Contractor says NSSF tender was fixed to lock out locals

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) changed the requirements to tender to construct Hazina Trade Centre in Nairobi in favour of two Chinese contractors, a local contractor told Parliament Thursday.

In a move aimed at local bidders, NSSF decided to lock out firms that had not built at least two 40-storey buildings in the last five years in their expansion of the building currently housing Nakumatt Lifestyle.

Mr Ramesh Vishram, managing director of Cementers Limited, told the Public Investments Committee (PIC) his company won the initial tender to build the trade centre. The tender was, however, annulled by the Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA) on appeal by two Chinese firms.

When NSSF re-advertised it they added a clause requiring bidders to prove they had done two projects of 40-storeys each in the last five years.

“When we lost the case at the PPOA and at the High Court, we did not appeal because we wanted the project to go on,” Mr Vishram said. “However, when we purchased bids in the re-advertised tender a few days after the court threw out our case, it had (the new) conditions. We could not reply since we had not done any building of 40 storeys. In fact, there are none in Kenya. I don’t know why this was the condition. It was tailor-made to knock us down.”

The committee, which is probing procurement related to NSSF’s Hazina Trade Centre, Mavoko housing and Kenyatta Avenue projects to ascertain their commercial viability, invited Vishram to shed light on the Hazina project.

NSSF awarded a Sh7 billion tender for construction of the 36-storey building on Monrovia street to China Jiangxi International Limited.

The Chinese firm won the tender even after NSSF’s tender committee corrected a Sh115 million error in their bid, which the firm failed to admit.

The original tender won by Cementers Limited was for a 28-storey building at Sh6 billion.

Mr Vishram revealed how a similar condition was placed in another government tender tailored at locking out local companies.

“We bought tender documents for some contract and a condition was placed that contractors should demonstrate that they had constructed two airports of international standard in the last 10 years,” he said.

PIC chairman Adan Keynan said the award of the tender for Hazina was tailor-made and choreographed to meet certain objectives.

“I didn’t tender for the second retender as a result of the condition,” Mr Vishram said. “We complained and went to court.”

The Cementers boss said the company is currently putting up a 24-storey building for First Community Bank opposite Yaya Centre.

Mr Vishram said it has become very difficult for Kenyan companies to win tenders in the presence of Chinese firms.

“Whoever is doing tenders thinks Kenyans have no capacity. Even today, there are Build, Operate and Transfer tenders which we (can do but) can’t win,” he said. “We are trying hard to see how we can beat the Chinese but we cannot.”

Nominated MP Oburu Oginga sought to know the reasons that led the company lose at the PPOA and High Court.

“You failed in court when you sought its intervention. What was the reason why the court threw out your suit?” Oburu asked.

Mr Vishram said his case at the High Court kept on being postponed and became frustrating.

“I didn’t want to stop the building that was being constructed using workers’ money. I could have gone to Court of Appeal,” he said, adding that he had never done any other business with NSSF before the said tender.

PPOA had faulted NSSF for disqualifying China Jianxi too early for failing to provide a sub-contractors registration certificate. Rival bidder China Wu Yi, meanwhile, complained that their lower bid of Sh5.9 billion was overlooked.