KENYA POWER TO PARTNER WITH WOMEN GROUPS TO RAISE AWARENESS ON PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES

KENYA POWER TO PARTNER WITH WOMEN GROUPS TO RAISE AWARENESS ON
PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES

By Karambu Kubai

Kenya Power has raised concerns over

low uptake of tenders allocated to

women, youth and persons with

disabilities (PWDs) under the AGPO

program. This comes as the Company has

set aside KShs. 3.7 billion of its

procurement budget during the current

financial year targeting these groups.

The Company has noted that of the three

groups, women continue to lag behind in

the uptake of the procurement

opportunities.

The low uptake is due to reasons

ranging from lack of duly registered

and compliant business enterprises, low

understanding of the e-procurement

system and failure to ensure that the

goods targeted for procurement meet the

requisite acceptance tests.

“The opportunities exist but women feel

that this is a very technical area and

as a result, the uptake of these

tenders has been very low. The few

women who are getting the tenders

perform very well by ensuring that they

give the best to the Company,” said Dr.

John Ngeno, Kenya Power’s General

Manager, Supply Chain.

To address this situation and raise the

number of women suppliers, the Company

is seeking to partner with women

groups to sensitize them on procurement

processes and create awareness of

existing opportunities.

“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. We

are confident that by reaching out we

can have many of them taking up the

tenders,” said Dr. Ngeno.

To bridge the knowledge gap, the

Company is carrying out pre-bid

conferences where bidders are taken

through the various tender

requirements, processes for

registration as suppliers, and

uploading of documents on the

procurement portal.

During the last financial year, Kenya

Power set aside KShs. 1.6 billion of

its procurement budget for women, youth

and PWDs tenders out of which only

KShs. 480 million was taken up.