Dear Editor
As of today, after consultation with National Treasury, government departments will be allowed to procure IT services of their choosing, and will no longer be mandated to rely on the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) which has been unable to deliver effectively.
Government departments that still wish to use SITA remain free to do so. However departments who are able to present a business case, including delivery at a faster pace and at a lower cost than SITA, can procure outside of SITA, thereby improving efficiency and making it easier for government departments to do their jobs in delivering services.
This step toward greater government efficiency is in addition to the draft policy direction issued last week which aims to introduce more players into the internet market, to create a fairer, more investment-friendly, and inclusive ICT economy.
For far too long, vital Government services, from Home Affairs to Police and Social Development, have continuously been “offline”, leading to massive backlogs, as SITA has not had the capacity to deliver for all its government clients. The new regulations will allow departments to compare service provides and make a business case, should they wish to deviate from SITA.
The DA welcomes this measure, as we seek to get Government working and delivering for all South Africans in every way we can. This is what the DA means by “Rescuing South Africa.”
Regards
Tsholofelo Bodlani MP
DA Spokesperson on Communications & Digital Technologies