By The Weekly Vision
The National Treasury procurement officers have been caught in the mix after the Public Procurement Review Board nullified a multi-million shillings tender they had fraudulently awarded to Isuzu East Africa Ltd.
The National Treasury had advertised a tender for the motor vehicle leasing programme Tender No TNT/017/2022-23 where on the 8th of March 2023, 8 motor dealership firms had applied. The firms were Simba Corporation Ltd, TransAfrica Motor Ltd, Urysia Ltd, CFAO Motors Ltd, Mobius Motors Ltd, Ecta Kenya Ltd, Isuzu East Africa Ltd and DT Dobie & Co Kenya Ltd.
An evaluation was done by the tender evaluation committee which found 7 firms as responsive having attained a pass mark of 75%. On 14th April 2023, The Head of Supply Chain at the treasury Mr. Calleb Ogot reviewed how the process was undertaken and concurred with the tender committee’s report.
On 27th April, the financial proposals were opened and the evaluation committee recommended that Isuzu East Africa be awarded the tender for lot 2B instead of Simba Corporation Ltd. On 24th May 2023, the National Treasury wrote to the tenderers informing them of their intention to award the tenders. On 13th June 2023, Simba Corporation Ltd filed a request for review of the said tender. The board in a ruling dated 4th July 2023 nullified the tender and ordered that the process start afresh under strict procurement laws.
The board also declared that the letter of notification to award the tender to Isuzu East Africa was nullified and set aside and the evaluation committee directed to readmit Simba Corporation Ltd at the financial evaluation stage for fresh evaluation and to conduct a re-evaluation of tenders transparently and to proceed with the tender process to its logical conclusion within 14 days from the date of ruling (4th July 2023).
