The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has issued a national request for proposals calling on qualified service providers to design, implement, operate, support, and maintain a modernised wide area network solution across its full estate of 461 offices in all nine provinces.
The procurement, published under Tender No. SASSA:24-25-CS-HO on the National Treasury’s eTenders Portal, represents one of the most substantial public-sector ICT connectivity contracts to come to market in the current fiscal cycle. Submissions close on 23 April 2026.
What SASSA Is Procuring
SASSA currently operates all 461 offices on an existing MPLS VPN network using a mix of last-mile connectivity technologies, including fibre, microwave, APN, LTE, and VSAT. The agency is seeking to transition that infrastructure to a secure, resilient, and modernised network architecture.
The required solution must be built around software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) services and must include co-location hosting centres, covering both a primary and secondary facility; network and internet access security services; connectivity links to strategic partners; and session initiation protocol trunk services.
SASSA has been explicit that it is not seeking to replace its existing APN service. Rather, the selected provider must fully integrate the current APN infrastructure into the new SD-WAN environment.
The procuring agency has defined a rigorous set of minimum technical requirements. The solution must deliver secure, reliable, scalable, and highly available connectivity across all sites; support automated failover and link redundancy; enable centralised management and orchestration; ensure optimal application performance; and support secure access to internal systems, hosting environments, internet services, and strategic partners. Network security architecture must align with current industry best practices.
Contract Duration and Engagement
The contract covers a five-year term. A compulsory briefing was held on 8 April 2026 via Microsoft Teams. Bidders that did not participate in the briefing are not eligible to submit. Proposals must be submitted by 23 April 2026.
The designated contact for queries is Mandla Sibeko at the SASSA head office. Email: luckym@sassa.gov.za. Telephone: 012 400 2634.
Who Can Participate
This is an open tender, but the scope demands providers with demonstrated capability in enterprise-scale SD-WAN deployments, carrier-grade connectivity, co-location infrastructure management, and managed security services. Given the national footprint — 461 sites across nine provinces — only providers with sufficient last-mile diversity, operational reach, and integration experience are realistically positioned to respond competitively.
South African ICT service providers, telecommunications carriers, and systems integrators with established public-sector track records represent the primary participant pool. The five-year tenure and national scale make this a high-value long-term contract, with meaningful potential for subcontracting arrangements that create entry points for smaller, specialised firms.
Why This Matters
SASSA serves as the payment infrastructure for millions of South Africans receiving social grants. Its network underpins grant disbursement, beneficiary verification, inter-agency data exchange, and real-time access to hosting environments. A modernised, software-defined architecture will reduce network downtime risk, enable faster failover across provinces, and support SASSA’s shift toward more integrated and automated grant management systems.
The tender sits within a broader pattern of South African government agencies upgrading legacy MPLS infrastructure to SD-WAN frameworks — a shift that is being accelerated by the need for improved security, cost efficiency, and cloud readiness. For the ICT sector, SASSA’s procurement signals continued public-sector demand for enterprise-grade managed network services at scale.
