How to read a border technology contract

Start with the parties

Find out who bought the system and who signs for it. These can be different bodies. In South Africa the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) ran the ABIS tender for the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) ¹. Bids were accredited in 2016 and the award was made in July 2017 ¹.

Check how a company describes its own role, and label it a company statement. Thales says it is prime contractor and systems integrator for the Ghana Immigration Service e-Immigration project, and that it provides training and maintenance ⁵.

Check which partners an official record names, and keep press reports separate. Reports on Ghana's December 2024 e-gates named state bodies, among them the Ghana Immigration Service, the Ghana Aviation Authority and Ghana Airports Company Limited ⁶. Graphic Online reported that the system is fully owned and managed by the Ghana Immigration Service ⁷.

Read the scope and the term

The scope says what the supplier must deliver. The ABIS scope covered design, supply, customisation, integration, data migration, commissioning, maintenance and support for five years ¹. DHA told Parliament in June 2020 that ABIS would add iris recognition and enable e-gates at airports ².

Thales lists its Ghana scope as biometric capture of foreign nationals, fixed and mobile border management, digital visa and permit processing, an online portal, data centre upgrades, a central AFIS and eGates ⁵. Its page carries no date, so it does not show when the work happened ⁵.

Compare every figure with its date

Values change across records. The 2021 committee record gives the ABIS contract as R409.89 million, with over R283.43 million paid up to 26 February 2020 ¹. Business Day reported in May 2023 that the EOH Mthombo contract was worth R477m and the IDEMIA contract R65m, of which R14m had been paid ⁴. Show both figures with their dates.

Some records give no value at all. The reports on Ghana's e-gates did not state a cost ^6,7.

Look for cession, extension and scope changes

• Cession: DHA said in June 2020 that EOH needed DHA consent to cede the ABIS contract to a subcontractor ². Treasury approved the cession to IDEMIA on 11 February 2021 ¹.
• Scope increase: in August 2020 the committee chair said EOH wanted to hand the work to a subcontractor seeking a R100 million scope increase ³.
• Extension: DHA extended its VFS South Africa visa services contract in 2020 to allow time for a public-private partnership to appoint a replacement ². Members raised the lack of a competitive bid ².

Check penalties, disputes and the legal basis

Ministers told Parliament in August 2020 that penalties for non-delivery are built into government contracts ³. Business Day reported in May 2023 that DHA levied penalties on IDEMIA and withheld payment, and that IDEMIA disputed the penalty amount, which went to dispute resolution ⁴.

Check the law or notice that a system rests on. The Kenya Embassy in Washington D.C. cites Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 1 of 2 January 2024 as the basis for Kenya's eTA ⁸.

Look for audit and forensic findings

The Auditor-General flagged the ABIS award as irregular, as recorded in June 2020 ². A forensic report by Nexia SAB&T found the whole contract irregular and said all payments should be reported as irregular expenditure ¹. DHA asked National Treasury on 12 April 2021 to condone the irregular expenditure ¹. The audit findings page has the detail.