The Auditor General has revealed that the government made irregular procurement of MacBooks and iPads by inflating their costs by 200 per cent.
In her report, Nancy Gathungu revealed that the State Department of Higher Education bought six MacBooks and two iPads at a cost of Ksh2,995,920 and Ksh920,000, respectively. Therefore, the ministry ended up acquiring each MacBook laptop and iPad at a cost of Ksh499,320 and Ksh460,000, respectively.
Gathungu noted that this was in stark contrast to their quoted prices of Ksh180,000 (MacBook) and Ksh360,000 that would have cost Ksh1,800,000. This represented an overpricing of Ksh2,115,920 which was not supported by an approved and updated procurement plan.
By inflating the costs, Gathungu asserted that the State Department violated Regulation 51(2) of the Public Finance Management (National Government) Regulations, 2015.
The regulation requires that expenditure commitments for goods and services shall be controlled against spending and procurement plans approved by the responsible Accounting Officer, based on allocations and allotments from approved budgets.
“In the circumstances, value for money on the procurements amounting to Ksh2,995,920 and Ksh920,000 in respect of six (6) MacBook laptops and two (2) computer IPAD 4 respectively could not be confirmed,” Gathungu stated.
Gathungu disclosed that the irregularities were reflected in the acquisition of non-financial assets amounting to Ksh4,014,220.
This was part of a broader issue with procurement at the State Department, with Gathungu highlighting additional irregularities related to procurement.
For instance, Gathungu revealed cases of non-compliance with procurement procedures on request for quotation noting an expenditure amounting to Ksh4,725,467 relating to specialized materials and services, out of which an amount of Ksh2,465,100 was used in the procurement of air tickets.
Irregularities in the procurement were only noted in the bids of two firms, as per the professional opinion, according to Gathungu. This was contrary to Section 106(2)(d) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015, which requires evaluation to be carried out on at least three quotations.
Also, management did not provide the request for quotation register, tender opening minutes and evaluation minutes for audit review.
Another example of irregular procurement at the State Department was seen in the area of car maintenance, where Gathungu noted that the service providers were single-sourced and did not meet the conditions of direct procurement as set out in Section 103(2) Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.
