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House amends report on Safaricom security deal [Nation (Kenya)](Nation (Kenya) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The National Assembly has amended the report on the inquiry into the Safaricom tender for the proposed national security surveillance system. In the amendments, Safaricom is required follow to the letter all laws relating to procurement of goods and services. This was one of the recommendations added to the report by the Administration and National Security committee and endorsed by members before they take their long break. Initially, the committee had made only two recommendations. First, the report cleared the project and asked the National Assembly to approve the tender award and signing of the contract to Safaricom Ltd to provide a national surveillance, communication, command and control system for the National Police Service. The second requirement was that the project be expanded to cover the rest of the country as soon as possible. In its additional comments to be added to the initial report, the committee now requires that procurement and all other laws relevant to the contract must be observed. This requirement substitutes the initial express clearance recommendation. PROCESS ABOVE BOARD The team concluded in its report tabled in the House in July that the procurement process for the Sh18.8 billion project was above board and all necessary stakeholders were consulted. The committee defended the use of direct procurement to procure the project arguing that it was necessitated by the urgency of the need to sort out the security challenges in the country. "The insecurity problems in this country were such that the other methods of procurement save for direct procurement would have been impractical…the circumstances therefore justify direct procurement in this tender," the report stated. (Read: Local firms to be part of Sh14bn security deal) The committee indicated that it did not find any ulterior motive on the choice of Safaricom to implement the project, noting that given the urgency and the precarious security situation in the country, Safaricom was the most appropriate entity to implement the project. Five more recommendations have been added by the House team. The Communications Authority of Kenya is now required to ensure that the frequency assignment to Safaricom Ltd is subjected to approval by the board of the authority. The government is also required to adopt a phase-out plan to roll out the surveillance to all the 47 counties. 30PC to LOCAL ENTERPRISES Safaricom and its agents who will be involved in the roll-out of the network will also be required to ensure that at least 30 per cent of the contract is given to local enterprises. The committee says this is to ensure the promotion of technology transfer, job creation and will also be in line with the government's undertaking to create jobs and opportunities for Kenyans. The Administration and National Security Committee also recommends that the government urgently introduce broadband infrastructure regulations to encourage open access, transparency and non-discrimination practices and actualise the national broadband strategy to provide high-speed broadband access to all Kenyans. (Read: Safaricom security deal gets MPs' nod) The last recommendation is that the government ensure the implementation of the project leads to full automation of all related processes, including back-office operations and the recording, retrieval and storage of information on the occurrence book. The committee seized the matter following public concerns that Safaricom had been awarded the tender for the sensitive security system through direct procurement. The MPs met top officers in the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, including the technical committee, which evaluated and approved the tender for the surveillance and communication system. The team, comprising senior government officials in the ministry and the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology and others from the National Intelligence Service, was questioned on the choice of direct procurement. The team also met the officials of the Communication Authority of Kenya as well as independent communication experts, the Public Procurement Oversight Authority, Safaricom and Cabinet Secretaries of ministries involved and the Director of Procurement at The National Treasury. PROTRACTED NATURE OF TENDERS It emerged that the direct procurement of Safaricom was due to the protracted nature of previous tenders for police communication and surveillance systems. There was also a need to urgently set up a security system to address the urgent security challenges in the country. The new security system project comprises four components — a digital trunking radio network, a central command operation centre, installation of a video surveillance system and Internet connectivity to police stations. Under the project, Safaricom will build the network to be used in the proposed system and then hand it over to the National Police Service for use. The proposed project is valued at Sh14.9 billion over a five-year repayment period. The cost is to cater for the purchase of the equipment, its installation and networking to link it to the central command centre. The report details the cost breakdown as Sh12.7 billion for building the system and Sh2.2 billion for maintenance support over the five year period. In the first phase, the project will cover Nairobi and Mombasa, according to information from the implementing ministry. The government would have to pay an extra Sh21 billion to set up the project in the rest of the country. Part of the payment by the government to Safaricom would be in the form of spectrum for Safaricom to roll out the Long-Term Evolution 4G networks, both for commercial use and for use by the proposed police system. (c) 2014 Nation Media Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |