Banele Ginidza

The Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) has announced it will seek open tenders for baggage screening services, an opportunity that has not been available for more than two decades.

The R3.15 billion tender is a crucial aspect of Acsa's broader strategy to ensure legislative compliance, improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and maintain the long-term sustainability of the country’s airports.

This decision has drawn heavy criticism from the Aviation Co-ordination Services (ACS), which, until now, has successfully managed baggage screening operations for the past 20 years without undergoing a procurement process.

The ACS is a coalition formed by the Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) and the Board of Airline Representatives of South Africa (BARSA). The open tender announcement marks a pivotal change in the procurement landscape at South Africa's airports.

Following a comprehensive review, Acsa asserted that as the mandated airport authority, it was essential to adhere to the principles outlined in section 217 of the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).

The open tender process aims to ensure a fair and transparent selection of service providers while aligning with the existing economic regulation model applicable to airport tariffs.

Acsa's announcement comes on the heels of a recent legal ruling from the Johannesburg High Court, which granted the company permission to appeal a previous judgment that halted its attempt to procure baggage screening equipment through an open tender process.

This previous judgement had significantly impacted Acsa's efforts to align its business operations with constitutional and statutory demands.

While acknowledging the court's ruling, Acsa said it remained committed to its legislative mandate regarding baggage handling services, presently performed by a private entity.

The court's decision allowing Acsa to appeal is seen as a substantial step toward facilitating necessary reforms in baggage screening operations.

As part of these developments, the court also approved an application by ACS for the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) to permit the replacement of backup equipment at both King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) and O.R. Tambo International Airport. This directive was granted despite Acsa's pending appeal, raising questions about the future operations of both entities.

Acsa is currently reviewing parts of the judgment related to the ACS’s equipment replacement and is deliberating its legal options moving forward.

Amidst this backdrop, the ACS has reported operational challenges, particularly at O.R. Tambo International Airport, citing unforeseen power dips that have put their Explosives Detection Systems (EDS) under strain.

ACS divisional head operations Thapelo Mokwena expressed concerns regarding the availability of spare components, which has led to prolonged downtimes for critical EDS units.

"The availability of spare components is becoming a challenge, resulting in protracted downtimes on some of our key EDS units," Mokwena said.

He said ASC's Hold Baggage Screenings (HBS) operations and the aviation security (AVSEC) team continued to conduct ad hoc visits to monitor on the ground for compliance with procedures and regulations.

Mokwena said incidences of slippage i.e., undesirable goods going through EDS undetected have declined significantly, with few incidents raised from destination stations.

He said there were major disruptions on the 2nd and 3rd January after a protracted power outage at O.R. Tambo International Airport, which impacted all nine sites.

"This disruption was triggered by a build-up of messages on the baggage reconciliation system (BRS) server, wherein the server needed to clear the message queue to restore the system," he said.

"As alluded before, sporadic power outages tend to negatively impact systems when they become protracted. Despite this unfortunate incident, the BRS service has remained resilient during the peak period with little interruption."

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ACSA to open R3. 15bn baggage screening tender after 20 years