The Public Procurement Review Board (PPRB) has nullified the Kenya Integrated Election Management System (Kiems) kit tender floated by the electoral body.
PPRB ruled that the tender for the supply, delivery, installation, testing, commissioning, support and maintenance Kiems and hardware equipment and accessories was illegally awarded.
The board argued that IEBC has not followed the law as it shops for a new system that will be used to register voters and candidates.
“Constitutional entities must be deliberate in ensuring compliance in order to achieve the intentions of the law to wit, the promotion and development of local industry,” said the board.
The board directed the electoral agency to prepare a fresh tender document within 30 days.
“The procuring entity is hereby directed to prepare a fresh tender document within 30 days from the date of this decision, taking into consideration the provisions of the Constitution of Kenya, the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, the Public Procurement and Disposal and Asset Disposal Regulations, 2020 and the findings of the board in this review,” read the ruling.
The five companies which bid for the tender, which was opened for valuation on June 18, includes Indra Soluciones Tecnologias De La Informacion, Smartmatic International Holding B.V, Genkey Solutions BV, Laxton Group Limited and Africa Infrastructure Development Company.
However, in August, Risk Africa Innovatis Limited filed for a petition claiming that the tender document did not provide for preference margins in favour of local and or citizen contractors as contemplated by the Constitution of Kenya and the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.
The firm also noted that the tender document does not require foreign tenderers participating in the subject tender to source at least 40 per cent of their supplies from citizen contractors prior to submitting the bid.
Risk Africa Innovatis Limited through its shareholder and director Henry Mien prayed that the PPRAB orders cancellation and annulment the Tender Document and all procurement proceedings in respect of the entire Tender No. IEBC/OIT/001/21/2020/2021 dated 14th April, 2021.
The firm also sought to have the board compel IEBC to withdraw and re-advertise the same via a fresh tender document that complies with the law in preference and reservations set out in the Constitution and the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act in explicit terms.
In response, IEBC noted that the applicant was not in breach of or in contravention of the law.
The IEBC in April issued an international tender for a system that would support voter registration, voter identification, results transmission, candidates’ registration and virtually run every aspect of the next elections scheduled for August next year.
The new system was to replace the current one, which was developed in 2012 by French firm Idemia, formerly OT-Morpho, which has been IEBC’s sole supplier since the adoption of information and communication technology to run Kenya’s electoral process.