TransCentury unit in battle for Sh1bn fuel depot tender

Civicon Limited, a subsidiary of listed infrastructure company TransCentury, is locked in a legal battle with an international consortium over the construction of a Sh1 billion fuel depot at JKIA.

The consortium consists of four companies, including Danish-listed JGH Marine and a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation, CNPC Northeast Refining & Chemical Engineering Company.

Other firms in the consortium are Western Marine Services Limited and Pride Enterprises.

The Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC) tender was for the construction of an aviation fuel depot at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s (JKIA) new terminal.

The consortium has filed an application at the High Court seeking to quash a decision by the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) to award the tender to Civicon.

KPC advertised for the fuel depot construction tender in November last year and closed it on February 16 after receiving 17 bids.

Civicon and the consortium of Danish and Chinese firms were among companies that placed their bids for the tender.

Court documents show that only tenderers who garnered at least 50 per cent in each of the seven evaluation categories and attained an overall score of 75 per cent in the technical evaluation qualify to have their financial submissions opened and evaluated.

It was revealed that 75 per cent of the bids received ranged between $73 million and $91 million with 16.7 per cent of the bidders quoting above that.

The highest bid for the aviation fuel depot was quoted at $134 million while Civicon had quoted the lowest price for the tender at $68.4 million.

The consortium said in court documents that the tender was to be awarded to the bidder with the highest evaluated combined weighted score, provided they had the capability and resources to effectively carry out the contract works.

“Based on the overall score, the tender processing committee of KPC recommended the award of the tender to the applicant and the applicant was duly notified of the award on March 18,” the Danish and Chinese firms said in court documents.

Civicon, however, says in court documents that KPC had in a letter dated March 11 advised them that their technical proposal had succeeded and were invited to the opening of their financial bids submissions in which they surpassed the minimum score.