Tender row delays building of Kenya's tallest skyscraper

By NANCY AKINYI

The construction of what would be the tallest building in East and Central Africa has been delayed due to a tendering row.

The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board has ordered fresh tendering of the 36-floor Hazina Trade Centre following complaints by a Chinese company.

The project in Nairobi’s CBD is estimated to cost Sh6 billion.

China Jiangxi International (K) Ltd claims the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) erred in awarding Cementers Ltd the tender.

It argued that Cementers Ltd did not qualify to be awarded the said contract. The procurement board through its chairman Mr Mwaniki Gachoka noted that the initial tendering process was flawed.

"Taking into account the foregoing, the board finds that the tender process was flawed and accordingly the appeal succeeds. The board orders that the award to the successful bidder M/S Cementers Limited is hereby annulled. The procuring entity may re-tender," the board ruled.

Disqualifying the applicant

The applicant wanted the board to evaluate the whole tender process and review the tender documents of Cementers to confirm that it qualified to be awarded the tender.

It was the applicant’s ground that it was informed that its tender was not successful because it did not submit a current registration certificate for its mechanical ventilation and air conditioning subcontractor.

The board also heard that another cause for disqualification of the applicant was because the contested subcontractors’ certificate did not have an expiry date.

But advocate Mohammed Nyaoga in his submissions to the board maintained that his client submitted a current registration certificate, which was approved by the Ministry of Public Works in a meeting held on February 24, 2010 and the certificate had an expiry date.

Evaluation criteria

The procurement team through advocate Paul Chege maintained that it evaluated the successful bidder as per the evaluation criteria stated in the tender document and that the successful bidder had carried out works above the Sh500 million threshold stipulated in the tender documents.

NSSF in its submissions concluded that the successful bidder was qualified to be awarded the said tender. Cementers Limited stated that it was qualified to be awarded the contract.

The board in its findings noted that the contested subcontractors’ certificate had an expiry date contrary to a letter to the applicant informing him that it did not state an expiry date.

The board noted that in the tender evaluation report, there was no reason or basis given for disqualifying the applicant from the tendering process.

"In the circumstances, the board finds the manner the evaluation was done was flawed and the applicant was wrongfully disqualified from the tender process," it ruled.