BEE partner - in this case, InfoVerge.
Approached for comment, both ACSA and Idemia promised to revert but failed to respond. An update will be included once received.
UPDATE: ACSA has responded to queries from IOL and has denied any wrongdoing in the tender row.
Read the full story here.
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