The requirement was two-fold – a need to communicate with the citizens in need of the service, as well as the need to communicate with potential construction tender agents for each project.

With part of the CIDB’s mandate being the promotion of improved public sector procurement, the CIDB’s i-Tender/RoP online hub was created to smooth the progress of the end-to end tender management process.

The i-Tender/RoP hub provides for the two-stage registration of government construction projects – as well facilitating the most efficient matching of these projects with qualified contractors. Critical to the matching process is the way in which tender information is relayed.

The CIDB still needed a stable and accurate channel which would cut out most of the lengthy admin paperwork and quicken the entire process dramatically. Communication had to be quick and inexpensive, through a medium that is highly pervasive. Whilst e-mail was the primary option, many contractors do not have readily available resources to communicate in this way, and their mobile phone is in fact their main communication device.

Clickatell would prove to be invaluable in overcoming these challenges.

The Solution

To leverage the most pervasive communication channel available in South Africa – that of mobile phones and their more than 23 million users across the country. Therefore the CIDB required an effective mobile messaging solution as part of its overall i-Tender/RoP system which could ensure its stakeholders received the appropriate information on time, every time. The key to the project was providing the communication link to i-Tender/RoP that the information would be conveyed to the relevant parties.

Clickatell was to manage the entire communication chain through its SMS gateway.

The Results

Apart from being incredibly cost saving, messages are delivered instantly and accurately every time. The CIDB is now able to both communicate vital messages to its citizens – such as registration dates for elections, locations for child vaccinations or notification of a successful social grant registration.

Contractors have benefited by being proactively informed of new tenders thus saving them the time and costs usually spent in searching for new, relevant tenders.

• Immediacy: All tender information is transmitted and received in a matter of seconds, cutting out any lags in the tender matching process.
• Accuracy: The solution guarantees the accurate delivery of every message, every time, so the CIDB has peace of mind the contractor is never left out of the loop.
• Simplicity: The simplicity of SMS ensures that contractors can view the tender information in a readily understood manner.
• Affordability: Overall communication costs are minimised through the relative affordability of SMS.
• Manageability: By using the Clickatell SMS gateway, the CIDB is provided with a fully-integrated solution that is ready to plug-in-and-play within minutes.