• One firm terminated six months to end of 2015 after it was found to have permitted radioactive-contaminated and over-age vehicles.
• Kebs boss Njiraini expected to lead a team of officers from the agency to answer to the queries in Parliament.
Image: FILE
Imported used cars is a huge business in Kenya so their inspection and quality should be first-rate.
However, the Kenya Bureau of Standards engaged companies with questionable credentials to inspect used motor vehicles, mobile equipment and spare part imports.
A special audit report has revealed that the firms were engaged by the agency between 2012 and 2015, raising concerns on the quality of the imports they permitted.
More than 240,000 vehicles were imported over the three years.
JEVIC, Quality Inspection Services Inc Japan (QISJ) and Auto Terminal Japan (ATJ) inspected cars for import at the time.
Apart from QISJ, the audit flagged the operations of JEVIC and ATJ, even as it called out others that bid using fake documents in a recent tender.
JEVIC’s contract was terminated six months to the end of 2015 after it was found to have permitted radioactive-contaminated and over-age vehicles.
The firm was blacklisted.
Vehicles are supposed to be less than eight years from the year of registration, have right-hand drive and be roadworthy by set standards. Modified ones are rejected.
ATJ faces questions on the authenticity of the documents it has been using in bidding; some of its declarations were found to be false.
The special audit of the entire Kebs Pre-Export Verification of Conformity tender process followed fears there were irregularities in the tender for the period to 2021.
Three firms — QISJ, ATJ, and EAA Company Ltd, all Japanese — were assessed for compliance with the tender requirements.
As the report flagging the irregularities, MPs have stopped Kebs from procuring additional pre-export vehicle inspectors.
The standards agency wants to contract more companies for the job currently undertaken by QISJ.
QISJ was awarded the tender in January 2018 but Kebs says more players would assure speedy clearance of imported cars.
It floated a tender in December last year; a move that MPs at the Public Investments Committee say would open floodgates for non-compliant firms.
The fear in the committee chaired by Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir is that firms flagged in a special audit are already bidding for the tender.
The auditor in the July report tabled in Parliament recently has equally cast doubt on whether Kebs can achieve conformity to standards under a multiple-contract region.
Nassir told the Star they have information that the agency’s lawyers had instructed the management against the plan.
The MP said the move is to avert costs that may arise should a contract be terminated on the grounds spelt out n the audit.
“We are yet to clear the companies whose operational flaws were flagged in the audit. What if we bar them after Kebs contracts them in the current tender?”
The lawmaker said there would be a crisis should the implicated companies get awarded the contract and that the move would also distort Kebs' current arrangement with QISJ.
“We cannot proceed with the procurement until the agency’s audit queries are resolved,” the second-term lawmaker said.
Kebs boss Bernard Njiraini is expected to lead a team of officers from the agency to answer to the queries in Parliament on Thursday.
In the last appearance, he complied with the request for suspension of tendering saying they would reach out to the current contractor.
ATJ was found to have provided false information on the confidential business questionnaire and has been recommended for prosecution over the offence.
A visit to one of the inspection centres it listed revealed that there was no activity; the place was dilapidated and with no staff presence.
“While this had been noted to be an owned inspection centre, the facility did not exhibit the state-of-the-art testing equipment as alleged in the proposal,” the report reads.
The firm was also flagged over wrong information on lease agreements with firms helping it with the inspection as well as details of monthly inspections.
ATJ was also found to lack presence in the UAE and United Kingdom – despite declaring so in its technical proposal.
Firms are required to have a presence in the two countries as well as Japan, Thailand and South Africa.
“It further had gross misrepresentation on its technical proposal; and should, therefore, be subjected to proceedings of the law,” the report reads.
“In such events, we recommend that it would be appropriate for relevant institutions to initiate debarment proceedings against such bidders.”
The company was also found to have failed to disclose instances of conflict of interest despite purporting to have done so.
EAA was also found to have been knowingly providing falsified documents in the past. It has never been awarded any PVOC contract.
The authenticity and veracity of the documents attached in its technical proposal are in question, a serious red flag on its credibility.
The auditors found, however, that QISJ had demonstrated capacity to deliver on the current contract as it has delivered in the past ones.
Apart from the three years when it was in a multiple-contract with JEVIC and ATJ, the firm has been the sole inspection contractor since 2015.
It has a contract running to 2021 which Kebs wants it to share with other players in the next cycle of three years.
The agency floated an international tender in December last year and has received bids from firms which deposit a bid security of Sh20 million.
Edited by R.Wamochie