Kenyan firm set to win IEBC tender

Kenyan firm set to win IEBC tender

FRIDAY, 20 JULY 2012 00:02 BY MOSOKU GEOFFREY

WINNER? Symphony headquarters in Westlands, Nairobi. Photo/Monicah Mwangi

KENYAN company Symphony Africa is on the verge of taking the contract to supply new biometric voter registration kits for the next election. Yesterday the new tender committee of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission announced that it would start due diligence on Symphony even though it was not the lowest bidder. “The Tender Committee, having considered all pertinent documents, including the results of the due diligence on the lowest evaluated bidder, that is 4G Identity Solution Pvt. Limited, has decided as follows: Not to award the tender for the Biometric Voter Registration kits to the lowest evaluated bidder, that is 4G Identity Solution Pvt Limited, as recommended by the Evaluation Committee,” a statement signed by CEO James Oswago said.

The statement added, “That, due diligence be undertaken on the next lowest evaluated bidder, i.e. Africa Symphony, as per the provision of Regulation 52(2) of the Public Procurement and Disposal Regulations, 2006. ” The tender had a validity period of 120 days which lapses today. If the tender committee had not arrived at a decision, the commission would have had to re-tender which could have delayed the general election beyond March 2013. The commission could also face litigation from the shortlisted bidders.

IEBC shortlisted four firms namely 4G Identity Solutions of India which quoted $45 million (Sh3.72 billion), Symphony whose bid was $47.5 million (Sh3.9 billion), Face Technologies of South Africa at $55.3 million (Sh4.6 billion) and OnTrack of Israel at $99.4 million (Sh8.2 billion). The original tender committee awarded the contract to Face Technologies of South Africa which ranked third against the recommendation of the evaluation committee that 4G be awarded the contract.

Last week Public Procurement and Oversight Authority subsequently advised the IEBC to award the contract to the lowest bidder. Last weekend the tender committee, headed by legal affairs director Praxedes Tororey, resigned and was replaced on Monday by a new tender committee chaired by Immaculate Kassait, the IEBC's director for voter registration and electoral operations. The Tender committee made their final recommendation and left CEO James Oswago to release the statement. Oswago met the commissioners to brief them first.

The IEBC still has a tight schedule to register an estimated 19 million voters for the March 4, 2013 election. The IEBC will still need two weeks for due diligence while contract negotiations with Symphony could take another 14 days. The law also provides that the losers are given 14 days to lodge their appeals before the contract is signed.

The earliest that Symphony could sign this contract will be in mid August. The final voters register has to be completed three month before the election, which is December 4. However before that 30 days are needed for registration, 30 days for voter inspection, and 30 days for correction. In other words, Symphony must start work by September 4. However Symphony would still need an estimated 70 days from the award of the contract to deliver the 9750 kits for registration.