2016-12-08 Version 1.0

Request for Quotation

For the

DFQEAS Online Application & Administration Systems Upgrade

Closing Date: 19 December 2016

Enquiries: cbaxter@saqa.co.za

by 14:00

2016-12-08 Version 1.0

Table of Contents

1 Background .................................................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Business overview ................................................................................................................................. 1

1.2 Project definition statement ................................................................................................................... 1

2 Context ........................................................................................................................................................... 2

2.1 The process ........................................................................................................................................... 2

2.1.1 Verification Process Flow .................................................................................................................. 4

2.2 Entities ................................................................................................................................................... 4

2.3 Transactions & statuses ........................................................................................................................ 5

2.4 Financial information ............................................................................................................................. 6

2.5 Reporting ............................................................................................................................................... 6

2.5.1 Operational reporting......................................................................................................................... 6

2.5.2 Ad hoc reporting ................................................................................................................................ 6

3 Requirement Specification ............................................................................................................................. 7

3.1 Online Application System............................................................................................................ 7

3.1.1 Appeals module ...................................................................................................................... 7

3.1.2 Corrections module ................................................................................................................ 7

3.1.3 Online Verification of SAQA Certificates of Evaluation Payment module ............. 7

3.2 DFDEAS Administration System ................................................................................................ 8

3.2.1 Integration with the Online Application System ............................................................. 8

3.2.2 Verification module ................................................................................................................. 8

3.2.3 Managing tariff increases ..................................................................................................... 8

3.2.4 Other changes to the Administration System ................................................................ 9

3.3 Functional testing ............................................................................................................................ 9

3.4 Data migration and consistency............................................................................................................. 9

3.5 Statistics .............................................................................................................................................. 10

3.6. Conditions ................................................................................................................................................ 12

4. Technical Evaluation .................................................................................................................................... 13

1

1 Background 1.1 Business overview

SAQA provides a foreign qualification evaluation and advisory service in accordance with Section 13(1)(m) of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Act.

The evaluation of foreign qualifications as a service is located within the directorate Foreign Qualification Evaluation and Advisory Services (DFQEAS). The service is provided on a non-profit, cost recovery basis without sponsorship from Government. The cost to offer the service is relayed to its clients.

DFQEAS follows a two-phased evaluation process to:

1. Verify foreign qualifications to ensure the following:

• that the issuing bodies are accredited/recognised in the national systems within which they operate; and that qualifications are legitimately issued by those issuing bodies and form a part of the national qualifications system of that country; and

• That qualifications documents are authentic and the awards claimed are genuine. 2. Compare foreign qualifications with South African qualifications by considering the structure and outcomes of

the foreign qualifications, and location within the South African NQF.

Upon completion of the Comparison phase, a SAQA Certificate of Evaluation reflecting the recognition decision is issued.

Applications for evaluation must first be lodged by applicants online and thereafter paper applications packs must be submitted to SAQA physically. To be accepted into the evaluation process, paper application packs must meet all the requirements stated in application material. Failing to meet requirements cause for non-compliant applications to be declined, and for monies paid to SAQA to be refunded with retention of an administrative fee. Applicants must then re-submit application packs and pay from scratch.

SAQA upholds the principle of administrative justice by allowing for evaluation outcomes (or recognision decisions) to be appealed. The appeal process constitues two stages: the first stageprovides for petitioning against the recognition decision and the second stage affords appellants the opportunity to challenge the stage one outcome.

1.2 Project definition statement

SAQA developed and provisioned three integrated web-based applications in Java (version 1.8) and based on Struts 2 framework, namely:

2

• DFQEAS Online Application System,

• DFQEAS Administration Application (i.e. workflow application), and

• Online Verification of SAQA Certificates of Evaluation (SCoE) (The Online Verification of SAQA Certificates of Evaluation is an application developed in PHP 5.6.)

These systems are enhanced, upgraded, and maintained periodically based on change and enhancement requests from the business user community in the Executive Office, Directorate Finance and Administration and DFQEAS in particular.

Currently these systems enable the following functionalities, amongst others:

• Online application by clients;

• Receiving physical applications;

• Registering and activating and tracking applications;

• Comparing foreign qualifications to South African ones;

• Correspondence/communication management;

• Online payment via the PayGate system; and

• Online verification of SAQA Certificates of Evaluation.

2 Context 2.1 The process

The process diagram below shows a typical activity flow for an application for the evaluation of a foreign qualification.

3

Figure 1: Qualification Process

As shown in the process above, an application for qualification verification can have several statuses as it progresses, namely:

• Submitted – this is an inactive application that has been entered on the Online Application System by the applicant against which no further action has been taken (no paper pack was submitted). Payment may have been made by the applicant, or not.

• Received – this is an application where receipt of the paper pack has been acknowledged.

• Captured – uniquely numbered (barcode number) application for which both an electronic and a paper file have been created.

• Active – application that has been assigned to an official for further processing (i.e. for either verification or comparison)

• Seeking verification – application for which at least three verification steps have been completed, including a request for the award to be confirmed.

• Completed – evaluation has been successfully completed and the outcome communicated to the applicant.

• Declined – rejected applications are due to insufficient funds for qualification paid, failing the compliance screening or negative result from the verification process.

4

• Refunded – client reimbursed for a reason stipulated in the Refund and Cancellation guidelines, with or without the retention of an administrative fee determined by SAQA.

2.1.1 Verification Process Flow

The diagram below depicts the finer detail of the foreign qualification verification process.

Figure 2: Verification process

• Check documents – here documents are checked for completeness and consistency. • Check institution – the issuing institution status in the home systems and authority to award qualification

is ascertained. • Check qualification – status of the award on the home systems in ascertained. • Check award – the qualification is checked against records on home system.

2.2 Entities

The diagram below shows key system and business entities that underpin the functioning of the Online System and the Administration System.

5

Figure 3: Key Entities

To clarify the entities in diagram above:

• Applicant – this is an individual, an agent or an intermediary that registers as the user on the OnlineSystem (i.e. the person who makes the application on his/her own or someone else’s behalf).

• Qualification holder – this is the individual whose qualifications are being evaluated. There are caseswhere the applicant and the qualification holder are the same.

• Evaluation (of foreign qualifications) - the process followed by SAQA to verify the authenticity of foreignqualifications and to compare foreign qualifications with South African qualifications registered on theNQF.

• Appeal – the formal petitioning, by an appellant, either to the FQ Appeal Panel against a recognitiondecision; or to the FQ Appeal Committee, against an appeal decision taken by the FQ Appeal Panel inStage 1 of the appeal process.

• Correction – the amendment of an error on the SCoE that is needed either as a result of the client’s orSAQA’s oversight.

• Payment – this is money paid to SAQA for a service rendered.

• Refund – this is a reimbursement made to an applicant or qualification holder for a reason stipulated inthe Refund and Cancellation guidelines, with or without the retention of an administrative feedetermined by SAQA.

2.3 Transactions & statuses

As the application goes through the process of receipt, screening (decline and refund), registration, verification and comparison, (appeal and correction), system transaction records are created against the application. Status changes must always be preserved.

6

Proper linkages between data entities including applicants, qualification holders (and associated biographic details), SAQA ID numbers, issuing bodies, qualifications, templates and their application to cases, serial numbers, transactions and submission numbers and related financial entries (i.e. payments and refunds) are maintained across all the systems. The relationship between these data entities ensures proper operational and management information reporting.

2.4 Financial information

As explained above, all transactions related to various services must have all associated financial information preserved.

2.5 Reporting 2.5.1 Operational reporting

These are standard, fixed system reports that support real-time and daily SAQA operations related to evaluation, appeals, corrections and other processes with special attention to dates.

2.5.2 Ad hoc reporting

These are reports or statistics that are managed through the larger enterprise MIS function. The Online and Administration systems provide the source data to the data warehousing and business intelligence (BI) tools that enable the enterprise MIS function.

7

3 Requirement Specification

There are three areas that must be considered, namely, the Online Application, the Administration Application and the databases that support both. All the components need some upgrades and/or additional functionality. All application development must be done on a Java 1.8 platform using Struts 2 as a MVC framework. The databases must remain in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2.

Development and testing must be done in development environment and not on the production servers.

3.1 Online Application System 3.1.1 Appeals module

The service provider must perform acceptance testing against the Appeals Module of the

frontend Online Application system and update the module where short-comings were

identified.

3.1.2 Corrections module

The service provider must perform acceptance testing against the Corrections Module of the

frontend Online Application system and update the module where short-comings were

identified.

3.1.3 Online Verification of SAQA Certificates of Evaluation Payment module

The Online Verification of SAQA Certificates of Evaluation Application (hereafter called the

Online Verification Application) is an application developed in PHP version 5.6 and not

included in the Administration System. The Online Verification can be accessed directly from

the SAQA website.

The service provider must develop and include a module in the Online Application that will

allow clients to register and pay for the service, that is, to access the Online Verification

Application.

The service provider must ensure that the information captured on the Online Application

and the payments made against the request to access the Online Verification Application, is

reflected and reported on in the Administration System.

8

3.2 DFDEAS Administration System 3.2.1 Integration with the Online Application System

For all the Appeal, Correction module and other developments mentioned above

(paragraphs 3.1.1, 3.1.2 and 3.1.3), the service provider must ensure effective integration

between the frontend Online Application System and the DFQEAS Administration System.

To this effect the Service Provider must ensure that:

a) The Appeals information captured on the Online Application is accessible in the

Administration Application and that certain comments and status flags may be added;

b) The Corrections information captured on the Online Application is accessible in the

Administration Application and that certain comments and status flags may be added;

and

c) The requests for Online Verification of Certificates of Evaluation are viewable in the

Administration Application.

3.2.2 Verification module

Verification comprises the following key actions:

• Verify status of the institution that issued the qualification (i.e. issuing body)

• Verify status of the qualification

• Verify the award – information sourced externally and progress tracked through the

Verification Database shared with the Verifications Project – should be some link

from this database back to the DFQEAS Administration System

• Verify authenticity of the documentation

The service provider must ensure that the above items are adequately catered for within the

Administration Application by allowing the status changes to be captured and date-stamped.

A status change trail including who changed the status must be kept and must be reportable.

3.2.3 Managing tariff increases

The service provider must ensure adequate alignment of tariff increases between the Online

Application System and the DFQEAS Administration System. For this purpose, the current

Administration Cost/Tariff functionality must be updated to handle all tariff requirements

including these on the Online Application. Tariff changes must be automated across the two

applications.

9

3.2.4 Other changes to the Administration System

The service provider must effect all new developments against the Administration

Application, namely:

• Implementation of the screening module including non-compliance administration,

manage user acceptance testing by the client and making corrections to the code

where required;

• The trigger in the computer system that would inform an official of the date a clientreceived his/her certificate from SAQA;

• Adding an alert to inform the administrator of the current status of an institution.

3.3 Functional testing

For all system developments, changes and enhancements, the service provider must:

• Implement all enhancements as required;

• Perform all the unit testing on the development applications in the development

(DEV) environment;

• Perform all the user acceptance testing (UAT) on both applications;

• Obtain business user sign-off on both applications;

• Ensure training support to the officials in SAQA that are managing the two

applications;

• Ensure that the system runs adequately in the LIVE environment.

3.4 Data migration and consistency

Due to all the enhancements on the Online Application and DFQEAS Administration

Applications, there have been changes to the database tables in the DEV environments.

The service provider must ensure proper reconciliation between the current version of the

LIVE database and the latest version of DEV database for both systems.

To this end, the service provider is expected to:

• Review the ETL process and scripting with the SAQA IT functionaries and update

where necessary;

• Use the agreed to ETL scripting code to execute data migration and transformation

between the DEV and LIVE databases;

10

• Perform unit tests on the result of migration between the DEV and LIVE databases;

• Perform user tests on the result of migration with the business users;

• Obtain business user sign-off; and

• Deploy into production the latest LIVE database and ensure accuracy and

functionality.

3.5 Statistics

The diagram below shows anecdotal, sample statistical information that needs to be tracked

for all transactions across the process.

Figure 4: Process Stats

As per the diagram above, the service provider must make provision for the support of the

above sample statistical information.

To this end, the service provider must create a repository that will enable the statistical MIS

reporting that will underpin the reporting as shown above. The following must be effected:

• Automated snapshots of relevant statistics must be made on a weekly basis and

stored in the MIS repository;

11

• Create summary tables that will record aggregated data/information on each of the

required outputs as highlighted in the diagram above (i.e. Figure 4)

• Develop ETL procedure and programs to extract statistics from the online and

administration production databases and summary tables;

• Ensure that each ETL process is automated to be executed once a week on the

00:01 of the 1st of every week and entries date-stamped as such;

• Ensure that statistics generated from each ETL process is available weekly, monthly,

quarterly and annually;

• Ensure that the Finance and Administration directorate can generate payment

reconciliation reports on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually basis.

12

3.6. Conditions 3.6.1. Penalties

SAQA is a South African parastatal organization and therefore, this contract is subject to the

South African Government procurement’s General Conditions of Contract (GCC), July

2010, and the penalties stipulated in clause 22 (Penalties) in the GCC shall apply.

Clause 22 (Penalties) in the GCC states: “Subject to GCC Clause 25, if the supplier fails to

deliver any or all of the goods or to perform the services within the period(s) specified in the

contract, the purchaser shall, without prejudice to its other remedies under the contract,

deduct from the contract price, as a penalty, a sum calculated on the delivered price of the

delayed goods or underperformed services using the current prime interest rate calculated

for each day of the delay until actual delivery or performance. The purchaser may also

consider termination of the contract pursuant to GCC Clause 23.”

The reasons for non-compliance must first be discussed between SAQA and the service

provider, and then, should both parties agree to a valid reason, the penalty can be enforced

or waived.

3.6.2. Confidentiality and Intellectual Property

The request for quotation and all information in connection therewith shall be held in strict

confidence by bidders and usage of such information shall be limited to the preparation of

the bid.

All bidders are bound by a confidentiality agreement preventing the unauthorised disclosure

of any information regarding SAQA or of its activities to any other organisation or individual.

The bidders may not disclose any information, documentation or products to other clients

without written approval of SAQA.

Copyright of all documentation relating to this assignment belongs to SAQA. The successful

tenderer may not disclose any information, documentation or products to other clients

without the written approval of SAQA.

SAQA shall own all software source code and database materials produced by the Company

during the course of, or as part of the Services.

13

4. Technical Evaluation

4.1. The following score sheet and criteria will be applied to your proposal.

No

Technical Criteria

Score

Points

Max

1 Solution proposal based on the

implementation of Software Development Lifecycle or similar processes in response to the requirement specifications.

Excellent = 17-25 Acceptable = 9-16 Unacceptable = 0-8

25

2 Provide two or more reference letters from clients where a similar project was recently successfully concluded.

Two = 17-25 One = 9-16 None or Contactable references but not letters = 0-8

25

3 Project Management Methodology, project plan including activities, time-frames and resource allocation

Excellent = 17-25 Acceptable = 9-16 Unacceptable = 0-8

25

4 Provide CV’s of at least two staff members that will be involved in this project. Only include CV’s that are relevant to this particular project must be included.

Excellent = 17-25 Acceptable = 9-16 Unacceptable = 0-8

25

4.2. Evaluation in terms of the 80/20 Preference Point System

Only bids that achieved the minimum qualifying score of 80 (80%) or more for technical functionality will be evaluated in accordance with the 80/20 preferential point system as prescribed in the Preferential Procurement Framework Act 5 of 2000

Preference points for this quotation shall be awarded for: (a) Price; and (b) B-BBEE Status Level of Contribution. The maximum points for this quotation are allocated as follows: POINTS: PRICE 80 B-BBEE STATUS LEVEL OF CONTRIBUTION 20

14

Total points for Price and B-BBEE 100

THE 80/20 PREFERENCE POINT SYSTEMS

A maximum of 80 points is allocated for price on the following basis:

80/20

Where

Ps = Points scored for comparative price of bid under consideration

Pt = Comparative price of bid under consideration

Pmin = Comparative price of lowest acceptable bid

Points awarded for B-BBEE Status Level of Contribution

In terms of Regulation 5 (2) and 6 (2) of the Preferential Procurement Regulations,

preference points must be awarded to a bidder for attaining the B-BBEE status level of

contribution in accordance with the table below:

B-BBEE Status Level ofContributor

Number of points (80/20 system)

1 20 2 18 3 16 4 12 5 8 6 6 7 4 8 2

Non-compliant contributor

0

Bidders who qualify as EMEs in terms of the B-BBEE Act must submit a certificate

issued by an Accounting Officer as contemplated in the CCA or a Verification Agency

accredited by SANAS or a Registered Auditor. Registered auditors do not need to

meet the prerequisite for IRBA’s approval for the purpose of conducting verification

and issuing EMEs with B-BBEE Status Level Certificates.

Bidders other than EMEs must submit their original and valid B-BBEE status level

verification certificate or a certified copy thereof, substantiating their B-BBEE rating

15

issued by a Registered Auditor approved by IRBA or a Verification Agency accredited

by SANAS.

A trust, consortium or joint venture, will qualify for points for their B-BBEE status level

as a legal entity, provided that the entity submits their B-BBEE status level

certificate.

A trust, consortium or joint venture will qualify for points for their B-BBEE status level

as an unincorporated entity, provided that the entity submits their consolidated B-

BBEE scorecard as if they were a group structure and that such a consolidated B-

BBEE scorecard is prepared for every separate bid.

Tertiary institutions and public entities will be required to submit their B-BBEE status

level certificates in terms of the specialized scorecard contained in the B-BBEE

Codes of Good Practice.

A person will not be awarded points for B-BBEE status level if it is indicated in the bid

documents that such a bidder intends sub-contracting more than 25% of the value of

the contract to any other enterprise that does not qualify for at least the points that

such a bidder qualifies for, unless the intended sub-contractor is an EME that has the

capability and ability to execute the sub-contract.

--------------------------------------------------000000000000000000---------------------------------------------------------------

SBD 3.3 PRICING SCHEDULE

DFQEAS ONLINE APPLICATION AND ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM UPGRADE

NAME OF BIDDER: ………………………………………………………………………………………………BID NO.: N/A

CLOSING TIME 14:00 CLOSING DATE: 19 DECEMBER 2016

OFFER TO BE VALID FOR 90 DAYS FROM THE CLOSING DATE OF BID.

ITEM DESCRIPTION BID PRICE IN RSA CURRENCY NO **(ALL APPLICABLE TAXES INCLUDED)

1.

A clear indication of what the total cost will be for the project. VAT at 14% must be included as a separate item. The rate per hour that will be charged for the resources that will be involved in the project must be included. Travelling and any other incidental cost must be included in the rate per hour.

2. NB: PLEASE REFER TO THE TERMS OF REFERENCE

Please ensure that a firm price is quoted inclusiveof all the quotation requirements

Bidders are required to indicate a ceiling price based on the total estimated time for completion of all phases and including all expenses inclusive of all applicable taxes for the project. R………..…………………………………………………...

3. PHASES ACCORDING TO WHICH THE PROJECT WILL BECOMPLETED, COST PER PHASE AND PERSON-DAYS TO BESPENT

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- R------------------------------ -------------------------- days ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- R------------------------------ -------------------------- days ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- R------------------------------ -------------------------- days ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- R------------------------------ -------------------------- days

4. Period required for commencement with project afteracceptance of bid ……………………………………………………………….

5. Estimated person-days for completion of project ……………………………………………………………….

6. Are the rates quoted firm for the full period of contract? *YES/NO

7. If not firm for the full period, provide details of the basis on whichadjustments will be applied for, for example consumer price index. ……………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………….

*[DELETE IF NOT APPLICABLE]

Bid No.: ……………………………………

Name of Bidder: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

-2-

NOTICE:

The Response must be printed, signed and submitted to SAQA, 1069 Arcadia Street, Hatfield, Pretoria by the due date and no later than 14:00 on 19 December 2016.

Enquiries may be directed to C.B. Baxter via email: cbaxter@saqa.co.za

or Meriam Bomokoane at mbomokoane@saqa.co.za