- Complainant accuses EPZA of awarding the tender to the highest bidder and operating in an opaque manner to dodge accountability.
- Complainant had the lowest bid of Sh17.8 billion for the total development cost. The competitor had quoted Sh24.8 billion.
Image: REUTERS
Tender wars have rocked a multibillion-shilling housing estate that the Export Processing Zone Authority was planning to put up in Athi River.
EPZA had floated the tender for the development of the housing estate in its expansive land in Athi River, to be undertaken through joint venture partnership.
However, one bidding consortium is accusing EPZA of openly violating procurement law, awarding the tender to the highest bidder and operating in an opaque manner to dodge accountability.
The tender was awarded to Edermann Property Limited, a firm facing graft charges over the construction of the Lake Basin Development Authority Mall.
Costa Valley Homes Consortium has filed a complaint with the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board seeking for, among others, nullification of the tender.
“The tender was not conducted in an open, transparent and accountable manner, failed to adhere to the principle of maximisation of value for money, and the promotion of citizen contractors,”Costa Valley Homes Consortium protested to the review board.
Before filing for the review a week ago, the consortium wrote a strongly worded letter to EPZA acting CEO John Akara, claiming its procurement processes was a mockery of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s anti-corruption efforts.
“As a matter of public policy and genuine public discourse, Kenyans are having a rigorous corruption discourse. At the forefront of is H.E President Uhuru Kenyatta,” Hassan Omar, chairman of Costa Valley Homes, said.
“It’s in the public domain to which you need to take judicial notice that Ms. Edermann Limited both as a corporate and its directors are facing corruption related charges.”
In papers filed before the review board, Costa Valley Homes complains that it had the lowest bid of Sh17.8 billion for the total development cost. Its competitor, it said, had quoted Sh24.8 billion.
In its request for proposal, EPZA said investor-developers will be tasked with master planning, providing building models and technologies as well as pledge funding for the project.
The project was aimed at enhancing productivity within EPZ-based factories by making it easy for investors to set up faster and launch their investments.
In its request for review papers, the losing firm accused EPZA of conducting the evaluation in a clandestine, irregular and unfair manner.
According to Costa Valley Homes, trouble started soon after EPZA advertised the international tender on November 5, 2019.
It complained that even after the advertisement, the bid documents were not available for two weeks.
However, despite causing the delay, EPZA blatantly refused to extend the tender deadline.
During the opening of the financial bids, Costa Valley Homes again claims EPZA tender committee officials refused to disclose technical evaluation scores of the bidding firms.
“EPZA’s delay in making available the request for proposal and its denial of any extension of the submission deadline seriously prejudiced the applicant, its bidding consortium and its bid, in that the delay occasioned by EPZA reduced the amount of time available to the applicant for preparation and submission of its bid,” Costa Valley Homes complained.