The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has directed Kenya Power to explain why it awarded a new electricity meters supply tender to a company that failed to fulfill a previous contract.
- Smart Meters Technology Ltd, the company in question, had an order to supply 91,000 smart meters by July 24, 2020, but failed to do so, as confirmed by a purchase order report.
- Despite this, Smart Meters Technology Ltd, along with three other local companies, was awarded a new tender worth Sh5.4 billion to deliver 711,740 smart electricity meters.
- The PPRA highlighted that bidders with outstanding Kenya Power orders exceeding 50 percent were ineligible for the tender, and the award should have considered timely delivery and satisfactory performance on previous orders.
- A complaint was lodged by Benedict Kabugi, challenging the tender process and claiming that Kenya Power had irregularly restricted the tender to local assemblers instead of local manufacturers.
- The awarded amounts for the tender surpassed the allocated budget, and the excess amounts were not approved by the board of directors, which is seen as a breach of procurement regulations.
- The PPRA has requested Kenya Power to respond to the observations and financial impacts raised, while also questioning the procurement plan and budgeting decisions made by the company.