The Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) has raised
concerns over the low uptake of tenders allocated to women, persons living with
disabilities, and youth under the AGPO program.
It associates the low uptake to various reasons including
lack of duly registered and complaint businesses, low understanding of the
e-procurement system, and targeted goods not meeting the stipulated acceptance
tests.
“The opportunities exist but women feel that this is a very
technical area and as a result, the auptak of tehse tenders has been very low,”
explained Dr. John Ngeno, KPLC’s Supply Chain General Manager. He added that, “The
few women who are getting the tenders perform very well by ensuring that they
give the best to the company.”
KPLC has noted that of the three groups, women continue to
lag behind in taking up the procurement opportunities. The company has set
aside Ksh 3.7billion of its procurement budget during the current financial year
for women, the youth, and people with disabilities. In the previous financial year,
it allocated Ksh 1.4billion of its procurement budget to women, youth, and
people with disabilities but only Ksh 480million was taken up.
To remedy the low uptake of tenders allocated for women, KPLC
intends to partner with women groups to sensitize them on procurement procedures
and create awareness of existing opportunities. Dr. Ngeno continued to explain
that, “We are calling on groups to partner with Kenya Power in workshops and other
trainings where we can share knowledge on e-procurement and opportunities that
exist for them within the company.”
The company is also carrying out pre-bid conferences, where
bidders are taken through the different tender requirements, processes for registration
as suppliers, and uploading of documents on the procurement portal.
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