Turnkey supply, installation and configuration of cisco ecm network equipment (phase two) for the gauteng provincial legislature

Briefing session

• Date: 30 November 2026
• Time: 10:00
• Venue: Microsoft Teams
• Attendance: non-compulsory

Closing

• Date: 9 December 2026
• Time: 11:00

Bid validity

• 120 days from the closing date.

SCM enquiries

• Department: Supply Chain Management
• Contact: Vhukhudo Letshokota
• Email: [email protected]

Technical enquiries

• Department: ICT
• Contact: Brandon Moodley
• Email: [email protected]

Submission address

43 Rissik Street

Gauteng Provincial Legislature

City Hall

Johannesburg

2000

Attention: Supply Chain Management

Submission method

• Physical deposit into the bid box at 43 Rissik Street, Gauteng Provincial Legislature, City Hall, Johannesburg, 2000, Attention: Supply Chain Management.
• Bid box accessible 08:00–17:00, Monday to Sunday including public holidays; allow time for visitor's entrance and security checkpoints.
• Courier delivery by registered mail is permitted.
• Late bids will not be accepted.

Packaging and marking

• Front of package: Bid No. GPL010/2027.
• Back of package: bidder's name, address and contact numbers.
• All pages of the bid must be initialled.
• Corrections must be signed next to the alteration; correction fluid or ink is not allowed.
• The bid must be signed by a duly authorised representative; proof of authority (e.g. company resolution) must be attached.

Returnable documents (mandatory unless marked)

• Full technical proposal with supporting documents — hard copy mandatory; USB copy of the proposal is non-mandatory.
• SBD 1 (Invitation to Bid): completed and signed.
• SBD 3.1 (Pricing Schedule – Firm Prices): completed.
• SBD 4 (Bidder's Disclosure): original, completed and signed.
• SBD 6.1 (Preference Points Claim Form): original, completed and signed.
• Full company registration documents.
• Copies of South African identity documents for directors.
• Company profile.
• Signed declaration that the bid is fully compliant with the Bill of Materials (Annexure A).
• Proof of registration of a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) or Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) (Routing and Switching) among project team members.
• Valid proof of Cisco Channel Partner partnership.
• For joint ventures, consortiums or trusts: signed agreement or trust deed, plus certified copies of shareholders' certificates, company registration documents and directors'/members' identity documents for every party.

Disqualification risks

• Omission of any mandatory returnable document.
• Unsigned or incomplete bid documents.
• Late submission.
• Failure to provide a SARS tax compliance status PIN or CSD number.

Preference point system: 80/20 (price 80 points, specific goals 20 points).

Phase 1 — Administrative compliance (pre-qualification)

• Signed and completed bid documents.
• Company registration documents.
• All other mandatory documentation (affiliation certificates, qualifications, etc.).
• Failure to comply may result in disqualification; the bid will not proceed to Phase 2.

Phase 2 — Functionality / technical evaluation

• Minimum qualifying score: 70 out of 100.
• Scoring scale: 3 = Satisfactory (60%), 4 = Very Good (80%), 5 = Excellent (100%).
• Criteria and weights:

1. Bidder experience (weight 20): three similar projects = 3; four = 4; five or more = 5. Reference letters signed by the referee, with implementation details and contract duration, required. GPL may verify testimonials.
2. Experience and qualifications of the Project Manager (weight 20): relevant diploma plus PMP/PRINCE2 Practitioner/IPMA and at least three similar projects = 3; relevant degree plus certification and at least four similar projects = 4; relevant degree plus certification and five or more similar projects = 5. Foreign qualifications must be SAQA-verified.
3. OEM accreditation and status (weight 20): Cisco partner in networking and services for at least three years = 3; at least four years = 4; at least five years = 5. Valid OEM letters confirming accreditation for each year required; GPL may verify independently.
4. Draft project plan (weight 20): must cover scope, objectives and deliverables; governance, roles and responsibilities; work breakdown structure; high-level schedule and milestones; project resources; equipment supply and logistics; detailed design and implementation approach; migration, cutover, rollback, testing and UAT; risk, issue, change and quality management; stakeholder communication, escalation and progress reporting; knowledge transfer and operational handover; warranty, hypercare support and project close-out. Higher scores require dependencies, site-specific activities, resource allocation and acceptance points.

Phase 3 — Price and specific goals (80/20)

• Price: 80 points, calculated on the lowest acceptable bid.
• Specific goals: 20 points, allocated as follows:
• Black ownership (7 points): 100% = 7; 51% = 5; less than 51% = 3; not black-owned = 0. Evidence: registration documents and ID copy.
• Women ownership (5 points): 100% = 5; 51% = 3; less than 51% = 1; not women-owned = 0. Evidence: registration documents and ID copy.
• Youth ownership (5 points): 100% = 5; 51% = 3; less than 51% = 1; not youth-owned = 0. Evidence: ID copy.
• Persons with disabilities ownership (3 points): 100% = 3; 51% = 2; less than 51% = 1; not PWD-owned = 0. Evidence: doctor's letter.
• Failure to submit proof for a specific goal means those points are not claimed.
• GPL may require substantiation of any preference claim at any time.

Purpose

• Supply, delivery, installation, configuration, testing, commissioning and support of Cisco ECM LAN equipment and related services for the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, through an OEM-accredited channel partner.
• Project duration: four months from appointment, acceptance and contract finalisation; extensions only with GPL written approval.

Sites

• Johannesburg (main office) and Cape Town office.

Scope of work

• Project initiation, discovery and detailed design: kick-off, assessment of existing physical and logical network, validation of bill of materials and licensing, production of low-level design, implementation, migration, test and back-out plans, risk register and project schedule.
• Supply and delivery: new, genuine, current Cisco equipment, software and subscriptions through authorised channels; all licences, support contracts, rack kits, mounting hardware, stacking and power-stack cables, console cables, transceivers, patch leads and ancillary components; South African-compatible power cords and plugs; registration in GPL's Cisco Smart Account with OEM entitlement evidence, serial-number schedules and warranty commencement dates; delivery to designated sites, damage inspection and reconciliation against the bill of materials.
• Cabling and routing: all aspects of cabling and routing from the riser room to the data centre at both sites to ensure end-to-end connectivity.
• Access and core switching: rack, stack, label, cable and configure Cisco Catalyst 9300/9300L access switches and Catalyst 9600 core chassis; configure high availability, redundant supervisors and power, switch stacking or StackWise Virtual, link aggregation, spanning-tree protections, routing, VLANs, DHCP relay, QoS, multicast and management-plane controls; secure management with AAA, role-based access, SNMPv3, NTP, syslog, SSH, configuration backup and hardening; install and validate 10Gbps LR and SR optics, uplink modules and copper/fibre connectivity; migrate connected services in agreed batches.
• Cisco Catalyst Center: install and configure the appliance, including network integration, certificates, backups and device credentials; onboard supported Catalyst devices; configure inventory, topology, assurance, telemetry, software-image management, compliance and configuration management; integrate with identity, DNS, NTP, SMTP and syslog where supported; document features requiring additional licensing.
• Firewalls: install and configure one Cisco Secure Firewall 3110 and two Cisco Secure Firewall 3105 appliances, including base licences, five-year threat defence, malware and URL-filtering subscriptions and cloud-management subscriptions; develop and obtain approval for migration design, interface mapping, zones, routing, NAT, access rules, VPN requirements, objects, logging, inspection and security policy; migrate existing firewall services during approved change windows with tested rollback; apply vendor hardening and configure secure administrative access, backups, alerting, logging and health monitoring.
• Migration and testing: factory acceptance and reconciliation, pre-installation checks, configuration peer review, pre-cutover readiness assessment; functional, performance, redundancy, failover, routing, switching, security-policy, management, monitoring and backup/restore tests; cutovers only under approved GPL change records and during agreed maintenance windows; defect resolution and written acceptance per migration phase.
• Documentation and knowledge transfer: final low-level design, as-built diagrams, inventories, licences, support details, configurations, backup/restore procedures, operating procedures, test evidence, migration records and close-out report; administrator knowledge transfer covering switching, Catalyst Center and firewall.
• Warranty and support: OEM warranty support, post-implementation OEM technical support, incident escalation and resolution within agreed service levels.

Deliverables (Annexure B)

• Project initiation, discovery and existing environment assessment.
• Compatibility assessment, detailed design and implementation planning.
• Supply and delivery of all ECM equipment.
• Access and core switching implementation.
• Secure network management and Cisco Catalyst Center implementation.
• Cisco Secure Firewall implementation and configuration.
• Network and firewall migration and cutover.
• Testing, defect resolution and solution acceptance.
• Technical documentation, knowledge transfer and operational handover.
• Warranty, hypercare support and project close-out.

Reporting and governance

• Report to the GPL ICT Department through the designated Project Manager.
• Attend project management, steering and ExCo meetings when required.
• Submit weekly implementation status reports during deployment and monthly support reports during implementation.
• Escalate risks and issues timeously.
• All deliverables must be reviewed and approved by GPL before project closure.

Bidders must submit a project-specific draft project plan. It must cover:

• Project scope, objectives and deliverables.
• Governance, roles and responsibilities.
• Work breakdown structure.
• High-level schedule and milestones.
• Project resources.
• Equipment supply and logistics.
• Detailed design and implementation approach.
• Migration, cutover, rollback, testing and UAT.
• Risk, issue, change and quality management.
• Stakeholder communication, escalation and progress reporting.
• Knowledge transfer and operational handover.
• Warranty, hypercare support and project close-out.

Higher scores require the plan to show dependencies, site-specific activities, resource allocation and acceptance points.

Bidder experience

• At least three similar projects completed, supported by satisfactory and verifiable evidence.
• At least three reference letters for similar projects, signed by the referee, with implementation details and contract duration.
• Experience in ECM, storage, server or information management implementations.

Project Manager

• Relevant diploma or degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems or a related discipline.
• Recognised project management certification such as PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner or IPMA.
• At least two similar projects managed (higher scores require three, four or five or more).
• Foreign qualifications must be SAQA-verified.

Mandatory team and partner requirements

• At least one project team member must hold CCIE or CCNP (Routing and Switching).
• The bidder must be a Cisco-approved Channel Partner and submit valid proof of partnership.
• A signed declaration of full compliance with the Bill of Materials (Annexure A) must be submitted.

Quality assurance is built into the implementation and acceptance process.

Design and configuration control

• Configuration must follow the approved low-level design.
• High availability, redundancy, stacking, link aggregation, spanning-tree protections, routing, VLANs, DHCP relay, QoS, multicast and management-plane controls must be configured and verified.
• Secure management must use agreed AAA, role-based access, SNMPv3, NTP, syslog, SSH, configuration backup and approved hardening settings.
• Firewall configuration must follow vendor-recommended hardening and approved security policy.

Testing and acceptance

• Factory acceptance and reconciliation, pre-installation checks, configuration peer review and pre-cutover readiness assessment.
• Functional, performance, redundancy, failover, routing, switching, security-policy, management, monitoring and backup/restore tests.
• Cutovers only under approved GPL change records and during agreed maintenance windows.
• Defects must be resolved, exceptions recorded and written acceptance obtained for each migration phase.
• All deliverables must be reviewed and approved by GPL before project closure.

Documentation

• Final low-level design, as-built diagrams, inventories, licences, support details, configurations, backup/restore procedures, operating procedures, test evidence, migration records and close-out report must be submitted.
• Administrator knowledge transfer must be documented and reported.

Pricing form: SBD 3.1 (Pricing Schedule – Firm Prices).

• Only firm prices are accepted; non-firm prices, including those subject to exchange-rate variation, will not be considered.
• Prices must remain fixed for the duration of the contract.
• All costs must be included: delivery, labour rates, skills transfer and all applicable taxes (VAT, PAYE, income tax, UIF and skills development levies).
• Bidders must indicate prices for every element listed on the pricing schedule.
• Where different delivery points affect pricing, a separate pricing schedule must be submitted for each delivery point.
• The schedule requires brand and model, country of origin, compliance with specifications, deviations, delivery period and delivery basis.
• All delivery costs must be included in the bid price for delivery to the prescribed destination.

Pricing

• Only firm prices will be accepted; non-firm prices, including those subject to exchange-rate variation, will not be considered.
• Prices must remain fixed for the duration of the contract.
• All costs must be included: delivery, labour rates, skills transfer and all applicable taxes.
• Pricing schedule: SBD 3.1 (Firm Prices).
• Where different delivery points affect pricing, a separate pricing schedule must be submitted for each delivery point.

Bid validity

• 120 days from the closing date; GPL may extend in writing.

Discounts

• Unconditional discounts are considered for comparative pricing; conditional discounts are applied only at payment stage.

No bid security, performance bond, guarantee or retention percentage is stated in the document.

Registration and tax

• Central Supplier Database (CSD) registration required, with business registration, directorships, identity numbers, B-BBEE information and banking details uploaded.
• SARS tax compliance status PIN required; where no PIN is available, a CSD number must be provided.
• Failure to provide these may invalidate the bid.

Eligibility

• Bidders, directors, members or partners in the service of the state, or with a conflict of interest, are excluded.
• Only Cisco-approved Channel Partners may bid; valid proof of partnership must be submitted.
• At least one project team member must hold CCIE or CCNP (Routing and Switching) registration.
• A signed declaration of full compliance with the Bill of Materials (Annexure A) is mandatory.

B-BBEE and specific goals

• Preference points are claimed on SBD 6.1 for black ownership (7 points), women ownership (5), youth ownership (5) and ownership by persons with disabilities (3).
• Supporting evidence: company registration documents, identity copies and, for disability, a doctor's letter.
• No minimum B-BBEE level is stated.

Returnable forms

• SBD 1 (Invitation to Bid): binds the bidder to the offer and contact details.
• SBD 3.1 (Pricing Schedule – Firm Prices): records the firm price offer.
• SBD 4 (Bidder's Disclosure): discloses state employment and conflicts of interest; false disclosure disqualifies.
• SBD 6.1 (Preference Points Claim Form): claims specific-goal points; unsubstantiated claims forfeit points.
• Bid declaration: confirms authority, price correctness and no collusion.
• Annexure A declaration: confirms full compliance with the Bill of Materials.

Joint ventures and subcontracting

• JV, consortium or trust agreement must be signed and submitted with certified documents for all parties.
• Subcontracting requires GPL approval and may not exceed 25% of total contract deliverables.

Fronting

• GPL investigates fronting indicators; the bidder must prove no fronting within 14 days of notification, failing which the bid or contract may be invalidated and the bidder restricted from public-sector business for up to ten years.

No occupational health and safety requirements are stated. The document addresses security rather than health and safety.

Security and site access

• Contract areas may be restricted areas under security legislation; access control applies to personnel and materials.
• Personnel rejected for security reasons must be replaced; failure to provide cleared personnel may lead to bid rejection.
• Within 48 hours of a request after award, the bidder must provide full names, positions and duties of site personnel, SAPS-certified identity copies (original certified documents, not photocopies) and business addresses.
• Security clearance is valid for up to 12 months and for one project at a time.
• Delays in security clearance do not justify contract extension.
• Personnel who breach security, wander from escorts or misconduct themselves will be removed from site without recourse and refused re-entry.

Contract formation

• Award by the Secretary to the GPL constitutes a binding contract, confirmed by an appointment or award letter; the successful bidder must accept in writing on its letterhead.
• The successful bidder must sign a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement.
• The successful bidder, its employees and subcontractors must comply with GPL security clearance requirements.

Duration and extension

• Project duration is four months from appointment, acceptance and contract finalisation.
• Extensions require GPL written approval.
• GPL may re-appoint or extend the service provider where there is a natural continuation of assignments.

Subcontracting

• Subcontracting requires GPL approval and may not exceed 25% of total contract deliverables.
• In designated sectors, subcontracting may not reduce local production and content below the stipulated minimum threshold.

Discounts

• Unconditional discounts are considered for comparative pricing; conditional discounts are applied only at payment stage.

General conditions

• GPL may request additional information at any stage of evaluation.
• All proposals become GPL property; bid preparation costs are for the bidder's account.
• GPL may invite shortlisted bidders to present to the evaluation committee.
• GPL may decline to award to the highest-scoring bidder if that bidder has been awarded a bid by GPL or performed services for GPL in the 12 months before the closing date.
• GPL may require removal and replacement of personnel who perform inadequately.
• If an order is wrongly printed, the service provider must exchange goods or cancel the order on GPL's request.

Fronting

• GPL investigates fronting indicators; the bidder must prove no fronting within 14 days of notification, failing which the bid or contract may be invalidated and the bidder restricted from public-sector business for up to ten years.

Security and occupancy

• Contract areas may be restricted areas under security legislation; access control applies to personnel and materials.
• Personnel rejected for security reasons must be replaced; failure to provide cleared personnel may lead to bid rejection.
• Within 48 hours of a request after award, the bidder must provide full names, positions and duties of site personnel, SAPS-certified identity copies (original certified documents, not photocopies) and business addresses.
• Security clearance is valid for up to 12 months and for one project at a time.
• Delays in security clearance do not justify contract extension.

Safeguarding of documents

• Documents are numbered on issue and records kept.
• Subcontractors and suppliers must sign for documents and safeguard them.
• Documentation must be handled according to the SSA Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS), provided at site handover; the main contractor must familiarise personnel and subcontractors with it.

Bid cancellation

• GPL may amend or cancel the bid before award for changed circumstances, lack of funds, no acceptable bid, material irregularity or material change of scope after closing.

Delivery adherence

• Delivery must follow the official purchase order and/or contract/SLA instructions.

Evaluation follows the 80/20 preference point system in three sequential phases.

Phase 1 — Administrative compliance

• Signed and completed bid documents, company registration and all mandatory documentation.
• Non-compliant bids may be disqualified and will not proceed.

Phase 2 — Functionality / technical evaluation (100 points, minimum 70)

• Scoring: 3 = Satisfactory (60%), 4 = Very Good (80%), 5 = Excellent (100%).
• Bidder experience (weight 20): three similar projects = 3; four = 4; five or more = 5. Reference letters with implementation details and contract duration required.
• Project Manager experience and qualifications (weight 20): relevant diploma plus PMP/PRINCE2 Practitioner/IPMA and three similar projects = 3; relevant degree plus certification and four similar projects = 4; relevant degree plus certification and five or more similar projects = 5. Foreign qualifications must be SAQA-verified.
• OEM accreditation (weight 20): Cisco partner for three years = 3; four years = 4; five or more years = 5. Valid OEM letters for each year required.
• Draft project plan (weight 20): must cover scope, objectives and deliverables; governance and roles; work breakdown structure; schedule and milestones; resources; equipment supply and logistics; design and implementation approach; migration, cutover, rollback, testing and UAT; risk, issue, change and quality management; stakeholder communication and reporting; knowledge transfer and handover; warranty, hypercare and close-out. Higher scores require dependencies, site-specific activities, resource allocation and acceptance points.

Phase 3 — Price and specific goals (80/20)

• Price: 80 points.
• Specific goals: 20 points — black ownership (7), women ownership (5), youth ownership (5), persons with disabilities ownership (3), with evidence as specified in SBD 6.1.