A Japanese vehicle inspection firm has been banned from bidding for public contracts in Kenya, marking its second debarment in under five years.
EAA Company Limited was slapped with a three-year ban effective March 18, 2025, by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA). The authority did not disclose the reasons behind the debarment.
The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act of 2015 lists 14 grounds upon which a firm can be debarred. These are defaulting on tax payments, forging documents and being found guilty of graft and poor performance.
The debarment comes barely a year after the lapse of another three-year ban, when the company was found guilty of using forged letters to bid for inspection tenders floated by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) on three separate occasions.
The firm is one of the two companies that have been debarred by PPRA this year. The other one is Filtronic International Limited – a dealer in aircraft parts and airport equipment – whose three-year ban started on March 5 this year.
EAA Company Limited had been debarred for three years in December 2021, after the firm was found guilty of using forged papers to bid for Kebs tenders in 2011, 2014, and 2019.
The firm unsuccessfully sought to have the Supreme Court quash the ban. EAA Company argued that its constitutional rights were violated in the proceedings before the debarment case and as well during the conduct of the debarment process.
“When the matter came for mention on June 13, 2024, EAA chose to withdraw the suit. Upon hearing the parties, the court marked the case as withdrawn with no orders as to costs,” PPRA said in its report for the 2023/24 financial year.
EAA Company is one of the companies that have been previously tapped by Kebs to undertake pre-inspection and pre-verification of motor vehicles in the source markets including Japan – the single biggest source of second-hand markets to Kenya.
The firm and its counterpart, Auto Terminal Japan had used forged papers to clinch a Sh2.7 billion tender for pre-export verification for used motor vehicles, mobile equipment, and used spare parts.
Pre-inspection and pre-verification of motor vehicles are undertaken in the source markets to ensure that they comply with requirements such as the age limit of eight years.
PPRA is the State entity that has the power to debar companies that violate procurement regulations. Debarment locks the company out of bidding for public tenders for a specified period, typically three years.
Under the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015, accounting officers of procuring entities, the Director-General of the PPRA, a law enforcement agency, and an individual with factual information to support debarment can request debarment against a firm.
