Kenya Power on Thursday, March 9, raised an alarm that the youth and women were missing out on lucrative tenders in the utility firm owing to three challenges, including a lack of duly registered companies.
The electricity supplier, in a statement seen by Kenyans.co.ke, noted that poor understanding of the e-procurement system and failure to ensure that the goods targeted meet the requisite acceptance tests cost the youth lucrative tenders.
Further, Kenya Power announced that it had set aside tenders worth Ksh3.7 billion for the new financial year.
"During the last financial year, Kenya Power set aside Ksh1.6 billion of its procurement budget for women, youth and PWDs tenders out of which only Ksh480 million was taken up," read the statement in part.
On his part, Kenya Power’s General Manager of Supply Chain, John Ngeno, added that some of the targeted groups were also shying away from the tenders given the technicalities of the industry.
He noted that they were planning various measures, such as training to educate the groups on tendering with the utility firm.
“We are calling on groups to partner with Kenya Power in workshops and other training where we can share knowledge on e-procurement and opportunities that exist for them within the Company.
"Kenya Power is confident that by reaching out we can have many of them taking up the tenders,” he stated.
How to Fix the Blunders
Ensure that the companies are duly registered with the Business Registration Services (BRS).
BRS is the body mandated to register companies in the country and also maintains registers, data and records of all registered companies in the country.
Familiarise yourself with e-procurement - one can also attend the training offered by KPLC to understand how the tenders are applied.
Consult with the utility firm on the quality standards of the goods required. Notably, when KPLC announces a tender, details of the products required are usually advertised on its website.
"The company is carrying out pre-bid conferences where bidders are taken through the various tender requirements, processes for registration as suppliers, and uploading of documents on the procurement portal,' Kenya Power announced.
