Only the bids declared responsive should be evaluated according to the procedures set out below and to the criteria set out in the tender documents. No other criteria than those specified in the bidding documents can be used. Therefore it is essential to ensure that while establishing the bidding documents, due considerations have been given to the evaluation criteria, the rating scales and the scores assignment.
The criteria must, to the extent possible, be objective and quantifiable; and each criterion must be expressed so that it is applied, in accordance with the procedures below, taking into consideration price, quality and service of the procurement object. The successful tender shall be the responsive tender with the lowest evaluated price. This means with due consideration of the technical evaluation and the weighting of the technical and financial evaluation where appropriate.
The methodology for the evaluation of bids shall consist of two steps:
- A comparison of each bid to the technical requirements of the description of goods, works or services on a pass or fail basis, to determine whether the bids are technically responsive; and
- The determination of the bid with the lowest evaluated price. In addition to criteria aiming at assessing the quality of a bid, evaluation criteria may be related to the performance, characteristics or terms and conditions of a bid, such as delivery or
completion schedule, payment schedule, the cost of spare parts or after sales service, operating or maintenance costs or the productivity of equipment.
Any additional evaluation criteria shall be designed to measure the advantage or disadvantage of a factor to the Procuring Entity. Such advantage or disadvantage shall be quantified in monetary terms and applied as an increase or decrease to the bid price, for purposes of evaluation only. The bidding document shall state the methodology for calculating and applying the adjustment to the bid price where applicable.
The Evaluation Committee
The Head of the Procuring Entity or the Accounting Officer must appoint an Evaluation Committee for each procurement requirement above the procurement threshold of the tender committee. The members of the evaluation committee shall be proposed and recommended by the procurement unit in consultation with the respective user department. Evaluation Committee is responsible for the evaluation of bids and preparation of an evaluation report with recommendations for contracts awards or rejection..
The Evaluation Committee must be composed of members who possess the requisite skills, knowledge and experience relevant to the procurement requirement such as:
- Technical skills relevant to the procurement requirement;
- End user Department representation;
- Legal expertise.
The most important consideration is be that the evaluation committee should be able to discharge its duty diligently. For purposes of transparency and to ensure segregation of duties, members of the Tender Committee shall not be appointed as members of the Evaluation Committee.
Evaluation
All procurement with the value of at least the threshold of the tender committee shall be evaluated by an evaluation committee appointed by the accounting officer or the head of the procuring entity as required by regulation 16(1) of the Public Procurement and Disposal Regulations 2006.
The thresholds are:
For Class A PEs – Ksh. 500,000
For Class B PEs – Ksh. 500,000
For Class C PEs – Ksh. 100,000 and Ksh. 200,000 for Direct Procurement.
The procurement unit shall recommend the members of the evaluation committee to the appointing Authority. In so doing, consideration of the individual member‘s capability and suitability to perform the task shall be taken into account. Consultations shall be necessary particularly with the user Department.
The Evaluation Committee may be appointed in the following manner.
- One evaluation committee to carry out both the technical and financial evaluations and make recommendations.
- Two separate evaluation committees, one for Technical evaluation and the other for Financial evaluation.
If two separate committees are appointed the preliminary evaluation shall be done by the Technical evaluation committee.
- A member shall not be appointed to both technical and financial evaluation committees.
- A member of a tender committee shall not be appointed to any evaluation committee.
- An evaluation committee shall consist of a chairman and at least two other members as required by regulation 16 (3).
- Regulation 46 requires that the evaluation committee completes it‘s work and produces the evaluation report within a period of 30 days after opening of tenders.
- Where two separate committees are appointed the evaluation shall be completed as follows.
- Technical evaluation – within 30 days after the opening of tenders or bids (Regulation16 (5) (b)).
- Financial evaluation – within 5 days after the completion of the technical evaluation.(Regulation16(7)(b))
The Act requires that the evaluation and comparison of bids shall be done using the procedures and criteria set out in the bid documents and no other criteria shall be used. The procuring entity must therefore ensure that the evaluation criteria are made very clear in the preparation of tenders and other bid documents. This is one of the most difficult parts of the procurement process.
