| Work Detail |
Delay fears as Sh2.5b IEBC tender halted By Geoffrey Mosoku
Updated Sun, May 14th 2017 at 00:00 GMT +3
A start of the process to search for a suitable firm to supply the electoral agency with 120 million ballot papers for the August 8 polls is now facing fresh hurdles. The Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) is staring at a crisis over the Sh2.5 billion ballot paper supply deal it was directed to halt. The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) ordered the commission to suspend the process, following a complaint by one of the participating firms. Evaluation team “You are hereby notified that on May 9, a request for review was filed at the PPARB. Under section 168 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2015, no contract shall be signed between the procuring entity and the tenderer awarded the contract unless the appeal has been finalised,” PPARB secretary HK Kirungu wrote to IEBC. The electoral agency had appointed a five-member evaluation team, which was expected to complete its work this weekend but it had to suspend its sittings when Rosecate Promotions and Suppliers launched its complaint. ALSO READ: IEBC should leave no room for foul play at August poll “We are running out of time. Any delays in procurement will jeopardise our plans for preparing early. We are very concerned by the latest developments,” said IEBC Chief Executive Officer Ezra Chiloba, indicating the commission’s frustrations. With just 85 days to the polls, there are now fears that the tender will suffer the same fate as the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (KIEMS), which was constantly referred to the PPARB, compelling the IEBC to resort to single sourcing. The IEBC has up to May 31 to pick the contractor so that the about 120 million ballot papers can be delivered by July. There are fears that some vendors are working with insiders and now are resorting to use the review board to sabotage the process so that specific firms may benefit in the event of single sourcing, but the IEBC says it has done its work diligently. Running out of time “The fact remains that we are running out of time. We have done our best to follow due process and to ensure we deliver within time. We however cannot always control the process, especially if there are people out there who feel aggrieved by our decisions. In the end, the issue will be what course of action is feasible in protecting the interest of the public,” Chiloba said. The latest row is almost similar to the KIEMS deal in which French firm, Safran Morpho, benefited from the Sh3.8 billion tender, following a protracted battle for the lucrative contract. ALSO READ: IEBC’s new plan to block dead voters and fraud The commission argued that it had picked Safran as it had a framework for maintenance of the system and thus it was easy to work with. Equally, Al Ghurair has been supplying IEBC with ballot papers for elections and there are claims that in case the ongoing process fails, the commission might use the same argument as KIEMS to award the tender to the Duabi firm. Other than Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing and Rosecate, other firms competing for the deal are India’s GI Solutions, Kenya’s Ellams Products Limited, UK’s Tall Security Printing, South Africa’s Uniprint, Eabaltijas of Lativia and Kenya’s Africa Infrastructure and Development Company. A total of 13 firms expressed their interest, but by last week, only the eight had returned their bid documents. Al Ghuarair now has to fight to clear perceptions that it had influenced the earlier process, with the claims having been made at the PPARB last year before they lost the deal at the High Court. The matter was dismissed by the PPARB and ended up in the High Court where Al Ghurair lost the tender in November last year following a ruling by Justice George Odunga. |
