The Court of Appeal has temporarily stopped the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) from awarding a multimillion-shilling tender for the inspection of goods prior to their departure from the exporting country.

The ruling halted the process which began in January in response to a Kenyan firm, Precision Experts, that challenged it saying that the tender discriminated against local contractors.

Earlier, Precision Experts moved the High Court, seeking orders to stop the process after its bid was dismissed by the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board in March. However, Justice John Chigiti dismissed the case, noting that the petition was filed out of time.

“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 Chingiti said.

However, the firm countered that their petition was filed in time. Consequently, the firm appealed, arguing that KEBS was going to award the tender imminently, and this would render the appeal a mere academic exercise.

“Pending delivery of the judgment/ruling of the Court scheduled for May 23, 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,” ruled Justices Gatembu Kairu, Jamila Mohammed, and Aggrey Muchelule. 

Precision Experts also argued that several mandatory requirements outlined in the tender documents were discriminatory towards citizen contractors, unreasonably excessive, and in contravention 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 proceed to contract execution with prequalified bidders, thereby rendering the appeal moot, redundant, and an academic exercise,” the firm stated through its lawyer, Andrew Mwango.

KEBS had invited bids in January for prequalification for the provision of PVOC services for the 2025–2028 period. Out of the 19 bidders, 18 were international firms.

Inspection companies contracted under this programme assist in verifying the quality and compliance of goods destined for Kenya before export.

The prequalification was ongoing when Precision Experts moved to court, seeking to halt the process until its concerns were addressed. The firm argued that as a citizen candidate, being required to meet compliance requirements and incur expenses upfront before getting the tender while international applicants were given time to achieve compliance for contract execution, was discriminatory.

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