Tip-Off Anonymous Whistleblowing Hotline Services

The Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP SETA), a public entity established under the Skills Development Act, is seeking an accredited service provider to operate an independent, anonymous tip-off and whistleblowing service. The service will let internal and external stakeholders report fraud, corruption, unethical conduct and other irregularities safely and confidentially. The SETA requires that whistleblower anonymity be guaranteed at all times, that reported cases be investigated thoroughly, and that accurate reports be delivered to the Audit Committee Chairperson.

The core requirements are a 24/7 live-answering hotline, a unique toll-free number, a unique email address and a fax address for reporting. The provider must support all South African official languages, allocate a dedicated Project Manager to liaise with the SETA, and handle cases of any nature. Providers must be registered with and accredited by the Ethics Institute of South Africa (Ethics SA), hold ISO certification, and provide accreditation certificates as proof. They must also have extensive experience in similar services and a strong client reference base across the private and public sectors. Reporting is required on a biweekly basis, with the ability to generate reports from the system. The provider must also support the SETA's broader ethics programme and fraud prevention plans. Subcontracting is not permitted.

Bids are evaluated in stages. Stage 1 covers administrative compliance, including the mandatory SBD forms, a sworn affidavit or B-BBEE certificate, and a tax compliance PIN, and Stage 2 assesses mandatory requirements and functionality. Functionality scoring covers company experience in fraud hotline services, the number of years of experience and reference letters, the experience of the Project Manager and Account Manager, and a site inspection worth 50 points that tests multilingual capability, call centre staffing levels, business continuity and ICT recovery planning, and online reporting. Only bids meeting the minimum functionality threshold proceed to Stage 3, where price and specific goals are evaluated on an 80/20 preference point system. The contract is expected to run for three years and three months under a Service Level Agreement, and the SETA may apply penalties for non-performance.

For the successful provider, the contract offers a sustained, multi-year relationship with a public entity and a chance to strengthen governance credentials in the public sector. The work demands high standards of confidentiality, data security, and ethical conduct, and it rewards providers with proven accreditation, reliable infrastructure, and multilingual call handling capacity. Bidders should review the full Terms of Reference, Annexure A and the pricing schedule before submitting, and must send all documents by email to the designated address in three separate folders, as late or incomplete submissions will not be accepted.