A firm that lost a multimillion-dollar tender to service Treasury integrated financial management system has suffered a major setback after the Court of Appeal declined its plea to escalate the case to the Supreme Court.
Court of Appeal judges Daniel Musinga, Fatuma Sichale and Hellen Omondi said ADK Technologies was pursuing a private commercial deal that did not go in its favour.
Such cases the Judges said are not the kind that can attract public interest.
“The application does not meet the threshold established by the apex court. It is therefore dismissed,” the Judges said.
The law only allows appeals of general importance and public interest to be handled by the Supreme Court.
In the case, the Treasury had invited eligible bidders to bid for the provision of onsite support for Ifmis applications, enhancement of Ifmis e-procurement and Ifmis or semi-autonomous government agency through an advertisement published on June 16, 2020.
Five firms bid for the tender. A consortium led by Kingsway bagged the contract.
However, ADK lodged a review saying ADK Technologies in consortium with Transnational Computer Technologies claims the winning bid by Kingsway Business Systems jointly with Kobby Technologies and Inplenion East Africa did not meet the technical specifications.
ADK then moved to the High Court seeking to nullify the award of the Sh647 million tender to a consortium of companies led by Kingsway.
It argued that the awarded firm specialised in insurance services and not information technology.
However, Justice Jairus Ngaah dismissed the suit terming it an abuse of court process. The matter escalated to the Court of Appeal but was thrown out giving the state a nod to automate Ifmis.
The dispute on the tender started in January 2021 after Treasury Principal Secretary Julius Muia notified bidders that the consortium headed by Kingsway was the successful bidder.
Kingsway-led consortium emerged as the winner after being evaluated at Sh647 million.
Other companies in the consortium that bagged the tender are Kobby Technologies and Inplenion Eastern Africa.