GAUTENG SMART CARD - WHY WAS MOST EXPENSIVE TENDER CHOSEN?

The fiasco of the stalled Gauteng heath smart card deepens with the information that the KOPM Logistics consortium that won the contract was R169 million more expensive than the lowest short-listed tender.

According to a written reply to my questions by Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu, KOPM was selected last year at a price of R609 milllion, as against the R440 million bid of the Pricewaterhouse Coopers Consortium and the R505 million tender of Lifesense Clinics.

Mahlangu says that KOPM was chosen because it offered "the best overall solution to meet the needs of the Department functionally and in accordance with evaluation done at the Gauteng Shared Services Centre".

I don't buy this explanation, especially since KOPM has botched the Proof of Concept phase that has cost R37 million.

I commend the MEC's review of this project, but she also needs to probe why the most expensive tender was chosen in the first place.

I suspect that there are lots more skeletons that will tumble out from the dismal era when former MEC Brian Hlongwa headed the Gauteng Health Department.

Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, Democratic Alliance Gauteng health spokesman, August 20 2009

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