The Kiambu procurement boss on Tuesday said he noted gaps in the irregular award of a Sh588 million road tender.
Justus Bundi, the supply chain management director, however, added that it was not a requirement he lodge any complaint upon realising that a company facing graft charges won the tender.
He told the Anti-Corruption Court that his mandate was only to give a professional opinion, which was entirely disregarded by then-Roads and Public Works chief officer Lucas Wahinya.
The tender was issued on February 12 and awarded to Testimony Enterprise, owned by Charles Chege and Beth Wangeci Mburu after quoting Sh588 million.
After the award, the company allegedly gave former Governor Ferdinand Waititu a kickback of Sh25.6 million. Waititu, his wife Susan Wangari, Wahinya and directors of Testimony are currently in court facing economic crime charges.
In his professional opinion, Bundi took issue with the contract after the tender evaluation committee introduced new criteria for bidders to qualify. He said serialisation of tender documents and forms changed the outcome of the bid. The form captures the sum total of the bid, the name and contact of the bidder.
But during cross-examination, it came out that under the Public Procurement Act, serialisation of documents is compulsory. The tender must be serialised in accordance with Section 74 (5) of the Act.
Bundi told senior principal magistrate Thomas Nzyoki that serialisation was not part of the set criteria for evaluation under the bid document.
He also said the tender evaluation committee did not capture all the requirements as set in the blank tender documents.
“Wahinya indicated that the issues I raised were minor. But I insist they were not. A tender is responsive if it conforms to all the eligibility and other mandatory requirements in the tender documents which was not the case in this matter,” he said.
The tender in question was for the upgrading of gravel roads in Thika, Limuru, Gatundu North, Juja and Ruiru in 2017-18.
Other bidders included Njuca Consolidated Company Limited, Sharwins Ltd, Dickways Construction Company Ltd and Wel-Athi Holdings (K) Ltd.
The hearing continues on Wednesday.
