The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) has ordered the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to review, amend and republish its tender for the Integrated Elections Management System (IEMS).
This is over multiple deficiencies in the procurement document ahead of the 2027 General Election.
In a decision delivered on September 3, the Board partially upheld an application filed by Galadirel Investments Limited challenging Tender No. IEBC/OIT/01/2026–2027 for the supply, installation, testing, commissioning, support and maintenance of the election management system and its related hardware.
The Board found that several provisions of the tender document were unclear, incomplete or incapable of objectively guiding bidders during the evaluation process.
Among the issues identified were incomplete technical evaluation criteria containing placeholder entries, ambiguity in how compliance requirements would translate into scores, undefined tax certificate requirements for foreign bidders, and uncertainty over the arbitration framework applicable to international suppliers.
“It is therefore in the public interest that prospective tenderers be provided with a Tender Document that is sufficiently clear and certain to enable them to prepare responsive tenders and to ensure that all tenders are evaluated against predetermined, objective and uniformly applicable criteria,” ruled PPARB.
PPARB also faulted the tender for presenting two alternative post-qualification regimes without indicating which one would apply, as well as unclear documentary requirements for key personnel, including the project manager.
Additionally, the Board noted an incorrect reference to a “2020 DPP” Incoterm, which is not recognised under Incoterms 2020, and the failure to disclose the mandatory Public Procurement Capacity Building Levy required under the 2023 regulations.
However, the Board dismissed allegations that the tender had been designed to favour South Korean firm MIRU Systems, ruling that the mere fact a company may meet specialised technical requirements does not prove bias in the procurement process.
“A Procuring Entity is permitted to customise its bid document to suit its needs,” ruled the board.
“The exercise of that discretion must, however, remain within the requirements of the Constitution and the Act and the resulting criteria must be objectively related to the procurement and applied equally to all prospective tenderers.”
It also rejected Galadirel’s challenge to the Sh30 million tender security requirement, finding that the applicant had not demonstrated the amount exceeded the legal threshold or that IEBC was obligated to disclose its budget to justify the figure.
Rather than nullifying the procurement, PPARB directed IEBC to correct and clarify the tender documents before republishing them.
The commission was further ordered to allow prospective bidders at least seven days to review the amendments and submit their bids.
The Board also authorised IEBC to seek technical support from the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), while maintaining that responsibility for determining the election system’s technical specifications rests solely with the electoral commission.
The ruling follows IEBC’s recent admission that it had erroneously set the performance security for successful bidders at 20 per cent of the contract value, despite the legal maximum being 10 per cent.
The commission said it would issue an addendum to rectify the error.
“Having regard to the foregoing, the Board finds that the standard Performance Security requirement of ten per cent (10%) of the Contract Price, as set out at SCC Clause 8 (GCC Clause 13.3.1), is consistent with the threshold prescribed under Section 142 of the Act. The Applicant’s contention and the Respondent concessions that the Tender Document imposed a Performance Security requirement in excess of the statutory maximum is accordingly not established, and this ground of the Request for Review fails,” ruled the board.
The IEMS procurement is one of two key international tenders launched by IEBC in preparation for the 2027 General Election, alongside the acquisition of ballot papers and other election materials.
The saga is already in the public domain and eroding the electoral body confidence.
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