Objectives

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) is procuring an integrated Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP), Skills Audit, and Feeder Pipeline solution. The overarching objective is to move TNPA’s current reactive, fragmented workforce planning practice to a data-driven, strategically aligned, and future-ready workforce model.

Key objectives include:

• Providing current, evidence-based workforce insight to guide decision-making.
• Assessing existing vs. required capabilities and identifying critical skills gaps.
• Developing a 5-year feeder pipeline framework for critical and roles.
• Aligning workforce planning with TNPA’s business strategy, operating model, and transformation goals.
• Improving the People Management maturity baseline from 1.5 to a target of 5 by 2031.
• Aiming for 70% internal fulfilment of critical roles by Year 2.

Scope of Services

The service provider will deliver an end-to-end solution across three integrated workstreams over six months.

• Strategic Workforce Planning: current-state diagnostics; demand and supply modelling; forecasting and scenario planning; workforce gap analysis; HR metric reviews; and recommendations aligned with the approved TNPA operating model.
• Skills Audit: a comprehensive capability assessment, competency framework development, data collection, gap analysis, prioritised skills interventions, and a 5-year skills plan, including a prioritised learning budget for FY27/28.
• Feeder Pipeline Development: identification of critical roles, succession strategy, talent pool development, and a 5-year feeder pipeline plan toward target job families.
• Implementation enabling: practical “How to Conduct a Skills Audit” and “How to Develop a Feeder Pipeline” guides, training and train-the-trainer material for 30 People Management practitioners using blended delivery methods.
• Governance and engagement: sets up project governance, stakeholder mapping, workshops with executive leadership, monthly progress risk meetings, and a strategy for ongoing sustainable management.

Programme Phases

The six-month programme includes defined phases:

• Initiation: 1 week — mobilisation, governance setup, stakeholder mapping.
• Skills Audit: 8 weeks — assessments, work capability categorisation, gap analysis.
• Current State Analysis: 2 weeks — diagnostics, data review, interviews, maturity assessment.
• Demand Modelling: 2 weeks — engagement with business units to identify demand drivers.
• Forecasting & Scenario Modelling: 4 weeks — supply/demand modelling and scenario development.
• Gap Analysis & Recommendations: 4 weeks — 5-year feeder pipeline and 5-year skills plan, with a prioritised FY27/28 learning budget and learning interventions.

Technical Requirements

Bidders must meet an evaluation threshold of 66.67 out of 100 in the technical evaluation to be considered further. The scoring is as follows:

• Company Track Record — 15%: Demonstrated experience in completed Skills Audit, SWP, and Feeder Pipeline projects over the past 10 years, evidenced by client reference letters.
• Technical Approach / Project Methodology — 20%: a comprehensive methodology covering Skills Audit, workforce demand/supply planning, forecasting scenarios, feeder pipelines, stakeholder change management, data analytics/HRIS integration, risk management, and knowledge transfer.
• Key Resources Qualifications — 25%: qualification certificates and SAQA verification of foreign qualifications.
• Key Resources Experience — 30%: demonstrated management and technical experience in SWP, skills audit, talent/feeder pipeline management, and workforce modelling.
• Project Plan — 10%: detailed six-month plan including work breakdown structure, Gantt chart, RACI matrix, governance structure, milestones, deliverables, timelines, and resources.

Bidders should note that reference claims may be independently verified. The bid must be accompanied by the required technical annexures, skills profiles, and project plan documents.

Skills and Resource Requirements

• Project Manager might: degree or postgraduate qualification in HR, Industrial Psychology, Organisational Psychology/Development, Social Sciences, or Business Management. Minimum experience 6–9 years leading Skills Audit, SWP and feeder pipeline projects; greater than 9 years is stronger.
• Skills Audit Specialist: a qualification in HR, Industrial Psychology, or a Social Science-related discipline, with experience in talent management, skills audit execution, and success/feeder pipeline work.
• Strategic Workforce Planning Specialist: a qualification in HR, HR analytics, Data Science, or a related field, with 6–9+ years of experience in workforce modelling, demand/supply analysis, and forecasting projects.

All three personnel must be named, qualified, and available. Foreign qualifications must be evaluated by SAQA. An incomplete submission may result in a zero score for the relevant criterion.

Specialised Terms

Skills Audit is a systematic assessment of the existing competency profile within the organisation to identify gaps against current and expected requirements.

Feeder Pipeline is a sustainable internal talent pipeline that develops suitable candidates to fill critical job families, reducing reliance on external recruitment.

These services are more in-depth than normal consultant HR support because the provider must also design and pilot practical workforce planning tools for TNPA, including analytics, train-the-trainer materials, phased implementation, and a multi-year learning strategy.