Tender irregularities interfere with new number plates process

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The new generation number plates set to roll out in January next year might stall longer.

This is as the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Interior Ministry have been caught up in a brawl over awarding tenders.

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This brought about the High Court’s intervention. After a lengthy court case that eventually compelled the Interior Ministry to award the contract to the firm it had engaged in April 2014, the decision by NTSA to restart the process sinks the plan deeper into confusion.

Documents show a series of events from February 2015 when the ministry advertised the tender to supply and deliver number plate blanks and hot stamping foils.

Tropical Technologies Ltd won both tenders, sparking a battle at the High Court and before the Procurement Review Board.

In August 2017, the High Court was the last to dismiss the challenges on the award. The ministry then awarded the contract to the firm, sealed by the signing of the agreement in November of the same year.

The company, according to the local purchase orders, even delivered two 40ft containers of blank plates at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison.

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After this, everything froze. No contract was issued and the long silence was only revived last month with NTSA Director-General Francis Meja saying the government was looking for an alternative route.

It is not clear what may have transpired between the time the last award was given to the firm and the latest move to seek an alternative supplier.

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