Procurement Accelerator Pilot Software Solution

Rand Water, a South African bulk water utility, is seeking a service provider to deliver a six-month pilot of a Procurement Accelerator: an AI-enabled, agentic-ready digital solution that automates and tracks the sourcing value chain. The pilot targets two use cases. The primary use case is the Request for Quotation (RFQ) process, from approved requisition through supplier selection, RFQ issue, evaluation, approval and award, to handover for purchase-order creation in SAP. The secondary use case is one Request for Bid (RFB) or tender process run in parallel, including bid committee stages. The core challenges the pilot addresses are long RFQ cycle times, manual rework between end users, Supply Chain Management and Finance, limited real-time visibility, audit-trail weaknesses, recurring Auditor-General findings, and late detection of bid splitting and procurement deviations.

The solution must provide configurable workflows, end-to-end status tracking, automated reminders and escalations, and timestamps for cycle-time measurement. It must also run automated checks against SCM policy thresholds, the Delegation of Authority, Central Supplier Database status, tax compliance and National Treasury restricted-supplier lists, and include a consolidated supplier view. Finance controls cover budget validation, real-time purchase-order and payment visibility, and SAP reconciliations. The solution must integrate with the current SAP ERP through standard interfaces without modifying the SAP core, be compatible with the future SAP S/4HANA direction, and be deployed in Rand Water's Microsoft Azure environment using South African regions where possible. Security requirements include zero-trust principles, Microsoft Entra ID single sign-on with multi-factor authentication, role-based access control, and encryption in transit and at rest. AI requirements include full disclosure of models, hosting and configuration, traceable outputs, a human approving any action with financial, contractual or compliance consequences, measured metadata-extraction accuracy, and no use of Rand Water data for model training without written consent. Bidders must also deliver an integration and architecture roadmap, a scale-up business case with life-cycle costing, training and knowledge transfer, and a data return and deletion certificate.

Bidders are evaluated on previous related experience in procurement or sourcing automation for public-sector or state-owned clients, Human Resource capacity (project manager, solution architect and SAP integration specialist, AI and data specialist, cybersecurity specialist, and procurement or change management lead), technical solution and AI governance, and methodology and programme. A minimum score of 70 percent is required for further evaluation. The pilot is not a commitment to further procurement, and full rollout will be subject to a separate process. The RFQ form references 10420935 while the annexures reference 10419119, so bidders should confirm the correct reference with the buyer before submitting.