Appointment of a service provider for the licensing, hosting, maintenance, support and enhancement of the nyalazone digital customer engagement (dce) and leggero platform for the road accident fund (raf) for a period of thirty-six (36) months.

The RAF is a Schedule 3A public entity established under the Road Accident Fund Act, 1996, providing compulsory social insurance to road users. It uses the Nyalazone Leggero DCE and DMAP as its primary CRM and omnichannel customer engagement platform, supporting about 130 users across email, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, chatbot, social media, USSD, web self-service, mobile app and telephony. The RAF is internalising its contact centre operations and intends to retain the existing platform, requiring licensing, hosting, maintenance, support, optimisation and enhancement services for 36 months. The appointed provider must take over support and licence provision from the incumbent. The objective is service continuity, operational stability and ongoing support, not platform replacement.

Closing date: 17 September 2026 at 11:00.

Briefing session (non-compulsory): 28 August 2026 at 11:00, held online via Microsoft Teams (link provided in the bid document). Purpose: overview of business requirements, scope, procurement process, and clarification.

Clarification deadlines:

• Closing date for bid questions and enquiries: 02 September 2026.
• Publication of Questions & Answers: 07 September 2026, on the RAF website and eTender portal.

Non-compulsory briefing session: 28 August 2026 at 11:00, online via Microsoft Teams (link in bid document). Purpose: overview of business requirements, scope of work, procurement process, and clarification opportunity.

Bid enquiries (SCM): Matome Ramathoka, email [email protected]. No telephonic enquiries will be entertained; all questions must be submitted in writing to this email address.

Technical enquiries: no contact person or details are stated in the document.

Submission address: Road Accident Fund (RAF), Eco Glades 2 Office Park, 420 Witch-hazel Avenue, Centurion, 0046 (tender box at reception).

Submission channel: hand-delivered or couriered bids only, deposited in the tender box at the RAF reception, Eco Glades 2 Office Park, 420 Witch-hazel Avenue, Centurion, 0046. Faxed and emailed bids are not accepted. Bids must be in the tender box on or before the closing date and time; late bids are disqualified.

Envelope requirements: submit an original bid document plus one copy, both enclosed together, with the envelope clearly marked with the tender number and description.

Returnable forms (all must be completed, attached and signed):

• SBD 1 (Invitation to Bid): bidder and contact details, signed as the offer cover page.
• SBD 3.1 (Pricing Schedule – Firm Prices): firm prices only, all taxes included.
• SBD 4 (Declaration of Interest): discloses whether any director or shareholder is employed by the state or connected to anyone at the RAF; false disclosure disqualifies.
• SBD 5 (National Industrial Participation Programme): signed and submitted with the bid.
• SBD 6.1 (Preference Points Claim): claims B-BBEE / specific-goal points.
• Specification document and General Conditions of Contract.
• Tax TCS PIN (or CSD number) to verify tax status; each party in a consortium/JV/sub-contractor arrangement must submit a separate PIN.
• Joint venture agreement, if bidding as a consortium or unincorporated grouping.
• Proof of CIDB registration, if applicable.
• Proof of authority to sign (e.g. company resolution).

Disqualification risks:

• Any returnable form omitted, unsigned, or not attached.
• Bids not on the official forms (must not be re-typed).
• Bids received after the closing time, regardless of reason.
• Bidders or directors listed on the National Treasury Register of Tender Defaulters or Restricted Suppliers.
• Bids from persons in the service of the state, or companies with such directors/members.

Validity: proposals must remain valid for 90 days from the closing date.

Returnable documents: SBD 1, SBD 3.1 (or 3.2/3.3), SBD 4, SBD 5, SBD 6.1 – all completed, attached and signed; proof of CIDB registration if applicable; specification document; General Conditions of Contract; Tax TCS PIN (each party in consortium/JV/sub-contractors separate); joint venture agreement if applicable; CSD registration. International suppliers may be exempt from some mandatory requirements; all SBDs must be submitted signed, noting where not applicable.

Evaluation is in four phases:

• Phase 1 – Initial Screening: responses checked against the RFB requirements; includes the non-compulsory briefing session.
• Phase 2 – Mandatory Evaluation: compliance with mandatory requirements; non-compliant bidders are disqualified.
• Phase 3 – Technical/Functional Evaluation: minimum threshold of 70 out of 100 points to proceed.
• Phase 4 – Price and Specific Goals: assessed under the 80/20 or 90/10 preference point system.

Mandatory requirement (Phase 2):

• The bidder must be the OEM of the Nyalazone Leggero DCE and DMAP, or a certified partner authorised by the OEM, evidenced by a letter confirming proprietary ownership or a certificate of partnership issued by Nyalazone, valid at the closing date. The partnership must be maintained for the contract duration. Failure to submit the supporting documentation disqualifies the bid.

Technical/Functional evaluation (100 points, minimum 70):

• Implementation and/or maintenance and support experience in DCE and Leggero platforms (60 points): minimum one implementation/support engagement, proven by verifiable reference letters on client letterhead (contact details, year, description of services). Scoring: 0 for none, 40 for one, 50 for two, 60 for three or more. RAF may verify references.
• Implementation and Support Plan (40 points): must cover service take-on, transition readiness, testing and validation, go-live support, completed within six weeks of contract start. Scoring: 0 for no response, 40 for a plan addressing all requirements.

Price and Specific Goals:

• Price: 80 points (80/20 system) or 90 points (90/10 system).
• Specific Goals: 20 points (80/20) or 10 points (90/10).
• Specific goals and points: South African citizen with no franchise before the 1983 or 1996 Constitution (minimum 51% ownership) – 10/5 points; Women (minimum 51% ownership) – 8/4 points; Persons with disabilities (minimum 51% ownership) – 2/1 points. Proof required (e.g. CSD report, ID copy, medical certificate).

Contract period: 36 months, covering licensing, hosting, maintenance, support, optimisation and enhancement of the existing Nyalazone Leggero DCE and DMAP platform.

Platform context: the RAF's primary CRM and omnichannel customer engagement solution, supporting approximately 130 operational and supervisory users across email, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, chatbot, social media, USSD, web self-service, mobile application and telephony. The appointed provider must take over support and licence provision from the incumbent.

Scope of work:

• Licensing: DCE CRM and Leggero Data Management & Analytics licences, licence administration and optimisation.
• Hosting: production, QA/testing, development, and disaster recovery hosting; infrastructure monitoring; availability and capacity management.
• Platform administration, configuration and enhancement: queue management, business rule configuration, user administration, reporting administration.
• Omnichannel services: licensing, subscription management, maintenance and support for email, SMS, WhatsApp, live chat, chatbot, Facebook, mobile app, web self-service, USSD; the provider manages all channel subscriptions and third-party services.
• Integration services: API, third-party, identity management, enterprise application, and digital channel integrations.
• Security and compliance: security monitoring, access controls, audit logging, business continuity, disaster recovery, POPIA compliance.
• Knowledge and skills transfer: technical training, train-the-trainer, documentation, operational handover; formal certification not required.
• Implementation and transition: transition planning, knowledge transfer, service take-on, readiness assessments, testing, go-live support, hypercare.
• Exit management: handover of configurations, documentation, reporting, workflows and business rules; data extraction and migration support; Exit Management Plan no later than six months before contract expiry.

Service response times (support tickets):

• Severity 1 (critical – platform or critical channel unavailable): 2 hours.
• Severity 2 (high – service degradation or material threat to core service): 6 hours.
• Severity 3 (medium – non-critical function unavailable, workaround available): 8 hours.
• Severity 4 (low – minor issues affecting few users): 24 hours.

Service level requirements:

• Service desk and incident management; 12x7 support for critical incidents; support during planned maintenance windows.
• Application maintenance and optimisation; patch and release management aligned with OEM best practice.
• Vendor and subscription management with OEMs and third parties.
• Security and compliance controls; continual service improvement plan.
• Monthly service reports (incidents, SLA performance, availability, security, improvements) and monthly service review meetings.

Support hours: Monday to Friday 06:30 to 18:30 SA Time, plus monthly scheduled maintenance as per approved schedule.

The bidder must submit an Implementation and Support Plan describing how services will be transitioned, validated, stabilised and supported during the transition period, to be completed within six weeks from contract start, including timelines. The plan must cover service take-on activities, transition readiness assessments, testing and validation support, and go-live support. This plan is scored out of 40 points in the technical evaluation.

The bidder must demonstrate a minimum of one implementation and/or maintenance and support engagement of the Nyalazone Leggero DCE and DMAP at the closing date. Proof: verifiable, contactable reference letters on client letterhead, containing client contact details, the year of service, and a description of services rendered. Scoring: 0 for none, 40 for one, 50 for two, 60 for three or more. RAF may verify references; unconfirmed references are not considered.

Support services are measured against the Outcomes-based Service Performance Framework (OSPF) in Annexure A.

Service level requirements include: service desk and incident management; 12x7 support for critical incidents; application maintenance and optimisation; patch and release management aligned with OEM best practice; vendor and subscription management; security and compliance controls; continual service improvement plan; and monthly service reports covering incidents, SLA performance, platform availability, security and improvement initiatives, with monthly service review meetings.

Routine platform health assessments and performance reviews are required, with recommendations to improve performance, stability and user experience.

Pricing must be firm, VAT inclusive, in South African Rand, and all-inclusive of direct and indirect costs. A cost breakdown for each deliverable must be provided on a separate page with no terms and conditions. Year 2 and Year 3 pricing must include annual escalations. The total bid price is mandatory and must match the pricing schedule; if they differ, the stated total is taken as correct. Only firm prices accepted; non-firm prices (including exchange-rate variations) are not considered. Separate pricing schedules required for different delivery points. All delivery costs included in the bid price.

Pricing format: firm prices only. Non-firm prices, including prices subject to exchange-rate variations, will not be considered. A separate pricing schedule is required for each delivery point if pricing differs.

All prices must be VAT inclusive, quoted in South African Rand (ZAR), and all-inclusive of direct and indirect costs. No additional costs will be considered after award.

Cost breakdown: a cost breakdown for each deliverable must be provided on a separate page with no terms and conditions.

Escalations: pricing for Year 2 and Year 3 must include annual escalations.

Total bid price: mandatory to state the total bid price; it must match the total in the pricing schedule. If the totals differ, the stated total bid price is taken as correct.

Validity: offer must remain valid for 90 days from the closing date.

Performance guarantee: under the NIP programme, a successful bidder with a contract value above R10 million must submit a performance guarantee to the dti (Department of Trade and Industry) as part of the NIP obligation process.

Mandatory registrations and status:

• Registered on the National Treasury Central Supplier Database (CSD).
• Tax compliance: provide a SARS Tax Compliance Status (TCS) PIN, or a CSD number if no TCS PIN is available. Each party in a consortium/JV/sub-contractor arrangement must submit a separate TCS PIN/certificate/CSD number. Non-compliant recommended bidders get seven working days to rectify; failure leads to disqualification.
• CIDB registration, if applicable.

Mandatory OEM requirement:

• Must be the OEM of the Nyalazone Leggero DCE and DMAP, or a certified partner authorised by the OEM, with proof (ownership letter or partnership certificate) valid at closing date. Partnership must be maintained for the contract duration.

Disqualification:

• Bidders or directors on the National Treasury Register of Tender Defaulters or Restricted Suppliers.
• Persons in the service of the state, or companies with such directors/members.
• Failure to disclose all CSD-registered active companies linked to all directors.

Returnable forms (one line each):

• SBD 1 (Invitation to Bid): signed cover page with bidder and contact details.
• SBD 3.1 (Pricing Schedule – Firm Prices): firm prices, all taxes included.
• SBD 4 (Declaration of Interest): discloses state employment or connections to the RAF.
• SBD 5 (National Industrial Participation Programme): signed and submitted.
• SBD 6.1 (Preference Points Claim): claims specific-goal points.
• Specification document and General Conditions of Contract.
• Tax TCS PIN / CSD number.
• Joint venture agreement, if applicable.
• Proof of authority to sign (company resolution).

Contract duration: 36 months. The successful bidder must sign a written contract form (SBD 7) after award.

Exit management: the provider must hand over configurations, documentation, reporting, workflows and business rules; assist with data extraction and migration; cooperate with the incoming provider; and complete data security, privacy, retention, return and destruction obligations per RAF policy. An Exit Management Plan is required no later than six months before contract expiry.

NIP obligations: contracts with imported content equal to or exceeding US$10 million (or multiple contracts exceeding US$3 million each totalling US$10 million over two years) attract an NIP obligation of 30% of imported content. Successful bidders with contracts above R10 million must report to the dti within five working days of award. The dti may require a performance guarantee, business concept, business plans and bi-annual progress reports.

Special instructions: bidder must be an eligible registered service provider; must have a business continuity management plan available for inspection; evaluation criteria published with the RFB will be used with no amendments after closing; proposals must be clearly indexed and cross-referenced to a table of contents; companies or directors on the National Treasury register of Restricted Suppliers or Tender Defaulters are automatically disqualified; all SBD forms must be fully completed and signed; RAF will confirm CSD registration and SARS tax compliance before award, with seven working days to rectify non-compliance.

The bidder must be an eligible, registered service provider under applicable law, with a business continuity management plan available for inspection. Bidders or directors on the National Treasury Register of Tender Defaulters or Restricted Suppliers are automatically disqualified. The RAF will confirm CSD registration and SARS tax compliance before award; non-compliant bidders get seven working days to rectify. Mandatory: the bidder must be the OEM of the Nyalazone Leggero DCE and DMAP, or a certified partner authorised by the OEM, with proof valid at closing date, and must maintain the partnership for the contract duration.

Evaluation has four phases: initial screening, mandatory evaluation, technical/functional evaluation (minimum 70 of 100 points), and price and specific goals. Technical scoring: implementation/support experience (60 points) – 0 for none, 40 for one, 50 for two, 60 for three or more; Implementation and Support Plan (40 points) – 0 for no response, 40 for addressing all requirements. Price and specific goals: 80/20 or 90/10 system. Specific goals: South African citizen with no franchise before 1983/1996 Constitution (min 51% ownership) – 10/5 points; women (min 51%) – 8/4; persons with disabilities (min 51%) – 2/1. Proof required.

The document does not specify eligibility criteria such as CSD registration, tax clearance, B-BBEE level, or other pre-qualification requirements. Bidders should refer to the full tender documentation for any such conditions.

The document is an annexure to the Master Services Agreement, defining the Outcomes-based Service Performance Framework (OSPF). It does not contain the technical specifications for the Nyalazone DCE and Leggero platform itself, but rather the service performance measurement and penalty mechanism that will apply. Key elements include: service levels are categorised into Primary, Secondary and Auxiliary, with Service Credits applied to Primary Service Levels; the At Risk Amount is 25% of the Total Monthly Fees; the maximum Allocation Percentage for a single Service Level is 30%; Service Credits are capped at the At Risk Amount per month; and the Service Coverage Window defines support hours by service class (Standard: 07h00-17h00 Mon-Fri; Extended: 07:00-22:00 Mon-Fri; Premium: 24/7; After hours: 17:00-07:00 weekdays and full weekends/public holidays).

The Service Provider must implement measurement and monitoring tools to measure performance against Service Levels. Monthly Service Level Reports must be provided no later than the 5th business day after the end of the preceding Measurement Interval, detailing any Service Level Failures and Service Credits. Raw data and supporting information are proprietary to RAF. Upon incurring Service Credits, the Service Provider must submit a Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) within 10 business days, outlining steps to prevent future failures, with milestones and timelines.

Service Credits are calculated as the Allocation Percentage multiplied by the At Risk Amount (25% of Total Monthly Fees). The aggregate Service Credits in a single month cannot exceed the At Risk Amount. Service Credits may be earned back: 50% after meeting the Service Level for 3 consecutive Measurement Intervals, and the remaining 50% after a further 3 consecutive intervals. Reconciliation of Service Credits is done monthly and a detailed reconciliation every 6 months, completed within 5 business days after each 6-month period.

No specific compliance requirements are stated in this document. Bidders should refer to the full tender documentation for any such conditions.

The OSPF defines the service credit mechanism for non-compliance with Service Levels under the Master Services Agreement. It includes principles for calculating service credits, definitions of key terms (Total Monthly Fee, At Risk Amount, Allocation Percentage, etc.), and detailed methodology for monitoring, reporting, root cause analysis, service credit calculation, caps, earn-back provisions, changes to performance measurements, continuous improvement adjustments, and the Small Numbers Rule. It also describes priority levels, severity 1 declaration, incident resolution and travel time allowances, service level allocations, and service coverage windows.

The document does not contain evaluation criteria. It only mentions that a Customer Impact Analysis can serve as input during periodic service level evaluations.