IEBC ‘favoured’ firm for tender

What you need to know:

  • Members of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee accused the IEBC legal affairs director who chaired the first tender committee, Ms Praxedes Tororei, of favouring South African firm Face Technologies despite it being ranked third in the financial evaluation.
  • However, Ms Tororei defended the committee, saying it made a unanimous decision to award the tender to the firm following due diligence and had not breached any procurement rule.
  • Ms Tororei also accused Mr Oswago, who has since been sacked from the commission, of discussing in the media some of the decisions made by the tender committee.

The electoral commission may have favoured one of the firms that bid for the tender to supply biometric voter registration equipment for use in the 2013 General Election, a parliamentary committee heard yesterday.

Members of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee accused the IEBC legal affairs director who chaired the first tender committee, Ms Praxedes Tororei, of favouring South African firm Face Technologies despite it being ranked third in the financial evaluation.

The firm had also quoted a bid above the commission’s budget by Sh800 million.

However, Ms Tororei defended the committee, saying it made a unanimous decision to award the tender to the firm following due diligence and had not breached any procurement rule.

“Procurement rules allow a tender committee to award a tender to a bidder quoting above budget if the firm agrees that the price quoted is open to negotiations,” she said.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Ms Tororei said the commission was running out of time to procure the equipment, which was to be used in registering voters.

However, delays in the procurement denied it adequate time to test the kits and train election clerks on their usage, leading to failure on the election day, she said.

Suna East MP Junet Mohammed said her explanation was unconvincing, arguing that procurement rules allow a firm to quote not more than 10 per cent of the initial budget.

He also disagreed with Ms Tororei’s views that former IEBC chief executive officer James Oswago should not have cancelled the tender but gone ahead to negotiate with Face Technologies for a lower bid.

Suba MP John Mbadi wondered why Face Technologies was awarded the tender after it emerged third in the financial evaluation, which means 4G Technologies of India, which emerged second, was overlooked.

“The tender committee went ahead to use the results of the technical evaluation and the financial re-evaluation, which the committee had ordered conducted,” said Mr Mbadi, asking why the team asked for an exercise which it did not consider in its final decision.

Ms Tororei also accused Mr Oswago, who has since been sacked from the commission, of discussing in the media some of the decisions made by the tender committee.

She said that in addition to Mr Oswago reportedly appointing some members to both the tender and evaluation committees in breach of procurement procedures, he allowed outsiders who had not been formally appointed to sit in the tender team.

The IEBC official refuted claims that she resigned after she was denied a trip to India by Mr Oswago to conduct a due diligence on one of the bidders, saying she knew of the trip only a day it took place.