It was awarded the tender in March this year after emerging the lowest bidder among the 24 companies that sought the contract.
The award sparked a reaction from one of the losers, Peesam Ltd, which sought a review on grounds that the price quoted by the winning bidder was abnormally low.
A procurement tribunal has upheld the decision of the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to award a cleaning and gardening contract to a company that allegedly quoted “an abnormally low price, which could not meet the minimum wage of all staff required for the job”.
The company, Kamtix Cleaners Co.Ltd, was awarded a two-year contract for the provision of cleaning and related services at the CBK Eldoret branch after quoting a price of Sh2.9 million.
It was awarded the tender in March this year after emerging the lowest bidder among the 24 companies that sought the contract.
The company is the current provider of cleaning services at the branch.
But the award sparked a reaction from one of the losers, Peesam Ltd, which sought a review on grounds that the price quoted by the winning bidder was abnormally low.
Peesam had in its bid said it would do the job at a cost of Sh4.4 million. It contended that the sum quoted by the winning bidder was too low and could not meet the minimum wage of workers, within the two years, as per the government's guidelines.
According to the tender document, personnel to handle the task include two supervisory staff, one professional staff (management) and two ground maintenance (the cleaning) staff.
Other tender losers such as One Way Cleaning Services Ltd had quoted a price of Sh8.4 million, Jubilant Cleaning Services (Sh7.9 million), Robu Cleaning Services (Sh6.7 million), Nadiah Investments Ltd (Sh6.6 million), Glacier East Africa Ltd (Sh6.5 million) and Jepco Services & Renovators Ltd (Sh5.6 million).
Peesam Ltd informed the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PARB) that the winning tender contravened the evaluation criteria in so far as meeting the minimum wage requirements for the workers required to perform the subject tasks.
But CBK stated that in awarding the tender it had ascertained itself that the tender of Kamtix Cleaners Ltd was not an abnormally low tender that would raise concerns about its ability to perform the resultant contract.
It said the tenderers were required to provide evidence proving adherence to minimum wages in accordance with the government's guidelines on payment of wages.
Both Peesam and Kamtix submitted the evidence and CBK confirmed that Kamtix had fully complied with the minimum wage requirements.
PPARB noted that Kamtix submitted nine payslips covering a period of more than two months from November 2021 to January 2022 with staff salaries ranging between Sh15,500 and Sh22,500.
CBK said the allegations raised by Peesam were far-fetched and untruthful.
In its ruling, the tribunal stated that it is the responsibility of the procuring entity to identify a potentially low tender and not the tenderer.
"From the provisions of Section 80(1) and (2) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, it is our interpretation that the responsibility of evaluating tenders rests with an evaluation committee of a procuring entity appointed by the accounting officer," said the Board while dismissing the request for review.
It stated that CBK the Act or the clauses in the Tender Document.
The contracted firm is expected to provide cleaning and gardening and waste management services of high standards using environmentally friendly cleaning products and supplies.
The layout in the Branch comprising office space, conference facilities, meeting rooms, Parking Area, Staff clinic and common areas, as well as elevators.
