Legal fights over the operation of forex bureaus at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi continue to derail a tender by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) as two firms fight for the contract.
Procurement of the tender, which would have ended by last November, is now expected to be concluded in February following fierce legal fights by two city-based forex bureaus, resulting in the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) to order an extension of the multimillion-shilling tender.
The board on Tuesday ordered KAA to extend the tender period by 30 days from January 9, 2024, as it concluded close to three months of legal battles between Westlands Forex Bureau Exchange and Namanga Forex Bureau.
The battles stem from a tender for developing and managing currency/forex outlets at JKIA’s Terminal 1C advertised last June. The KAA received bids from four companies, including Simba Forex Bureau Ltd and Travel Point Forex Bureau Ltd.
The KAA’s October 9, 2023, decision to award the tender to Westlands Forex Bureau for $41,500 (Sh6.63 million) caused the legal battles that have stood in the way of the project’s implementation.
KAA awarded Westlands Forex Bureau the tender following a financial evaluation. However, Namanga Forex Bureau contested the decision before the PPARB, where it filed a request for review of the tender on October 25, arguing that there was a discrepancy in the tender price quoted by the tender winner.
“Following the conclusion of the evaluation at this stage, the evaluation committee determined the tender by M/S Westlands Forex Bureau Exchange Limited to be the successful tenderer at its tender price of $41,500 being the highest evaluated tender price in the subject tender,” PPARB noted.
“Accordingly, the evaluation committee recommended awarding the tender to Westlands Forex Bureau Exchange Limited at $41,500, inclusive of taxes with a concession rate of 10 percent based on gross gains/receipts/sales.”
On November 15, the board cancelled the KAA decision awarding Westlands Forex Bureau the tender, directing the agency to reconvene an evaluation committee to review all the bids that qualified for the financial evaluation stage within 10 days.
After financial re-evaluation, KAA on November 24 settled on Namanga Forex Bureau as the tender winner, after it found the actual tender price Westlands Forex Bureau Exchange had quoted was $36,500 (about Sh5.83 million).
“Accordingly, the evaluation committee recommended the award of the subject tender to M/S Namanga Forex Bureau Limited at $41,160 (about Sh6.58 million) inclusive of taxes with a concession rate of 10 percent based on gross gains/receipts/sales as captured by management accounts and/or EPOS subject to due diligence,” the PPARB noted.
The decision irked Westlands Forex Bureau Exchange, having lost the tender, and on December 20 it returned to the Board where it filed yet another request for review of the tender, where it argued that by the time KAA announced Namanga Forex Bureau as the winner, the tender validity period from tender had already lapsed.
The Board ruled that it had powers under the law to extend the tender validity period.
“As such, we deem it fit to extend the subject tender’s validity period by a further 30 days from the date of the decision in the instant request for review to enable the respondents to comply with the orders of the Board herein and direct the first respondent to issue written notifications to tenderers in the subject tender notifying them of extension of the subject tender’s validity period for a further 30 days from January 9, 2024,” PPARB decided.
The Board also dismissed the case by Westlands Forex Bureau Exchange and directed KAA to proceed with the tender.
“The respondent is hereby directed to proceed with the procurement proceedings of Tender No. KAA/OT/MBD/0172/2022-2023 for the development and management of currency/forex outlets at JKIA Terminal 1C to its lawful and logical conclusion in accordance with the tender document, the Act, and the Constitution,” PPARB decided on Tuesday.
