PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION

Thusong Service Centres Connectivity SITA’s State of Readiness

19 June 2013

TABLE OF CONTENT

Purpose

Critical Success Factors

Progress on Current Project

Project Budget

Challenges

Recommendations

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PURPOSE OF THE THUSONG SERVICE CENTRES

The Thusong Service Centre is a one stop service centre to deliver essential

and integrated government services to the citizens of South Africa, primarily in

the rural communities

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CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR THE THUSONG SERVICE CENTRES

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SUCCESS FACTOR RESPONSIBILITY

Ownership, business model and organisational structure

DPSA

Facility readiness (access, building, power, water)

DPSA

Trained THUSONG resources DPSA/Participating Government Departments

Government User requirements specification and government orders

DPSA/Participating Government Departments

Due diligence SITA/DPSA

Network connectivity and Technical infrastructure

SITA

Operational and maintenance cost

DPSA government order

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• The Thusong Virtual Private Network Project commenced in 2008.

• The original scope of the Thusong VPN project was to provide connectivity for 140 Thusong sites in nine provinces.

• After a due diligence exercise and an assessment to determine the site readiness, only 123 sites were ready for installation.

• 17 sites were excluded due to building and service (power/water) issues and building renovations.

• 27 sites in Gauteng are placed on hold.

• To date a total number of 91 of the 96 sites allocated to SITA has been completed at 8 provinces (excluding Gauteng).

•

PROGRESS ON CURRENT PROJECT

PROJECT BUDGET

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE: Once off payment

Description Invoiced Amount Paid by DPSA

Total amount Invoiced to DPSA for the installation of WAN & LAN Infrastructure at Thusong Centres from 03-03-2009 to 31‑03-2011.

R 35 478 805.95 R 34 937 418.96

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CHALLENGES IN THE THUSONG SERVICE CENTRE CONNECTIVITY PROJECT

Outstanding operational costs

No Signed Service Level agreements

No instruction for the continuation of connectivity services

Generally low level of communication from Thusong Centers regarding technical

problems (training)

Proper user requirements and resources

Access to buildings

Reporting structure

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RECOMMENDATIONS

The following factors play a significant role on the implementation of the Thusong Service

Centre connectivity and therefore the following are recommended:

Pricing

• Reduction of connectivity costs and tariffs for government Project Sponsorship/ Championship

• Revised governance and program ownership is required Completeness of buildings

• Ensure building readiness before connectivity of TSCs to avoid delayed the commissioning of the sites

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STATE OF READINESS cont.

SITA’s capacity to deliver timeously• The underpinning contracts that enable the tasking of supporting service providers to

complete the work speedily are in place or almost concluded

E-government initiative• SITA is rolling out smart-forms (electronic/ e-forms) that will enable citizens to apply for

services online• Citizens without access to internet services can then access those forms through the

TSCs• To date 37 forms for services have been completed including those for the Departments:

• Labour (25),

• Transporting (1)

• Human Settlements (8)

• Basic Education (3)

• SITA is only awaiting the completion of back office processes by respective Departments

to activate the forms online

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Thank you