Board dismisses appeal on Ksh 1B fuel depot at JKIA

The Public Procurement Board has dismissed an appeal by three companies that wanted the Kenya Pipeline Company to sign a Ksh 1 billion shillings tender for the construction of an aviation fuel depot at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Nairobi.

The Board further set aside the procuring entity’s (Kenya Pipeline Company) decision terminating the procurement process as communicated to the international consortium’s letter dated August 24 this year.

PPARB noted that the International consortium was awarded the tender on May 18, 2015 and the board does not understand why the signing of the contract had to wait for over one year leading up to the termination of the project dubbed Greenfield.

The consortium consists of four companies including Danish-listed JGH Marine and a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Northeastern Refining and Chemical Engineering Company.

Other firms in the consortium are Western Marine Services and Pride Enterprises. Civicon Limited and the consortium participated in the November 2014 open tender.

The dispute arose when the consortium was declared successful. Immediately upon the award, one of the unsuccessful bidders, M/s Civicon Limited, instituted a request for review with the review board which upon considering the request for review in the first instance directed that the tender be awarded to Civicon Limited.

The current applicant, the International Consortium, which was the successful bidder, was dissatisfied with the reviews board’s decision and instituted a case at the High Court which quashed the board’s earlier decision and remitted the request for review back to the board for re-hearing and for final determination.