Tender Summary: Maintenance and Support for InvGate ITSM Solution

Objectives

The primary objective is to secure a 24-month comprehensive maintenance, support, and licensing agreement for the organisation's InvGate IT Service Management (ITSM) platform. The contract aims to modernise ICT service delivery, optimise internal operations, ensure business continuity, and sustain efficient resolution of member complaints. The solution must also provide architectural flexibility to scale into advanced operational capabilities as organisational needs evolve.

Scope of Services

• Environment Coverage: Full maintenance and support for Production and Disaster Recovery (DR) environments over 24 months. Underlying server infrastructure, storage, Microsoft Hyper-V, and operating system licenses are excluded and remain the client's responsibility.
• Routine Maintenance: Monthly patching and upgrades conducted during designated maintenance windows or urgently when required. Continuous security assurance and performance tuning across all environments.
• Troubleshooting & Updates: Resolution of technical and functional incidents across all ITSM modules, including liaison with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) where necessary. Implementation of minor configuration changes and module updates.
• Reporting & Governance: Delivery of scheduled reports and attendance at weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly review meetings as agreed upon project commencement.
• Disaster Recovery: Active participation in pre-test and actual DR exercises, updating step-by-step recovery manuals, and assisting in service restoration at the DR site during major incidents.
• Ad-Hoc Enhancements: Provision of up to 200 hours of custom development and improvements within the base contract. Additional enhancement hours will be billed on a prorated basis upon client request.
• Service Level Agreement (SLA): Strict response and resolution targets apply. Financial penalties ranging from 3% to 5% of the monthly invoice will be levied for missed milestones, with invoicing contingent on approved milestone completion.

Technical Requirements

• Bidders must hold current, verifiable accreditation as an official InvGate ITSM Partner.
• Demonstrable track record of successfully implementing, maintaining, and supporting InvGate ITSM in at least two comparable organisations within the past three years, supported by reference letters.
• Mandatory local South African presence with a clearly defined support model, escalation matrix, defined support hours, and guaranteed response times aligned with the published SLAs.
• Technical architecture must support core ITIL-aligned processes: Incident Management, Service Request Management, Change Management, Asset and Configuration Management (CMDB), Reporting, and SLA tracking. The platform must be configured to accommodate future expansion into Release Management, Problem Management, Knowledge Management, AI-enabled automation, and advanced analytics.
• Full compliance with national data protection and privacy legislation is required throughout the contract lifecycle.

Skills Requirements

• The service provider must submit at least two (2) curriculum vitae for technical support personnel, each demonstrating a minimum of two years' hands-on experience configuring, implementing, maintaining, and supporting the InvGate ITSM platform.
• Required competencies include deep familiarity with ITIL frameworks, system administration, root cause analysis, security hardening, performance optimisation, and disaster recovery coordination.
• Team members must possess strong analytical and documentation skills to maintain accurate recovery manuals and generate compliance reports.
• Proven ability to execute ad-hoc enhancements efficiently within allocated timeframes while maintaining system stability.
• Familiarity with South African public sector procurement standards, tax compliance requirements, and anti-collusion regulations is essential.

Glossary of Key Terms

• ITSM (IT Service Management): A structured methodology for designing, delivering, managing, and improving how an organisation uses IT to support its business processes.
• ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library): A globally recognised framework of best practices for aligning IT services with business needs, covering areas like incident, change, and problem management.
• CMDB (Configuration Management Database): A centralised repository that stores detailed information about IT hardware, software, and their interdependencies.
• DR (Disaster Recovery): A set of policies, tools, and procedures designed to restore critical IT systems and data following a catastrophic failure or cyber incident.
• 80/20 Preference Point System: A South African public procurement evaluation model allocating 80 points for competitive pricing and 20 points for socio-economic transformation goals (e.g., black ownership, women ownership, youth, disability inclusion, and EME/QSE status).
• POPIA (Protection of Personal Information Act): South Africa's primary data privacy legislation governing the lawful collection, processing, storage, and sharing of personal information.