UN Office fiber Internet tender causes controversy in Kenya

The Star in Nairobi reports that bidders in a fiber Internet tender at the United Nations Office in the city have complained that the alleged recipient of the contract did not follow the proper tendering process.

A tender to provide fiber-based Internet infrastructure at the UN Office in Nairobi, Kenya, has caused controversy amongst bidders. (Image: Flickr/mootown)

According to the report seven companies tendered for the Sh800 million project to provide an Internet link for the UN village in Gigiri.

The bidders, including KDN (Altech), Frontier Optical Networks (FON), Emerging Markets Communication (EMC), Jamii Telecom, MTN Business, Safaricom and Telkom Kenya (Orange),  were present when the bids officially opened on February 02.

The group is claiming that the UN office is going to award the tender to Access Kenya, a company the other bidders say has not pre-qualified nor had their bid officially recorded.

Refuting the claims, Access Kenya’s Group Communication Manager, Kevin Keya, said that whilst the company did not attend the opening of the tender bids on 02 February, it had submitted its bid as per requirements and instructions.

The Star quotes Keya as saying, “So far we have no official communication from UN that we have won the tender. This story is new to us.”

Staff Writer