NHIF Takes Action: Tender Cancelled Amidst Irregularities Following Exposé
The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) was forced to eat humble pie and cancel a Sh6.9 billion bid to provide insurance coverage for civil servants and National Youth Service employees after it was improperly modified.
The alteration was revealed in a report published by the Nation on June 8; NHIF acting chief executive officer Samson Kuhora thanked the publication “for its vigilance.”
“We take this matter very seriously and are fully committed to correcting any lapses in the spirit of maintaining public confidence in our procurement processes.”
Canceled bid number NHIF/035/2022-2023 was for the provision of co-insurance and facultative insurance services (consortium) for Group Personal Accident (GPA) and Work Injury Benefits Act (WIBA) for 120,047 civil servants and New York State employees.
Dr. Kuhora posted an announcement regarding the cancellation on the NHIF website.
“NHIF has canceled the bids by section 63 (1) (e) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act of 2015. “We take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in our bids and to inform you that they will be issued in due time,” the notice stated.
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NHIF issued the tender on 30 May, inviting bids for the provision of insurance coverage from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024; prospective bidders had until 14 June 2023 to submit their proposals.
Also canceled is Tender No. NHIF/033/2022-23 for the provision of insurance brokerage services and Tender No. NHIF/036/2022-23 for the provision of co-insurance and facultative insurance services for group life and final expense insurance services for civil servants and NYS employees.
Other tenders include NHIF/037/2022/2022-2023 for the provision of emergency road evacuation services for NHIF members, NHIF/032/2022-2023 for the supply, delivery, and implementation of an endpoint solution and email security, and NHIF/002/2022-2023 for the provision of actuarial services.
Document alteration
While the other tender documents were posted on the NHIF portal and the Public Procurement Information Portal as required by law, Tender No. NHIF/035/2022-2023, which had been altered, was not.
The amendment of the bid document violates the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (PPDA) of 2015, which makes it illegal to amend a bid document without an addendum.
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Changes were made to the evaluation criteria for the lead co-insurer in Section 4 of the solicitation, about technical evaluation.
Dr. Kuhora stated, in response to the Nation article, that “the Fund has taken immediate steps to address the issue to ensure maximum transparency and integrity and to prevent similar incidents in the future.”
“NHIF has conducted an independent review of the changes made to the tender documents to assess the system, people, and process weaknesses that led to the error and their impact on the procurement process,” he stated in a press release.
The fund also indicated that it had contacted the Insurance Regulatory Authority for guidance on how to proceed.
NHIF Takes Action: Tender Cancelled Amidst Irregularities Following Exposé
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