Objectives

The primary objective of this tender is to appoint a qualified service provider to design, implement, manage, and maintain a resilient email infrastructure for the municipality. The initiative aims to secure email communications, enforce compliant data archiving, and guarantee uninterrupted email accessibility through reliable business continuity solutions.

Scope

The scope encompasses the end-to-end delivery of enterprise email management services, including deployment, configuration, monitoring, and ongoing technical support of a certified email security and continuity platform. The contractor will be responsible for integrating the solution with existing municipal IT systems, establishing long-term archival protocols, and providing disaster recovery capabilities to prevent service disruption. The engagement also requires proven project execution capability, demonstrated through documented past performance and verifiable client references.

Technical Requirements

• Valid, up-to-date certification as an official Microsoft Partner.
• Official partnership or authorized reseller status with Mimecast, supported by current certification documentation.
• Submission of a minimum of four signed appointment letters accompanied by corresponding client reference letters (reduced scoring applies for two to three letters).
• Full compliance with standard municipal procurement documentation, central supplier registration, and ethical governance declarations.

Skills Requirements

• The designated project team must include personnel with a minimum of two years’ hands-on experience in enterprise email and cloud infrastructure deployments.
• At least one team member must hold a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) qualification.
• At least one team member must possess a Microsoft Office 365 certification.
• All certified professionals must submit current curriculum vitae alongside certified copies of their credentials for verification purposes.

Terminology & Process Notes

Mimecast: A cloud-based enterprise platform specialized in email security, regulatory archiving, and business continuity. It safeguards against cyber threats, ensures long-term email retention for compliance, and provides automatic failover to maintain email operations during primary system outages.

80/20 Evaluation Model: A standard South African public procurement scoring framework where eighty percent of evaluation points are allocated to competitive pricing, and twenty percent are reserved for preferential procurement goals targeting historically disadvantaged individuals, youth, women, persons with disabilities, and rural enterprises.

Functionality Threshold: Bidders must achieve a minimum of eighty points in the initial functionality assessment before being considered for the preferential scoring phase.