Queries over airport buses tender

The Director General of Public Procurement and Oversight Authority Maurice Juma. The documents used by the Kenya Airports Authority in the tendering for apron buses had many grey areas, the public procurement oversight authority has said. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In a detailed presentation to the National Assembly’s Transport committee, Mr Juma said the documents used by the agency were not adequate to enable competitive bidding.
  • Mr Juma said the shortcomings included failure by the airport authority to state the specifications of the buses needed for the transfer of passengers at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
  • The oversight agency was also unable to ascertain whether the addition of Ms Lucy Mbugua and Mr John Thumbi to the committee that negotiated the contract with Relief and Mission Logistics was done by the accounting officer.

The documents used by the Kenya Airports Authority in the tendering for apron buses had many grey areas, the public procurement oversight authority has said.

As a result, there could not have been a competitive bid, the head of the Public Procurement Oversight Authority, Mr Maurice Juma, said.

The official said that since there was a contract between the airports agency and Relief and Mission Logistics, there was nothing the authority could do about it.

In a detailed presentation to the National Assembly’s Transport committee, Mr Juma said the documents used by the agency were not adequate to enable competitive bidding.

Six companies had bought the tender documents, but only Pewin Cabs Ltd and Relief and Mission Logistics submitted their bids.

“From the outset, the documents had some deficiencies, which may have led to only two companies bidding,” said Mr Juma.

He said Pewin Cabs’s documents were not submitted with the required Sh1 million security and the CVs of key personnel.

“These were mandatory requirements. In addition, the manufacturer’s authorisation submitted by Pewin Cabs Ltd was not in the format indicated in the tender document,” he added.

Mr Juma said the shortcomings included failure by the airport authority to state the specifications of the buses needed for the transfer of passengers at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

“The specifications were descriptive in nature and did not conform to the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, which require the specifications to be clear, correct and provide a complete description of what is being procured,” said Mr Juma.

The documents did not also state what distance the buses would cover, to guide the costing.

The oversight agency was also unable to ascertain whether the addition of Ms Lucy Mbugua and Mr John Thumbi to the committee that negotiated the contract with Relief and Mission Logistics was done by the accounting officer. The two officials have since been relieved of their duties.