Kebs office tender to be floated afresh

A fresh tender for a multi-billion-shilling office and laboratory block for the standards watchdog in Mombasa has been ordered.

Industrialisation principal secretary Wilson Songa told the Nation that the previous Sh1.3 billion tender was steeped in controversy and lacked transparency.

The PS further revealed that experts had also queried the safety of a piece of land identified at Miritini where the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) office was to be constructed.

“A lot of issues came up. As of now, we have decided to cancel the tender.

Everything will start afresh after the recruitment of the new managing director,” Dr Songa said, adding: “Experts raised geological questions over the piece of land previously identified and we are looking into that.” His ministry would look at all the questions, the PS said.

Two weeks ago, the Kebs board advertised for the position of MD, effectively sealing the fate of Ms Eve Oduor, who was suspended in August.

Dr Songa said previous warnings by the ministry to Ms Oduor to stop the process after flaws were detected were ignored before she was sent home.

An award letter

“Procurement of this magnitude must be above board. We are hoping to get back into the process and doing things correctly to ensure the project is revived,” the PS said.

Ms Oduor was sacked when preliminary investigations by the ministry revealed flaws in the process after the MD issued an award letter to Epco Builders.
Questions were also raised on the variation of prices, making the project about Sh300 million more expensive.

Nine companies had placed their bids for construction of the modernised laboratories.