A report in ETN Africa states that the Kenyan government has cancelled a previously announced contract award after allegations that the bidding process for an airport concession contract was rigged:
The Public Procurement Oversight Authority has questioned the validity of the tender award by the Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) to hand the duty free shops at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport over to a new operator, according to information received from a regular aviation source in Nairobi. It appears now that PPOA took issue with procedural aspects of the tender and now demands a fresh tender to be issued by KAA in line with public procurement regulations.
This will put, for now at least, a halt to the Nuance Group from Switzerland taking over the shops, after KAA initially decided in late 2013 that they won the bidding against several other competing companies. It could not be established if any of the disqualified bidders initiated the review by the PPOA, but suggestions have been made that at least one if not more voiced their grievances to the right ears and now got the result they wanted, a fresh tender bid to be issued under tighter control and oversight. KAA had, citing failures and shortcomings in the pre-qualification documents, disqualified all but Nuance from the bidding, leading already at the time to sharp protests and allegations of a rigged process.
