This archive report was first published on 13 July 2020.
Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (Kemsa) has scored a major victory after the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) dismissed an appeal by Tunasco Insaat Anonim Sirketi (Tunasco) against a tender awarded to China Railway No.10 Engineering Group.
According to a statement by Kemsa, the PPARB dismissed the appeal on grounds that it lacked merit. The appeal was filed by Tunasco against an award by Kemsa for the tender for Supply Installation and Commissioning of Racking System and Associated works.
Tunasco had cited breaching of sections of the procurement act in evaluating the company’s application and argued that an additional item, Addendum No. 1 dated April 30, 2020, omitted the requirement for manuals and materials certificates from the tender document and the criteria for evaluation.
However, Kemsa confirmed that the Addendum No.1 only removed manuals and material certificates from the mandatory preliminary examination requirements. The agency stated that all bidders were required to include comprehensive manuals and materials certificates in response to the specifications and bills of quantities contained in the tender document.
PPARB has emphasized the need for bidders to comply with all technical specifications provided in the tender documents, failure to which bidders would end up facing consequences.
Kemsa CEO Dr. Jonah Manjari has welcomed the ruling, stating that it is a sigh of relief and a testament to the agency’s commitment to upholding the law and procurement rules while maintaining the highest ethical standards of accountability and transparency in health services.
