Tender Summary: Digital Platforms, Maintenance, Optimization, and Support

Objectives

The primary objective is to procure a qualified service provider to deliver comprehensive development, maintenance, optimization, and support services for digital platforms over a 36-month period. The initiative aims to decommission legacy systems, migrate workloads, and establish a unified, secure, and scalable digital operating environment while ensuring continuous performance improvement and reliable operational support.

Scope

The contract covers the full lifecycle management of digital platforms, beginning with mobilization, knowledge transfer, and transition, followed by ongoing development, optimization, and support. Key activities include third-party system integrations, quality assurance, full-stack development, and implementing a continuous support model. The provider is responsible for governance, risk management, change control, security, data protection, release deployments, and business continuity planning. The scope concludes with performance measurement, continuous improvement initiatives, and formal contract close-out procedures.

Technical Requirements

Bidders must demonstrate proven capability in developing and maintaining complex digital platforms. Required submissions include:

• A comprehensive execution plan detailing project phases, deliverables, milestones, resource allocation, escalation pathways, service level agreements (SLAs), incident/problem management, and downtime minimization strategies.
• A Systems Migration and Consolidation Plan outlining phased decommissioning of legacy infrastructure, data and workload transition strategies, and the establishment of a unified digital framework.
• At least two verifiable case studies from the past five years (one specifically in the tourism industry) demonstrating expertise in migration strategy, system consolidation, project close-out reporting, methodological rationale, and integrated improvement processes.
• Adherence to strict quality assurance, security, data protection, and deployment control standards throughout the project lifecycle.

Skills Requirements

The successful bidder must deploy a dedicated team with verified qualifications and experience:

• Business Analyst: Minimum three years’ experience in digital platform requirements analysis, process mapping, stakeholder engagement, and functional specification.
• Senior Developers (Five): Collectively experienced in full-stack development, system integration, quality assurance, and the maintenance/optimization of comparable digital platforms. Current CVs and qualifications required.
• UX Designer: Minimum three years’ experience in user research, information architecture, interaction design, prototyping, usability testing, and accessible responsive design. Portfolio submission required.
• Solution Architect: Minimum three years’ experience in digital platform architecture, cloud solutions, system integration, security, scalability, and technology standards. Certifications and CVs required.
• Account/Project Manager: Minimum three years’ experience managing digital platform contracts, including governance, reporting, risk management, change control, stakeholder liaison, and SLA oversight. Certifications and CVs required.

Key Terminology

Follow-the-Sun Support: A global support model where operational responsibilities are sequentially handed off across different geographic time zones to ensure continuous 24/7 coverage without requiring staff to work overnight shifts.

HDI Equity Ownership: A procurement preference metric referring to the percentage of a company owned by Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (South African citizens who lacked voting rights prior to 1994) who are actively involved in daily management and operational control. Preference points are awarded proportionally based on verified ownership percentages.