The IEBC Technology Tender Must Be Re-Advertised. Here's Why.

The IEBC has to re-advertise the tender for the system that will identify voters and send results in August 2027 because the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) found the tender document faulty. On 3 September 2026 the board partly upheld a complaint by Galadriel Investments Ltd and ordered the commission to correct the document, publish a new one and give bidders at least seven days to respond. Among the defects: bidders were asked for a performance security of 20 per cent of the contract price, double the 10 per cent the law allows.

What the tender is for

The tender, numbered IEBC/OIT/01/2026-2027, covers the supply, installation, testing, commissioning, support and maintenance of an Integrated Elections Management System (IEMS) and its hardware. According to Capital FM, the system is meant to handle voter registration, candidate registration, voter identification and results transmission. In other words it replaces the KIEMS set-up the commission bought from Smartmatic for 2022, which Citizen Digital noted when it reported the dispute. How those kits work at the polling station is covered in what a KIEMS kit does when you reach the front of the queue.

The Daily Nation put the tender's value at Sh6.5 billion on 15 September. It was published on 11 August 2026 on the IEBC website and the government procurement portal, with bids due to close on 1 September.

They never closed. Galadriel filed its request for review on 14 August, and under procurement law a pending review freezes the process. On 27 August the IEBC confirmed that the technology tender and a separate ballot paper tender were both on hold before the board, and that no contract had been awarded.

What the board found

Reports of the 3 September decision, in Capital FM, The Star and People Daily, list the problems the board identified in the tender document:

• the standards bidders had to meet were not clearly identified;
• the rules for international bidders were unclear;
• the way technical evaluation scores were allocated was flawed;
• the post-qualification and contract award provisions were uncertain;
• the requirements for proving the qualifications of key personnel were unclear, and so were the clauses on who owns the hardware and technology;
• the document cited a "2020 DPP" delivery term, which is not a recognised Incoterm, and the board told the commission to fix it.

Then there was the performance security. The document asked for 20 per cent of the contract price. The IEBC admitted the mistake itself, Capital FM reported, saying it had spotted the error and was preparing an addendum, since the law caps the security at 10 per cent.

The board did not cancel the procurement. It ordered the IEBC to review, correct and clarify the document and then publish a fresh, compliant version. Bidders must get at least seven days with the new document before bids close.

The politics around it

The tender was contested before the board ruled. On 1 September Rigathi Gachagua, the former Deputy President who leads the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP), alleged that IEBC chairperson Erastus Ethekon and vice-chair Fahima Abdallah wanted the contract to go to MIRU Systems, a South Korean company, and that supply-chain staff who resisted had been transferred. They are allegations. On 27 August, answering earlier claims from him, the IEBC had challenged Gachagua to produce evidence of bribery.

Ethekon's answer was that no firm, MIRU included, had been awarded anything. "The technical specifications are generic, performance-based, open to any qualified supplier, guided by Supreme Court directives, lessons from previous elections and feedback from our field officers," he said, as reported by Citizen Digital.

How much time is left

On 14 September Commissioner Alutalala Mukhwana told Capital FM that the commission was "not out of time". He said it still had about 120 days to finish buying the technology and a further 60 days for simulations and testing, and he asked the courts to hurry the tender cases.

Counted from 14 September, 120 days runs to 12 January 2027, and another 60 to mid-March 2027. The general election is on 10 August 2027. That leaves room, but only if the re-advertised tender draws no fresh challenge, and the ballot paper tender is already in the High Court.

Money is the other constraint. The Parliamentary Budget Office found the IEBC had Sh4.7 billion for technology in 2026/27 against Sh9.4 billion needed. The wider shortfall is set out in the IEBC's Sh23.7 billion gap, and the original kit plan in 59,352 KIEMS kits and a Sh7 billion tender.

What to watch

As of 23 September 2026 BallotWinners had found no report that the amended tender had been published, and no new closing date. When it appears, the points to check are whether the performance security reads 10 per cent, whether the scoring grid is now spelled out, and whether the ownership clauses say who holds the hardware and software after the election. A second request for review by any bidder would stop the clock again.