This month’s big news is that an OUTA investigation into suspected manipulation of the driving licence card machine tender award has led to a formal investigation of the tender by the Auditor General’s office. 

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy swiftly ordered an investigation into the driving licence card machine tender after OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage raised concerns about the appointment of Idemia Identity and Security SA as the supplier for the new smart licence card machine.

OUTA suspected manipulation of the tender process, handled by the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA), a Department of Transport entity. The DLCA and the Transport department have refused to disclose the contract price or tender details, but we established that the price jumped from the budgeted R468 million to a whopping R898.6 million. 

OUTA highlighted several irregularities, including multiple reissues and extensions of the tender, suggesting favouritism towards a specific bidder. The Auditor-General is now investigating, and OUTA urges the tender's cancellation and reopening with stronger oversight and more transparency. 

Here are our main concerns: 

• The DLCA ran the tender process three times between 2021 and 2023, cancelling and reissuing tenders without providing clear reasons for the cancellation. We want to know the exact reasons. 

• Some of the earlier tenders and requests have been removed from the department’s website, preventing civil society from tracking these matters, which OUTA believes should be publicly accessible.

• Submitting tenders is costly and time-consuming for businesses. Repeated cancellations without clear reasons lead to frustration and doubts about fairness. OUTA believes this discouraged capable bidders from participating, reducing competition and potentially increasing costs for the government and the public. In our view, this is tender manipulation, leading to Idemia as the last remaining bidder. 

• Although 25 companies attended the DLCA's March 2023 briefing, only five submitted bids. OUTA believes DLCA deliberately  reduced the number of participants, resulting in fewer bidders despite high initial interest.

• Some bidders told us they were not informed about the cancellation of the second tender.

• Bidders were asked to extend pricing validity periods multiple times, against Treasury guidelines. In one instance, they were given less than an hour, which OUTA believes was unfair.

• Two Bid Evaluation Committee reports, dated the same day, showed different values for Idemia's bid, raising concerns about tender manipulation.

• OUTA discovered discrepancies in budget reports, with Idemia’s bid inflating from R762 million to R898.6 million. (We shared these reports with the Minister of Transport.) 

• We received complaints from bidders who claimed tampering with pricing envelopes in the second tender. This violates tender rules, raising more concerns about price manipulation.

• One bidder was wrongly marked down during the evaluation process, despite providing a lower price than Idemia.

• Last-minute changes to tender requirements, favouring Idemia, were irregular and suspicious.

• OUTA also highlighted a recent cancellation of an Idemia contract with Airports Company SA, also linked to irregularities.