Objectives

The primary objective of this tender is to appoint a suitably qualified service provider to assist the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) with Credit Management Specialist Services for a period of three (3) years. The goal is to enhance credit vetting, credit management, monitoring, and legal recovery processes to improve the ARC’s credit risk management and debt recovery capabilities.

Scope

The scope of work includes:

• Conducting comprehensive customer vetting and credit assessments using multiple credit bureaus.
• Providing dedicated credit management expertise, including guidance on policies and risk mitigation.
• Ongoing debtor monitoring and early warning alerts for negative payment behavior.
• Analyzing customer risk and recommending credit limits.
• Offering debtor insurance solutions and advice.
• Providing access to credit management tools and systems such as risk scoring, dashboards, and client portals.
• Monthly management reporting on debtors, risk exposure, and recovery performance.
• Handling legal recovery processes, including business rescue, liquidation, and sequestration.
• Conducting pre-legal collections and negotiations for overdue accounts.

Technical Requirements

The technical requirements specify that the service provider must:

• Provide credit vetting tools, risk scoring, and automated credit checks.
• Deliver detailed credit reports, audit trails, and compliance outputs.
• Offer dashboards and client portal access for real-time debtor monitoring.
• Implement continuous debtor monitoring with early warning alerts.
• Manage legal recovery processes in accordance with applicable legislation.
• Provide monthly management reports covering debtor aging, high-risk customers, credit exposure, and recovery status.
• Ensure compliance with confidentiality, data protection, and privacy laws, including POPIA.
• Guarantee timely delivery of credit reports and consumer credit checks (within 4 and 1 working days respectively).

Skills Requirements

The tender specifies that the service provider must demonstrate:

• Experience in similar credit management projects, supported by at least five (5) reference letters detailing company name, contact information, project scope, and duration.
• Qualified key personnel, including:
• Account Manager with at least NQF Level 6 in Finance or Credit Management, and relevant experience (minimum 7 years for higher qualification levels).
• Technical or managerial staff with NQF Level 6 or 7 in Finance or Credit Management, and extensive experience in credit management roles.
• Provision of CVs with qualifications and experience of key staff members.
• A detailed project plan demonstrating methodology, timelines, milestones, resource allocation, risk management, and value-added services.