The SARS has embarked on a multimillion-rand information and communications technology transformation project as part of its drive to offer a better service to South African taxpayers by improving efficiency and revenue collection, and commitment to black economic empowerment in South Africa.
The organisation has, to this end, awarded a multimillion-rand tender for the maintenance of its desktop facilities around the country to the arivia/Choice/Mthombo-IT consortium. The consortium is made up of arivia.kom, Choice Technologies and Mthombo IT Services.
The SARS has also awarded its SAP tender to CS Holdings to boost the SARS's financial management systems. CS Holdings, in conjunction with black economic empowerment partners, will serve as an implementation partner in the SARS's drive to improve and standardise its financial management systems.
The desktop tender will run for three years and obliges the consortium to give between 30% and 40% of the business to smaller black economic empowerment companies in the first year, as part of the consortium's regional empowerment strategy. This is in line with the SARS's commitment to nationwide black economic empowerment.
The project will see the SARS spending millions of rands over the next two years on the enhancement of its information technology, using black economic empowerment companies to build and improve the SARS's information technology systems.
The transformation project will also see the SARS boosting its efforts to attract more black staff to its information technology section. The organisation also plans to have a staff-to-external contractor ratio of 70:30 in its information technology section, with a fair number of permanent staff members drawn from black communities.
The above announcements are just the first in what the SARS hopes will be a clear display of its commitment to providing a better service to all and to black economic empowerment.
ISSUED BY THE COMMISSIONER FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE
PRETORIA