Hello

Your subscription is almost coming to an end. Don’t miss out on the great content on Nation.Africa

Ready to continue your informative journey with us?

Hello

Your premium access has ended, but the best of Nation.Africa is still within reach. Renew now to unlock exclusive stories and in-depth features.

Reclaim your full access. Click below to renew.

Subscribe for a month to get full access

Finance ministry’s Sh72m food service tender invalid

Dar es Salaam. The ministry of Finance and Planning will have to restart a Sh72 million tender for provision of canteen services at its headquarters in Dodoma after the Public Procurement Appeals Authority (PPAA) declared null and void a tender it awarded to Nice Catering Company Limited.

The authority said in its recent decision that the tender was not valid for being awarded outside the tender validity period of 90 days.

Ms Salema Enterprises Limited, the company that initially won the tender but later disqualified over alleged failure to submit a list of contracts of similar nature and volume it performed previously, has disputed the picking of the second highest bidder as unlawful.

Also Read

The ministry invited eligible tenderers to bid for the provision of canteen services at the Treasury Squire Building in Dodoma in which five firms participated.

The firms include Ms Salema Enterprises, Ms New Adjusts Investment Limited, Nice Catering Company Limited, Winners General Supplies Limited and Ms Sivicafe Food and Catering Services.

Following evaluation, quotation by Ms Salema was ranked the highest followed by Nice Catering Company.

It was agreed during negotiation meeting that a scrutiny should be conducted to determine whether Ms Salema has the experience, capability and resources to carry out the contract effectively based on past experience.

At this point, the finance ministry sought reference from various public institutions that the company claimed to have worked with previously. Nearly all the institutions denied to have contracted the appellant to provide catering services. Some said they only hired the company on regular basis.

Following the findings, the tender board reversed the decision and directed that the second highest bidder, Nice, be awarded the tender.

However, Ms Salema challenged reasons for disqualification, arguing that the award of the tender to Nice was illegal because it was made outside the tender validity period specified in the quotation document.

In the headlines