The High Court has suspended the execution of the Sh22 Billion Kenya Power tender for the supply of meters.
Milimani Judge John Chigiti certified the matter filed by businessman Benedict Kabugi Ndungu as urgent and directed the documents be served upon parties within 7 days.
Kabugi filed the case in court after a complaint he had lodged before the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) against the Kenya Power and Lightning Company (KPLC) went unanswered.
He told Justice Chigiti that the procurement proceedings and the award decision are tainted with illegality as KPLC failed to publish the tender advertisement on (Public Procurement Information Portal) which is a requirement under the law.
The tender for the supply of meters (local manufacturers only) was advertised in February this year. 18 bidders showed interest but only four were awarded the tender.
On May 2, KPLC issued a notification to award the tender to four companies for the supply of meters (Local manufacturers assembler only) within 14 days of the notification.
The four are Inhemeter Africa Company Limited, Smart Meters Technology Limited, Yocean Group Limited and Magnate Ventures Limited. They have been listed as interested parties in the case before the court.
Kabugi in asking the court to intervene said the condition of the tender and the eligibility criteria were initially only for local manufacturing firms.
But the criteria according to the court documents were watered down to include local assemblers of meters and not manufacturers.
“KPLC subsequently issued a flurry of irregular addendums and specifically six addenda in total in an attempt to custom make the tender for a few preferred bidders and to deprive the procuring entity of the benefits of free and open competition.”
Kabugi said this changed the substance of the original tender document.
KPLC then carried out an evaluation of the submitted bids and issued a notice of intention to award the tender to the four local assemblers.
“The challenged subject tender has been floated and awarded against the backdrop of multiple other incomplete tender processes undertaken by KPLC for the same items which has therefore exposed the Kenyan taxpayer to wanton wastage and the possibility of deadstock of meters,”
He said KPLCs conduct and award of the tender ought to be reviewed by the court terming the floating of a new tender for the supply of meters as unreasonable because there is an existing contract for undelivered meters.
The case will be mentioned on June 26.
