Objectives

The primary objective of this tender is to procure a Hosted Office Productivity Suite (DaaS) solution for South African government departments and public entities, enabling efficient, transparent, and modern digital work environments. The solution aims to support digital transformation, hybrid working models, and national priorities such as modernization, cost optimization, cybersecurity, and improved service delivery across government sectors.

Scope

The scope includes the procurement, implementation, and management of an existing Hosted Office Productivity Suite from OEMs, OSMs, or accredited resellers, delivered on a flexible Pay-As-You-Use basis. The solution must:

• Provide a comprehensive productivity suite including email, document creation, collaboration tools, secure file storage, and workflow management.
• Operate under a DaaS model with high availability, disaster recovery, security, and support services.
• Include setup, configuration, testing, user training, ongoing monitoring, maintenance, and documentation.
• Meet specific technical and security requirements, including encryption, multi-factor authentication, and activity audit trails.

Technical Requirements

The solution must demonstrate compliance with detailed technical functional requirements, including but not limited to:

Core Functional Requirements

• Hosted desktop access via DaaS for workstations and mobile devices.
• Full productivity suite: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations.
• Email, calendar, contacts, and real-time collaboration tools.
• Offline editing with automatic synchronization.
• Video conferencing with recording capabilities.
• Fast load times, modern UI, local caching.

Data Protection & Security

• Enterprise encryption (in transit and at rest).
• Backup and recovery solutions for servers, workstations, and mobile devices.
• Threat detection: suspicious login, brute-force prevention.
• Multi-factor authentication, LDAP/Active Directory, Kerberos.
• Audit trails, file access controls, spam filtering.

Product Features & End-User Functionality

• Single data location on-premises at client sites.
• Support for PDF editing, file drop, and application performance.
• Security features: server and end-to-end encryption, suspicious login detection, 2FA.
• Compatibility with LDAP, Active Directory, SharePoint equivalents.

Implementation & Support

• Setup, configuration, migration, security protocols, testing, training, and ongoing support.
• Support via telephone and on-site visits, with defined response times (critical: 4 hours; non-critical: 24 hours).
• Regular reporting, monitoring, and maintenance activities.

Skills and Skills Requirements

• Proven experience in delivering and managing Hosted Office Productivity Suites and DaaS solutions.
• Technical expertise in cloud and on-premises infrastructure, virtualization, and security protocols.
• Capability to implement security measures such as encryption, MFA, and audit logging.
• Experience in configuring, testing, and supporting enterprise productivity tools, including collaboration and communication platforms.
• Ability to provide comprehensive user training and support services.
• Skills in project management, including planning, migration, testing, and documentation.
• Compliance with ISO9001, ISO27001, POPIA, and other relevant standards.
• Security clearance and background screening capabilities for personnel involved in the project.
• Ability to conduct third-party risk assessments and provide substantiating evidence of compliance.

Summary

This tender seeks a qualified supplier capable of delivering a secure, scalable, and fully managed Hosted Office Productivity Suite on a pay-per-use basis, aligned with government standards and security requirements. The successful bidder must demonstrate technical proficiency, experience, and compliance with all functional, security, and contractual obligations to support the digital transformation goals of South African government departments.