Tender award was biased, court told

By KURIAN MUSA

Nairobi, Kenya: A Kenyan firm, which lost a tender to construct a Sh5 billion National Assembly office block, has told the court the review board that awarded the tender was biased.

Before a three-judge Bench of justices Weldon Korir, Roselyne Korir and Rose Ougo, Milicons Ltd seeks to reverse the tender awarded to a Chinese firm by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC).

High Court Judge George Odunga in June upheld the award of the contract to China Jiangxi and dismissed a case challenging the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board’s decision to award the tender to the Chinese firm.

Parliament plans to build a 26 storey office block to house the expanded 418-member Legislature adjacent to Parliament Buildings on a one-acre plot between Continental House and County Hall.

The construction of the block was temporarily halted, pending the hearing of a suit challenging the tender award. In the interest of justice, Justice Hatari Waweru directed China Jiangxi and the PSC to put on hold the construction.

On Tuesday, the counsel for Milicons Ltd, submitted to the three- judge Bench that other bidders received notification of regrets through registered mail while the winner was called by phone.

Milicons Ltd says that in a joint tender bid with Indian firm Svec Construction to the PSC, its’ application for review of the award was rejected by the Public Procurement and Review Board.

Petu Developers Ltd, filed a suit two months ago seekingto block the award of the tender to China Jiangxi, but later withdrew the case before it was heard. The protracted court dispute over the tender award started in December last year, when the PSC tender committee ended the procurement process on grounds it was ‘unresponsive’ after the lowest bidder was disqualified.

The company told the court the review board overstepped its jurisdiction by purporting to set standards under Article 93 of the Procurement Act.