Government to unveil Maltis preferred bidder

Malawi government is finalising plans to award a contract of upgrading the Malawi Traffic Information System (Maltis) to a successful bidder, two years after the process started.

Road Transport and Safety Services (RTSS) director James Chirwa confirmed in an interview that a company has been identified, but could not disclose its name. But a source close to the deal said government has settled for Fischer Consulting.

According to the source, there was growing fear by companies that placed their bids to upgrade the outdated Maltis that government would settle for Face Technologies, even if this company allegedly did not participate in the process from the start.

But in an interview on Tuesday, Chirwa said: “We have found a company to provide the service and it is not Face Technologies. Face Technologies was invited to see if it could compete with the other companies but that process has been halted.”

He said the new service provider will improve the delivery of services and reduce usage of paper at the RTSS.

The companies that placed their bids to upgrade the old Maltis have been waiting for over two years to know the preferred bidder, apparently due to government red tape.

According to another source, they sent their bids to government two years ago but they were surprised when the whole process was halted midway and were asked to resubmit bids.

Chirwa conceded that there have been delays to upgrade the Maltis and it is affecting service delivery.

“It is true that it has taken almost two years to upgrade the system because we needed a lot of money and the process is also very rigorous. We could have loved to have this approved version by yesterday but we have been assured that everything is under control and the successful company will be announced shortly,” he said.

Chirwa said once implemented, Maltis will reduce the usage of paper in most transactions at RTSS as the organisation will be connected to institutions such as banks, the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) and the Malawi Police.

Recently, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) also hinted that they are working together with the RTSS to improve the Maltis as one way of fighting corruption at the institution due to the nature of its services.