Court of Appeal Halts Kebs’ Multi-Million Tender Over Discrimination Claims

The Court of Appeal has temporarily stopped a multi-million tender by Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) for the inspection of goods before leaving the exporting country.

The appellate court stopped the process, which started in January, after a Kenyan firm- Precision Experts ltd- challenged the process arguing that the tender discriminated against citizen contractors.

The firm’s bid was dismissed by the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board in March and the company moved to the High Court, but the same was thrown out by Justice John Chigiti on April 11, stating that the petition was filed out of time.

Precision Experts Ltd then rushed to the Court of Appeal arguing that Kebs will proceed and award the tender, a move that would render the case a mere academic exercise.

“Pending delivery of the judgment/ruling of the Court scheduled for 23rd May 2025, an interim order of stay of proceedings in respect of Tender No. KEBS/PRE-Q/T006/2025/2028- Prequalification for Provision of Pre- Export Verification of Conformity (PVOC) to Standards Services for the years 2025- 2028, is hereby granted,” Justices Gatembu Kairu, Jamila Mohammed and Aggrey Muchelule said.

The Kenyan firm challenged the tender arguing that some mandatory requirements in the tender documents were discrimination against citizen contractors, and unreasonably excessive and contrary to the provisions of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.

“The appellant (Precision Experts Ltd) is reasonably apprehensive that during the prosecution of the present appeal, the tender process shall be progressed to execution of contracts with prequalified tenderers, which will render the present appeal moot, redundant and an academic exercise,” the firm said through lawyer Andrew Mwango.

Kebs invited bids in January for the tender prequalification of Pre–export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) to standards for the year 2025-2028.

Eighteen of the 19 bidders were international candidates. The pre-qualification process was ongoing, when the firm moved to court, seeking to stall the process until its grievances were addressed.

The inspector companies assist in the inspection of goods, to ensure that products being imported into the country are verified before export.

Precision Experts alleged that the tender documents were discriminatory against citizen contractors as it prescribed requirements contrary to the procurement Act.

The firm says the requirement of evidence of the tenderer’s physical presence and location to provide PVoC services imposes a substantial burden on citizen candidates.

The company said as a citizen contractor, it faces discrimination because international candidates were granted time to achieve compliance for contract execution, whereas citizen contractors must meet compliance requirements and incur expenses upfront, even before getting the tender.

At the High Court, Justice Chigiti noted that the board’s decision was delivered on March 20, 2025.

The court said 14 days from the date of the decision lapsed on April 3, 2025, yet the application was filed before court a day late.

“Section 175(1) of PPDA is couched in mandatory terms. The consequences of failure to file a judicial review application within 14 days are clearly spelt out “failure to which the decision of the Review Board shall be final and binding to both parties,” Justice Chigiti had said.

The firm wants the appellate court to address the computation of time, “particularly where decisions are delivered outside the normal working days or hours”. The firm maintained that it filed its petition within the 14 days.