•Company supplied ARVs for adults to Kemsa last year
• Contract awarded to different company after attachment of wrong certificate
Image: FILE
A pharmaceutical company is in court over a tender to supply of ARV medicines.
Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited says the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority floated a tender to supply the medicine opened on January 30.
The company has supplied ARVs for adults to Kemsa for last year, a contract which was up for renewal.
Through lawyer Wilfred Nyamu, Emcure says when they renewed the contract they were declared unsuccessful as their retention certificate expired on December 31 last year.
The matter proceeded to the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board.
On April 9, the board awarded the tender to a different company, Mylan Laboratories limited. It directed Kemsa to proceed with procurement.
According to the court documents, Emcure says when it submitted its bidding documents, it erroneously and inadvertently attached the retention certificate for 2018 instead of this year's.
"But the procuring entity had the means to establish from the Pharmacy Board the company’s retention status for 2019, in view of the erroneous submission of a certificate for last year,” the documents read.
Emcure wants the court to suspend the award of the tender. It says the boards' decision is illegal and lacks logic.
The documents indicate that the government has a grant from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria under a new funding model for the year 2018-2019.
It intends to use part of the proceeds to fund payments under the contract to supply ARVs to adults.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)