Another massive L for the state pension fund just dropped after a judge tossed their desperate attempt to recover millions. The High Court rejected a bid by the National Social Security Authority to void a hefty software contract worth over ten million dollars with Twenty-Third Century Systems because Justice Jacob Manzunzu ruled they filed the paperwork in the wrong building. He insisted that disputes involving government tender irregularities belong strictly in the Administrative Court rather than his jurisdiction.
This whole mess started back in 2013 when the pension authority needed fresh digital tools to manage databases for contributors. They skipped a public search and handpicked this local firm through a private selection process instead. Two contracts got signed quickly, and the state agency wired roughly ten million bucks for SAP licenses and hardware installation over the next few years.
Relationships soured by 2017 when the authority claimed the system never actually worked properly. The vendor clapped back, alleging the agency was using nearly five hundred licenses while only paying for two hundred. They slapped the pension fund with huge invoices for maintenance fees and penalties that ballooned to over seven million dollars.
Management tried a wild legal pivot in 2020 by arguing that their own original hiring process was illegal to avoid paying the extra bills. They wanted the entire deal declared void to force a full refund of every cent paid since the beginning. Lawyers for the software firm argued that complaints about procurement rules must go through specific administrative channels.
Justice Manzunzu agreed that bypassing specialized courts to fix procedural screw-ups is not allowed under the Procurement Act. He noted that the entire case rested on how the tender was handled originally. The ruling forces the pension authority to take their grievances elsewhere if they still want to fight about how they spent the cash.
This whole mess started back in 2013 when the pension authority needed fresh digital tools to manage databases for contributors. They skipped a public search and handpicked this local firm through a private selection process instead. Two contracts got signed quickly, and the state agency wired roughly ten million bucks for SAP licenses and hardware installation over the next few years.
Relationships soured by 2017 when the authority claimed the system never actually worked properly. The vendor clapped back, alleging the agency was using nearly five hundred licenses while only paying for two hundred. They slapped the pension fund with huge invoices for maintenance fees and penalties that ballooned to over seven million dollars.
Management tried a wild legal pivot in 2020 by arguing that their own original hiring process was illegal to avoid paying the extra bills. They wanted the entire deal declared void to force a full refund of every cent paid since the beginning. Lawyers for the software firm argued that complaints about procurement rules must go through specific administrative channels.
Justice Manzunzu agreed that bypassing specialized courts to fix procedural screw-ups is not allowed under the Procurement Act. He noted that the entire case rested on how the tender was handled originally. The ruling forces the pension authority to take their grievances elsewhere if they still want to fight about how they spent the cash.
