Africa-Press – Kenya. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has announced the winner of the ballot printing tender.
In a statement by the commission, a new company will be mandated to print ballot papers for the August 2022 general election.
IEBC has entrusted the printing job to Inform Lykos, a printing company based in Greece. The agreement between the Chebukati-led commission will see Lykos supply ballot papers at a total cost of Ksh925 million.
Lykos, which beat 13 other companies, was selected by the electoral body because it was the bidder with the best rate. It offered to print the papers at the rate of Ksh921,326 per 3,000 papers.
In the three-year contract, the Greek printing firm will foresee the supply and delivery of ballot papers, registration of voters, statutory deduction forms used in polling stations together with election and referendum forms used in constituency polling centres.
Al Ghurair, a Dubai-based firm which had been awarded the tender in 2017, missed out. IEBC explained that the company failed to meet the required 40 percent local content threshold.
“The commission hereby regrets to inform you that your tender was unsuccessful due to the following reason. You did not meet the requirement for 40 percent local content,” a letter addressed to the firm read.
The company charged the commission Ksh2.5 billion to print ballot papers in 2017, nearly 3 times as much what the current bidder is offering. This year, they gave a quotation of Ksh1.2 billion.
Go Inspire, a company based in the United Kingdom, was eliminated for failing to submit notarized audited accounts for 2018, 2019, and 2020. It had offered to do the job at Ksh813 million.
Aerovote Security Print and Electoral Supplies, Tall Security Print Limited and Ellams Products Limited were denied the tender for failing to submit ISO 14298, which is a document that outlines conditions for management of security printing processes, or its equivalent from a recognised authority.
IEBC Chief Executive Officer Marjan Hussein Marjan, invited aggrieved firms to file procurement-related complaints by midnight, October 28.
