Regulatory Data Hub and Market Surveillance Platform

The energy regulator is seeking a service provider to develop, implement, maintain and support a regulatory data hub for digital market monitoring and surveillance of the South African Wholesale Electricity Market (SAWEM). The solution must consolidate market data from multiple sources, including the trading platform, market and system operators, settlement and prudential systems, metering systems, balancing engines, network constraint and outage systems, transparency publication platforms, participant reporting channels and manual uploads. It must support transformation and loading into standardised formats and maintain a central market database that is continuously updated, complete and accurate. The core datasets include trading, operational, network and access, settlement, participant registration and audit data.

The platform must provide a surveillance dashboard similar to a SCADA-type monitoring system, offering real-time and historical visibility of market activity. Required capabilities include rules-based and anomaly detection, correlation analysis to identify potential misconduct, and alert scoring to prioritise high-risk events. Enforcement tools must support structured, auditable case workflows, event replay for investigations and evidence bundle compilation. Governance reporting must include board-level dashboards with key performance and risk indicators, trend analysis and drill-down into underlying data. The solution must integrate with other organisational applications and meet stringent security requirements, including two-factor authentication, encryption, full audit logging, data-in-transit protection, and compliance with POPIA, PAIA and the regulator's cloud computing guidelines. The guidelines require South African data residency unless specific exceptions are approved, and they set out contract, risk assessment and business case requirements for cloud services.

The commitment period is 60 months from signing a memorandum of agreement after successful negotiation. This is a multi-phase process. Stage 1 is a presentation or demonstration of an existing solution, and bidders must score at least 60% on a checklist of ten service requirements to be invited. A minimum of 65 points is required on the presentation to proceed. Stage 2 is a request for proposals, and Stage 3 covers pricing and specific goals under an 80/20 preference point system. Pricing must be submitted in South African Rand, inclusive of VAT, in a sealed envelope. The pack also requires CSD registration, a valid SARS tax compliance status, a B-BBEE certificate or sworn affidavit, and a possible security clearance through the State Security Agency. The value of the contract is not disclosed in the documents. Successful delivery offers a long-term opportunity to support the modernisation of electricity market oversight in South Africa.