The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) recently revealed irregularities and conflicts of interest in the R800 million contract awarded to Oracle SA for the Treasury’s Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS). Following these findings, Oracle SA must be added to the company blacklist.
In a recent appearance before parliament’s public accounts standing committee, UIS director Andy Mothibi explained that the aim of the investigation was to verify compliance with legislation, identify behavior irregular civil servants and recover public funds.
The IFMS project, launched in 2015, aims to establish an integrated system for the government, including supply chain management, human resources and finance, as well as payroll, inventory and business intelligence .
In 2016, Treasury entered into contracts to purchase software licenses for the program with Oracle. However, in 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa asked the UIS to investigate the contract due to its failures since its inception.
During her last appearance before the committee in September, lead investigator Naomi Jose revealed that Treasury had paid Oracle a total of R822,300,505.60 for licensing fees, technical support and pre-maintenance services. -implementation.
An alert from a whistleblower allowed the UIS to discover contacts between Oracle and high-level officials from the Treasury and the State Technological Information Agency, suggesting cases of corruption and irregularities in the procurement process.
UIS national investigator Leonard Lekgetho said the Oracle company did not provide any services to the Treasury and procurement processes were not followed in awarding the contract.
Mothibi announced that five criminal cases had been identified by the UIS and would be investigated by the public prosecutor. Due to conflicts of interest in awarding the contract, Oracle will be blacklisted and rejected by the State Technology Information Agency.
He also said the UIS investigation had been completed but the report had not yet been forwarded to Ramaphosa, pending the conclusion of civil proceedings against those involved.
Mkhuleko Hlengwa, chairman of the public accounts committee, said the IFMS system was not working and assured that no additional funds would be wasted on the program. Despite the sums already spent, taxpayers must be reassured that this system will be abandoned.