The High Court has given Treasury the green light to automate its procurement and payments system.
A technology firm, ADK Technologies Limited, had petitioned the court to nullify a Sh647 million contract awarded to a consortium of companies led by Kingsway Business Systems to automate the Treasury’s Ifmis.
The High Court has given Treasury the green light to automate its procurement and payments system.
A technology firm, ADK Technologies Limited, had petitioned the court to nullify a Sh647 million contract awarded to a consortium of companies led by Kingsway Business Systems to automate the Treasury’s Integrated Financial Management System (Ifmis).
In the court papers, ADK had claimed that its bid was rejected on the ground that its price was above the market rates. It also argued the winner of the tender did not meet the technical specifications, claiming the firm is specialised in insurance services and not Information Communication Technology (ICT).
Justice Jairus Ngaah however dismissed the suit terming it an abuse of court processes.
The dispute on the tender started in January this year after Treasury Principal Secretary Julius Muia notified bidders that the consortium headed by Kingsway was the successful bidder.
Kingsway-led consortium emerged the winner after been evaluated at Sh647 million. Other companies in the consortium that bagged the tender is Kobby Technologies and Inplenion Eastern Africa.
The second was Next Technologies Sh651 million while the ADK-led consortium was said to have been evaluated at Sh898.9 million. But Kingsway could not be awarded the contract of the job after ADK Technologies moved to the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) tribunal seeking a repeat of the procurement process.
On February 8, 2021 the tribunal dismissed the application forcing ADK to rush to court seeking to have the entire decision of the tribunal quashed. Pending determination of the case, the court issued a temporary order on March 6, 2021 stopping the Treasury from awarding the contract.
Samuel Haile Nigussie, the project manager of Transnational Computer Technologies in California, US, said the issue of overpricing was unfounded and untrue.
This, he said, is because there was no standard price given in the tender document nor in the PPARB’s website to guide the bidders on the subject tender.
He told the court that the consortium that won the tender failed to comply with the instructions in respect of the tender document.