Public Procurement board rule Kenya Power Sh8.7billion tender award to Rubis Plc void
The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) has nullified Kenya Power’s award of Sh8.7billion tender for the supply of fuel to Rubis Energy Kenya Plc.
This is after Galana Oil failed to submit its tender response documents which the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) claims it was due to a fault in the system.
Kenya Power was unable to explain the technical failure of the electronic procurement system dubbed the “KPLC SAP tendering portal”.
“No explanation has been offered as to why Galana Oil Kenya was able to access the KPLC’s e-procurement system on November 22 but was unable to access the same on November 23 between 9.42 am and 9.59 am. This in our view was unfair to Galana,” ruled the Procurement tribunal.
The board discovered that Kenya Power used an electronic procurement system that locked out Galana Oil Kenya Ltd a few minutes before the deadline for submission of the tender documents.
According to the judgement, the deadline for submission of the tender documents was November 23, 2022, at 10.00am.
PPARB said Kenya Power was obligated to ensure that its e-procurement system was open and accessible to all prospective tenderers before the tender submission deadline.
The contract would have seen Rubis supply at least 53 million litres of diesel to 30 off-grid power stations in northern Kenya for two years.
Other companies interested in the contract and submitted their tender documents in the e-procurement system are East African Gasoil Limited, Oryx Energies Kenya Ltd, Nyumba Itu Energy and Hass Energy.
The low Sulphur diesel was to be delivered at KPLC off-power stations in Mandera, Marsabit, Habaswein, Merti, Baragoi, Wajir, Lodwar, Maikona, Khorodile, Eldas, Lokiriama, Moyale, Kakuma, Kotulo, Elwak and Lokichoggio.
Other power stations are Kamoliban, Takaba, Rhamu, Banissa, Mfangano Daadab, Laisamis, Kiunga, Hulugho, Lokori, North Horr, Lokitaung, Faza Island and Sololo.
