The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority has cautioned firms against bidding for state tenders until they ascertain a budgetary allocation for the same.
PPRA board chairman Andrew Musangi said many firms have been rendered bankrupt due to delayed payments by the National and county governments.
“Do not proceed with procurement until you are sure of budget allocations,” he said.
County governments and state entities had pending bills to the tune of Sh130 billion in the last financial year
“It is very clear by now, that corruption in the form of inflated tender prices, poor quality goods, the supply of non-existent goods and services and unnecessary contract variations has a direct effect on the overall performance of Kenya’s economy,” Musangi said.
The procurement regulator said it received 488 complaints during the first four months of the 2018/19 fiscal year, 355 of which had already been resolved.
Of these cases, 40 per cent were on flaws in tender evaluation and development of specifications, 21 per cent were on delayed payments, 15 per cent on alleged corrupt practices during procurement proceedings and nine per cent on alleged irregularities during the procurement process.
“A lot of procuring entities are not practicing transparency in their processes,” Musangi said. “ The more open they are, the easier it becomes to detect irregularities."
He added that the continued fleecing of taxpayer funds by the state was the reason for the country's current tough economic environment marred with mass job losses and investors, both local and international shutting down operations in the country.
"One day, we will completely close this business called our economy," he said.
