Public Procurement Administrative Review upholds tender awarded by KEMSA

Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) CEO Jonah Manjari before Senate. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) has dismissed an appeal by Tunasco Insaat Anonim Sirketi (Tunasco) seeking to nullify a tender awarded by Kenya Medical Supply Authority (KEMSA) to China Railway No.10 Engineering Group.

“The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) has dismissed an appeal filed by Tunasco against an award by KEMSA for the tender for Supply Installation and Commissioning of Racking System and Associated works on grounds that the appeal lacked merit,” read a statement by KEMSA.

Tunasco cited breaching of sections of the procurement act in evaluating the company’s application and even argued that an additional item, Addendum No. 1 dated April 30, 2020, 15 days after advertisement of the tender, omitted the requirement for manuals and materials certificates from the tender document and the criteria for evaluation.

However, KEMSA confirmed that the Addendum No.1 only removed manuals and material certificates from the mandatory preliminary examination requirements.

“All bidders were required to include comprehensive manuals and materials certificates in response to the specifications and bills of quantities contained in the tender document,” read the statement by KEMSA.

“The Applicant breached Clause 3.1 and Clause 2.17 of Section Il. Instructions to tenderers of the tender document since the manuals and materials certificates provided by the applicant were not in the English language and had no reference to the prescribed standards,” contended KEMSA faulting the applicant for not meeting all set requirements.

PPARB has emphasized the need for bidders must to comply with all technical specifications provided in the tender documents, failure to which bidders would end up facing consequences.

“It is the Board's considered view that the product proposed by a bidder must meet the technical specifications of the tender document and this was a critical requirement to the effect that a bidder's failure to meet the same would render such a bid non-responsive and the same would not be evaluated further,” read the ruling in part the ruling by PPARB.

KEMSA, Chief Executive Officer Dr Jonah Manjari has expressed his commitment in following the law and procurement rules while upholding the highest ethical standards of accountability and transparency in health services.

The ruling by PPARB is a sigh of relief and sanitizer for KEMSA which has faced sharp criticism for weeks over claims of unprofessionalism and bias in offering tenders.

“In fulfilling our mandate, it is important to uphold fair play and this means that we encourage healthy competition in our processes,” said Mr. Manjari.