A Sh900 million civil servants insurance deal is facing obstacles with claims of meddling by external powers delaying it.
The bids were opened 24 days ago but the process of evaluation has yet to be concluded in spite of a January 15 deadline that had been given to the tender evaluation team.
The State, through the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), floated the tender for the 400,000 civil servants, including police and prison officers, for last expense cover. In case of death, a civil servant’s family will be compensated and the burial expenses catered for.
The tender, NHIF/033/2018-2019, was advertised on December 11, 2018.
The deadline was set for January 3 this year for return of bids, with nine insurance firms bidding in consortiums of three.
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During the opening of the tender on January 4, two consortiums returned the same price, raising questions.
The first consortium of Jubilee, Madison and Geminia quoted Sh890,455,966 while UAP, ICEA and Sanlam quoted Sh970,359,691.33. The third consortium of Britam, CIC and Pioneer also quoted Sh970,359,691.33.
On January 8, acting NHIF CEO Nicodemus Odongo appointed a five-member tender processing committee chaired by Joseph Tonui from the training and development department to carry out evaluation and due diligence.
Other members included Sam Kahora (operation), Danson Karanja (actuarial), Patrick Chelule (finance and investment) while Supply Chain Management Officer Wilberforce Wasike was appointed secretary.
The team was given one week to conduct evaluation, prepare a report on the analysis of the tenders received, and final ratings assigned to each tender and submit a report to the Supply Chain Management Division for professional opinion by January 15.
However, two weeks after the deadline, the tender team’s work is said to have stalled over what insiders call interference from some members of the board and the management.
Although the deadline expired, the tender committee has yet to get an extension of time or new directives on the way forward.
Yesterday, the NHIF chairperson, Hannah Muriithi, said the board was not involved in tender matters and instead referred our inquiry to the acting CEO.
But Mr Odongo declined to comment on the allegations of interference, instead insisting that the process was on course.
“Respect the procurement timelines... the bids were opened on January 4 and we are still within the timelines as provided for under the procurement laws. We shall communicate to all the bidders who participated the outcome as soon as the process is through,” he said.
Last year, a similar bid ended up in court when the High Court overturned the public procurement board’s decision that awarded a Sh836 million insurance tender to UAP Life Assurance Limited.
Britam Insurance Limited and Pioneer Assurance Company had submitted a joint bid and won the tender in December 2017.
However, half-way through the contract, the Public Procurement and Review Board cancelled it and awarded it to UAP, arguing that the firm had submitted the lowest bid at Sh797.6 million.
Britam and Pioneer went to court to challenge the board’s decision. Justice John Mativo observed that the board ignored the fact that the contract had already been implemented halfway.
When the board cancelled the tender, NHIF had already paid Sh418 million compensation to the families of police officers and civil servants who had lost their lives.
