IEBC has secured a major victory in its preparations for the 2017 polls after a review board declined to overturn its Sh2.5 billion ballot papers tender.
However, the titanic legal duel that has sucked in Jubilee and Cord now heads to the High Court with the loosing bidder, a South African firm indicating it is not over yet.
In its ruling, the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board said Paarl Media of South Africa failed to meet basic requirements including providing a bid security of Sh5 million.
The board also said Paarl Media did not provide its audited accounts and confidential business questionnaire as was stated in the tender requirements.
“This application therefore lacks merit and is therefore dismissed,” said PPOA in a two-hour long ruling at its offices in Nairobi.
The board also said the applicant challenging the award of the tender and allegedly acting for Paarl Media had no instructions to make the move, what is known in legal parlance as powers of the attorney.
The lucrative tender was awarded to a Dubai firm, Al Ghurair printing for the supply of various electoral materials for 2017 general elections.
These include, supply and delivery of 130 million ballot papers, election declaration forms and poll registers.
Cord that was admitted as an interested party in the hearing wanted the tender cancelled.
The Coalition had warned IEBC against making high-value procurement before a new Commission is installed.
The 2017 ballot papers and election materials will contain stringent new security features to prevent some charges of forgery, ballot-stuffing and rigging that plagued the disputed 2013 polls.
In the tender documents, IEBC said it requiring ballot papers that would be almost impossible to forge.
They will have at least one generic watermark visible when visually examined under normal light.
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They will also have at least two security features visible only under UV light, one of them the IEBC logo.
“The ballot paper shall have a guilloche [an intricate pattern of braided or interlaced ribbons] security pattern. The guilloche shall be extremely difficult to replicate and offer protection against counterfeiting,” tendering documents say.
Ballot papers will also contain micro-text only visible under minimum X10 magnification. The surface must be smooth and on visual examination free from defects such as embedded foreign matter, tears, holes and creases.
All security details have not been disclosed but they can involve ultraviolet ink, anti-photocopying features, watermarked paper, serial numbers and other features.
Depending on the level of security and trust in outcomes required, they can be costly.