School transport tender 'flawed'

A MASSIVE provincial government tender to provide daily pupil transport to schools and back was flawed from the start, with documents being tampered with and suspicions of confidential information being leaked from the bidding process.

The Transport Department's bid committee recommended Somila Consulting Agency as the preferred bidder based on its price of R1.44- billion, but questions have been raised about the company's submission following a forensic audit conducted by Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo.

The auditors confirmed that Somila did not have a proper bank guarantee for R2-million, a requirement of the tender, while other parts of the bid document were not fully completed.

There was also confusion about the company's status as a VAT vendor, with the auditors finding that a VAT number appeared to have been inserted into the bid document after the tender closed. - Ray Hartle