ALAN PEAT WITH BIG rand signs in its eyes, SA Revenue Service (Sars) reckons it can make huge savings in the acquisition of the large fleet of container X-ray scanners for its proposed container cargo scanning initiative (CCSI), and has decided to go it alone – much to the annoyance of the three final bidders. It has not awarded the tender for outsourcing the acquisition and control of the scanners, but decided to purchase the container scanners it requires directly, and handle the operational control internally – which it calculates will save the SA fiscus a billion rand over the next 11 years. But that has raised a question in the freight industry. Given that Sars customs keeps complaining about staff shortages – even for routine inspection duties – is it capable of cost-effectively managing and operating these costly and rather high-tech gadgets? The three bidders on the short list (Bonisa Scanning, Safika-Smith and Thibela Scanning) also couldn’t have been too happy. Warren Thompson, an MD in the Super Group – part of the Bonisa grouping – told the media that bidding for the R1.5-billion Sars tender had cost the consortium an irretrievable R10-million.
