Objectives

The primary objective of this tender is to appoint a competent service provider to deliver secure, efficient, and compliant offsite storage solutions for the W&RSETA's official records. The service provider must have a national footprint with appropriate infrastructure to manage physical records across all nine provinces, ensuring their integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility. The services are to be provided for a period of forty-eight (48) months, not exceeding 30 September 2030, in accordance with relevant legislation and standards such as the National Archives Act, PoPIA, PAIA, PFMA, and ISO 15489.

Scope

The scope of work includes:

• Provision of offsite physical records storage and retrieval services across ten (10) W&RSETA offices nationwide, including the Head Office and nine regional offices.
• Implementation of secure, climate-controlled storage facilities with waterless fire suppression, pest control, and environmental controls.
• Application of strict chain-of-custody controls, real-time logging, and documentation for all collections, transfers, and disposals.
• Provision of a secure, cloud-based inventory management system with searchable metadata, compliant with ISO/SANS 15489, PAIA, PoPIA, and cybersecurity standards.
• Scheduled and ad hoc collection, retrieval, and delivery services, including urgent requests fulfilled within the same day.
• Secure packaging, digital encryption, and verified delivery/receipt processes.
• Digitization of documents with high-speed OCR, file indexing, and archival format output.
• Implementation of approved retention schedules and secure destruction of records, maintaining destruction logs for ten years post-disposal.
• Provision of onboarding training, system manuals, ongoing technical support, and data breach protocols.

Technical Requirements

The technical specifications include:

• Facilities must comply with the National Archives Act, PoPIA, PAIA, PFMA, and ISO 15489 standards.
• Storage environments must be climate-controlled, secure, and monitored 24/7 with CCTV and electronic access controls.
• Vehicles used for collection and delivery must be secure, tracked, tamper-proof, and operate under strict chain-of-custody controls.
• Systems must support inventory tracking, metadata searchability, and digital document management with encryption and data security.
• Urgent requests fulfilled within the same day; standard requests within 24 hours.
• Destruction of records must be certified, secure, and documented, with logs maintained for ten years.
• Compliance with all relevant legislation, including the National Archives Act, PoPIA, and cybersecurity standards.

Skills Requirements

The service provider must demonstrate:

• Experience in managing national offsite records storage facilities with ISO 15489 compliance.
• Capability to operate secure, climate-controlled storage environments with advanced fire suppression and security systems.
• Proficiency in implementing and maintaining secure, cloud-based inventory and document management systems.
• Ability to handle digitization, OCR processing, and digital preservation in line with international standards.
• Expertise in secure record handling, chain-of-custody procedures, and destruction protocols.
• Capacity to provide technical support, staff training, and compliance reporting.
• Knowledge of relevant South African legislation including the National Archives Act, PoPIA, PAIA, and PFMA.