Objectives

The primary objective of this tender is to appoint a panel of service providers to manage, collect, and recover all outstanding debts owed to the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) KwaZulu-Natal over a period of 36 months. The service providers are expected to enhance debt recovery efforts, ensure compliance with relevant legislation and policies, and improve the efficiency of debt management processes.

Scope

The scope of the tender includes:

• Managing the recovery of debts arising from social grant overpayments, staff overpayments, and other liabilities such as supplier overpayments, motor accidents, salary overpayments, contraventions of bursary or study aid policies, and asset losses.
• Providing pre-legal debt collection services for overdue accounts (60 days and above) including debtor identification, tracing, communication, negotiation, and follow-up.
• Handling legal debt collection procedures, including summons, judgments, and execution processes.
• Ensuring humane treatment of debtors and adherence to all applicable laws and policies.
• Providing all necessary hardware and software at own cost for debt collection activities.
• Reporting on debt collection activities, progress, and outcomes regularly to SASSA.
• Supporting legal proceedings and managing defended and urgent matters as required.

Technical Requirements

The technical requirements for bidders include:

• Demonstrating the availability of an IT infrastructure capable of supporting debt management and reporting systems.
• Providing sample reports generated by their debt collection management system.
• Having physical offices in South Africa with proof of ownership or lease agreements.
• Providing a detailed project plan outlining the methodology, timelines, and deliverables.
• Maintaining appropriate insurance, audit certificates, and warranties.
• Ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation, including the Debt Collectors Act and registration with the Law Society or ADRA.
• Providing evidence of experience in debt collection, including successful contracts exceeding R1 million in value within the last five years.
• Having qualified and experienced staff, including project managers and attorneys with rights to appear in High Court.

Skills Requirements

The skills and experience required from bidders include:

• Extensive experience in debt collection services, with a proven track record of managing similar projects.
• Qualified staff trained in debt collection management, legal principles, and applicable legislation.
• Availability of skilled resources, including a project manager with legal or debt collection qualifications and attorneys with rights to appear in High Court.
• Technical expertise in debt collection management information systems and reporting tools.
• Ability to conduct ethical, humane, and compliant debt recovery activities, including negotiation and legal proceedings.