State Firms Are Non-Compliant To Procurement Laws – Report

The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) has revealed that the state terminated about 170 contracts during the second quarter of the year 2019.

It was also established that during the same quarter, 19 county governments and five county assemblies terminated a number of contracts with different contractors, a move that is seen as one that will cost Kenyans billions of shillings.

The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), is said to have discovered that most state firms did not comply with the procurement laws and regulations that require them to give quarterly reports, as, by June, only 132 state agencies had complied.

According to PPRA, the investigations conducted revealed that some agencies awarded tenders fraudulently.

The PPRA took keen interest in nine key tender cases, among them those awarded by Kenya Power (labour and transport contractors), Nairobi County (construction of four stadia including Dandora), National Oil Corporation (provision of medical insurance cover), National Hospital Insurance Fund (purchase of revenue management system) and the Ministry of Transport (construction of roads in Naivasha).

PPRA board chairman, Andrew Musangi said that the authority had received complaints that there was misconduct in procurement operations, and that was what prompted the authority to conduct the investigations on the firms in question.

Mr. Musangi explained that from PPRA’s analysis of the complaints they received, they found that 40 percent were on flaws in tender evaluation and development of specifications, 21 percent were on delayed payments, corrupt practices during procurement accounted for 15 percent while nine percent complaints were on suspected irregularities during procurement.

PPRA said that they conducted impromptu procurement audits on three state firms, and all were found to have scored below average, meaning that taxpayers’ money is obviously used inappropriately.

The three firms on which the PPRA audit was conducted include the Agricultural Development Corporation, Agricultural Finance Corporation, and the Attorney General’s office.

According to PPRA analysis, the office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice had a non-compliant score of 35.75 percent, which was the lowest score from the audit.