A man has written to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) asking the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and police accounting officer Bernice Lemedeket to revoke the Sh8.7 billion tender award to the consortium of three private insurance firms.
CIC, Old Mutual and Brtiam won the tender after the expiry of the earlier one that was provided by National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to provide medical cover for the National Police Service (NPS) and the Kenya Prison Services (KPS).
According to reports, the whistleblower has called on the irregularity occasioned by changes in the Terms of Reference (ToR) document through two addendums signed by Ms Lemedeket.
“Two Addendum’s were issued, Addendum No. 1/2022 on 8th December, 2022 and Addendum No. 2/2022 on 9th December, 2022. (Exhibit 2 — Addendum No. 2/2022 Dated 9th December, 2022). Addendum No. 2/2022 clarified among other issues that the persons eligible to bid in the tender were: i Insurance Underwriters, or ii Consortium of Insurance Underwriters, or iii Public Entities.”
The two addendums opened up the illegality of giving the three private firms the tender against the provisions of the Procurement and Disposal Act.
“The requirement that bidders can participate as a consortium as given in the tender invitation notice and Addendum No. 2/2022 is not founded in the procurement Act and was therefore a creation of the National Police Service which is a breach of Section 53 of the Act which provides that all procurement by public entities are subject to the rules and principles of the Act — The National Police Service in this tender created and used its own procurement laws.”
NHIF lost
NHIF, which also made a bid, was disqualified for quoting way above the consortia with a Sh9.4 billion.
In a statement, NHIF said that the comprehensive medical cover to member of NPS and KPS will be expiring today.
“We regret to inform you that your bid was unsuccessful for the reasons that it was not the lowest technically responsive bid in the financial evaluation. You quoted Ksho.4 billion,” NPS Principal Adminstrative Secretary Bernice S. Lemedeket said in a letter seen by Capital Business.
“The awarded bidder is M/s CIC General Insurance Ltd (leader of the consortium)…..and consisting of M/s Old Mutual General Insurance Kenya Limited and M/s Brital General Insurance Company (K) Ltd at a total annual premium of Ksh8.7 billion….,” he added.
NHIF CEO Peter Kamunyo directed Regional and Branch Managers to communicate with healthcare provider of the transition as well as policyholders.
“We should all liase and consult as necessary to ensure beneficiaries on ongoing treatment are not inconvenienced,” CEO Kamunyo in an internal memo to Head of Departments said.
“In that regard all notifications to healthcare providers and other service providers should be done by close of business today, 30th December 2022,” the CEO added.
The man has urged the police bosses to terminate the tender within seven days failure to which he will sue.
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