The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has awarded a lucrative Ksh4 billion tender to a multinational company amidst wrangles.
A Dutch company, Smartmatic International Holding B.V, has outsmarted other companies to land that tender for the supply of the Integrated Election Management Systems (Kiems) kit.
The firm bagged the tender on Wednesday, November 3, despite another company, Risk Africa Innovatis Limited giving a notice of moving to court to challenge the decision.
The tender is pivotal in the electioneering period as the Kiems kit tender involves the supply, delivery, installation, testing, commissioning, support, and maintenance of software and hardware equipment and accessories.
The Dutch company was among the four other companies that placed a bid for the lucrative tender.
Other companies that placed their bid include Indra Soluciones Tecnologias De La Informacion, Genkey Solutions BV, Laxton Group Ltd, and Africa Infrastructure Development Company.
Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) on September 20 asked IEBC to prepare fresh tender documents within 30 days for the Kiems kit for the tender No: IEBC/OIT/001/21/2020/2021.
“The procuring entity is hereby directed to prepare a fresh tender document within 30 days from the date of this decision, taking into consideration the provisions of the Constitution of Kenya, the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, the Public Procurement and Disposal and Asset Disposal Regulations, 2020 and the findings of the Board in this review,” read the ruling in part.
The Dutch company won the tender through a court battle. High Court Judge Jairus Ngaah ruled that PPARB misapprehended Section 2 of the Act on the tendering process.
The Ksh4 billion is part of the Ksh40 billion set aside for the entire election period. The war got noisy and messy to the extent of derailing the preparations for the August 9, 2022, General Election.
Several court cases have already been lodged regarding the tenders.
The awarding of the tenders comes in the backdrop of uncertainty on the deployment of electoral technologies following controversies in the 2017 presidential elections.
During that electioneering period, OT Morpho, and affiliate of Safran Morpho, now Idemia, was accused of supplying kits that were easily manipulatable to alter the poll results.
The firm, however, denied any admissibility of liability stating that its kits and technologies were of international standards.
