Gearing up

Last year was an interesting one for IT at SARS. In early July, former Nedcor exec Barry Hore replaced Ken Jarvis as CIO, and as the industry waited for tenders to be awarded, it became unnervingly clear that Hore`s approach was somewhat different.

A few months after his arrival, SARS cancelled two of its “big three” tenders, sending them back to the drawing board, and re-issuing them later under different guises. Hore drew criticism from those who felt he was systematically undoing some of Jarvis` excellent groundwork, and praise from others who agreed that such a lot of money shouldn`t be thrown around without making dead sure it is being spent in the right way.

The evolution of SARS`s systems has three dimensions: firstly, there is the modernisation project involving the establishment of a modern tax and customs administration system; secondly, there is the customs scanner tender to improve the control of trade goods entering and leaving the country; and thirdly, the network tender giving SARS a next-generation data network.

These three tenders follow SARS`s multimillion-rand deal with Siebel Systems, concluded 12 months ago, which Jarvis explained centres around single registration systems, enhanced workflow and service levels, and improved interaction between SARS and taxpayers.

One of the three tenders of 2006 – the R1 billion modernisation tender – survived the management change unscathed, and was awarded to Accenture in December. The first phase of the deployment is set to begin this month. Now, as we enter a new calendar year and edge towards the end of another fiscal one, SARS is poised to award the other two.

TAXING TRANSFORMATION

In a few years, when the new systems and products are put in place, SARS will look like quite a different animal. Its general manager of communications, Logan Wort, explains the benefits SARS hopes to see from each of the tenders.

The modernisation tender scooped by Accenture will “replace an old legacy system with a modern tax and customs administration system for the future, to meet global standards,” he says.

Commenting on the customs scanner tender, Wort adds: “The new scanners [at various airports and harbours] will improve control of goods leaving and entering the country, improve the volume and speed of inspections, allow goods to reach their destinations much more quickly, and increase the success rate of anti-smuggling and related activities, to eradicate crime and corruption.”

And the third project for voice and data networks (also still up for grabs and valued at about R1.5 billion) will offer better bandwidth at a better value for money, and create the infrastructure for network upgrades and enhancements in the future, he tells iWeek.

BREAKING IT DOWN

Cancelling and re-issuing two large tenders in 2006 came at the expense of the bidders, which had seemingly put together specialised teams to prepare their bids. GijimaAst CEO John Miller said at the time that his company had invested about R1 million in preparing for the networks tender, with 16 employees involved in the bid. Business Connexion CEO Peter Watt said: “We`re very disappointed – we put a huge effort into this, and when you consider the costs, it was an expensive exercise.”

One noticeable change in SARS`s approach to the industry since Hore`s arrival has been broadening the scope of the two re-issued tenders, allowing a number of companies to win portions of the contract, rather than one company winning the entire contract. Wort says SARS`s interaction with key business partners has been crucial to the formation of the big three tenders: “We are in close contact with all the bidders all of the time.

“The SARS approach of breaking the tenders up into towers, or smaller parts, enables a broad spectrum of service providers to apply – particularly smaller emerging businesses that may have specialised focus areas,” he explains.

“This is over and above the standard broad-based black economic empowerment element that is part of the normal tender procedures,” adds Wort.

MODERNISATION PROJECT MOVING

Accenture`s Jan Bouwer says the modernisation project will take between three and four years. As senior executive: government operating group, he notes that phase one will involve “reviewing current processes, technology and people, creating a conceptual design for the future, and conducting a feasibility study”. The number of Accenture staff to be involved in the project will be confirmed at the end of this phase. It is understood that phase one of the project will last three months at a cost of R300 000.

In the meantime, however, one technology SARS did launch in 2006 was its e-filing service. Strictly speaking, the customer-facing e-filing system (allowing one to submit tax returns online) has been available for some time, but only to corporates. Last year was the first time that individual taxpayers could file their returns at their homes or offices, rather than be at the mercy of the postal system.

Although e-filing comes with all the expected security concerns (a fax machine is also necessary, so it is not entirely online), SARS hopes the service will be used increasingly in the coming years. It cuts down on administrative duties, and can speed up the process for the user as well. One simple, but extremely useful, function is the manner in which the form is automatically customised to suit the user after a few initial fields have been filled.

There is no word from SARS on exactly when the other two contracts will be awarded, although Wort tells iWeek: “SARS can only benefit from a speedy finalisation of each tender process. In this regard we hope to finalise these [two remaining] tenders as soon as possible.”