The ruling by the board reads in part “From The Foregoing, It was proper for the Evaluation Committee to recommend the award of the subject tender to Britam General Insurance Company (K) Limited for submitting the lowest evaluated tender sum/price. “Further the applicant’s request for review dated 11th April 2023 be and is hereby dismissed for lacking in merit” Given the foregoing, we find that the Respondents acted fairly and were not in breach of Clause 37.5(i) of the Tender Document and did not breach Article 227(1) of the Constitution
By The Weekly Vision
Jubilee Health Insurance Ltd has suffered a devastating blow after the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board dismissed an appeal against Kenya Wildlife Service in a multi-million tender row. The Insurance Company had applied for a review against KWS and its acting Director General Dr Erastus Kanga concerning Tender No. KWS/ONT/HRA/038/2022-2023 for Provision of Comprehensive Group Medical Insurance Cover (Board and Staff) (Policies for the Year-2023/2024, 2024/2025).
KWS had invited interested firms to send their tenders. The invitation was by way of an advertisement in MyGov Newspaper on 21st February 2023. According to tender opening minutes, eight tenders were opened in the presence of tenderers’ representatives present. The eight firms were GA Insurance Ltd, APA Insurance Ltd, Jubilee Health Insurance Ltd, AAR Insurance Kenya Ltd, First Assurance Company Ltd, CIC General Insurance Ltd, Old Mutual General Insurance Ltd and Britam General Insurance Company (K) Ltd.
At the end of the evaluation, two tenders were determined nonresponsive six tenders including Jubilee were determined responsive. The six tenders that were determined responsive proceeded to evaluation at the Technical Evaluation and the Financial Evaluation stages. Britam General Insurance Ltd tender was ranked number one and was determined to have the lowest evaluated cost of Ksh 505,000,005 Million. The Evaluation Committee recommended the award of the subject tender to Britam General Insurance Ltd the Interested Party as the lowest responsive evaluated tenderer.
The Deputy Director-Supply Chain Management, Mr. George M. Wambua, reviewed how the subject procurement process was undertaken including the evaluation of tenders and concurred with the recommendations of the Evaluation Committee concerning the award of the subject tender to the Britam General Insurance Ltd.
The KWS Acting Director General Dr Erustus Kanga, approved the award of the subject tender to Britam General Insurance Ltd on 28th March 2023 by signing, dating and writing by hand the word ‘Approved’ in the comments section reserved for the Director General’s decision.
The notification to tenderers of the outcome of the evaluation of the subject tender was sent out vide letters of Notification of Intention to Award dated 28th March 2023. However on 11th April 2023, Jubilee Health Insurance Limited filed a Request for Review No.22 of 2023 together with a Supporting Affidavit sworn on 11th April 2023 by Beth Njeri Jomo, who is Jubilee’s Chief Executive Office/Principal Officer.
Jubilee claimed that Britam General Insurance Ltd through the support of KWS officials fraudulently amended and/or modified the tender sum from Kshs.500, 000,005.00 million to Kshs.505, 000,005 million. However, Britam in a quick rejoinder denied that its tender sum was changed and alleged that Jubilee’s representatives were not attentive during the opening of tenders.
Records from Tender Committee revealed that Britam General Insurance Company (K) Limited quoted Ksh. 505,000,005.00 million Jubilee Health Insurance Ltd Ksh. 505,100,203.00 million, Apa Insurance Ltd Ksh.539, 016,160.00 million, Ga Insurance Ltd Ksh. 594,948,513.00 million, CIC General Insurance Limited Ksh. 601,831,155.00 and Old Mutual General Insurance Ltd quoted Ksh. 719,892,123.00 million.
The ruling by the board reads in part “From The Foregoing, It was proper for the Evaluation Committee to recommend the award of the subject tender to Britam General Insurance Company (K) Limited for submitting the lowest evaluated tender sum/price. “Further the applicant’s request for review dated 11th April 2023 be and is hereby dismissed for lacking in merit” Given the foregoing, we find that the Respondents acted fairly and were not in breach of Clause 37.5(i) of the Tender Document and did not breach Article 227(1) of the Constitution.
