Foreign Companies Battle for IEBC's Ksh40 Billion Election Tenders

Two international companies are locked up in a vicious court battle for multi-billion tenders by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

According to reports, the court wars may derail planning ahead of the August 9, 2021, general election if not resolved in time.

The two companies are eyeing a Ksh40 billion tender that is set to facilitate plans for the general elections.

However, while appearing in court, one of the companies accused IEBC of subverting provisions of the Public Procurement Act.

The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board’s on Thursday, October 28, 2021, halted a Ksh2.7 billion tender for printing of ballot papers that had been awarded to a Greek firm, Inform Lykos (Hellas) SA. 

This comes days after the High Court had overturned the board’s cancellation of a lucrative tender for the purchase of ICT tools.

The Greek firm won the tender on October 14, fending off competition from Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing LLC, a company based in Dubai which had the 2017 deal.

One of the interested bidders, Shailesh Patel, trading as Africa Infrastructure Development Company filed a complaint prompting the board to cancel the tender. 

Patel alleged that the contract had been won unfairly and awarded unlawfully.

The multi-billion deal was set to run for three years involving the supply of ballot papers, registration of voters, statutory election result declaration forms to be used in polling stations and election and referendum result declaration forms.

“IEBC contravened Article 227(1) of the Constitution by commencing and conducting the procurement proceedings in a manner that is unfair, inequitable and uncompetitive by providing that no joint ventures would be allowed, which would otherwise have enabled bidders to augment their capacity and qualification,” the aggrieved company argued in its application.

The company petitioned that the court annul and set aside IEBC’s verdict. They also asked the tribunal to cancel the procurement process and order a new one.

It argued that IEBC disclosed why other bidders were unsuccessful which subverts procurement laws that call for privacy. The company said the information was not supposed to be given to third parties.

It further accused IEBC of failing to protect and uphold the confidentiality of the procurement process by disclosing information on the bids to third parties.