The National Transport and Safety Authority may have lost close to Sh395.6 million it paid to a local bank for the supply, delivery, installation and the maintenance of smart card-based driving licenses.
A report by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu on the NTSA’s finances for the year ending June 2021, shows that the Authority did not get value for the money it paid to the bank for the driving licenses.
According to the report, NTSA had in March 2017, entered into a three-year contract with a local bank for the supply, delivery, installation and maintenance of second-generation smart card-based driving licenses and associated services.
Ms Gathungu says that information given by NTSA shows that the bank would also later enter into an agreement and a sub-contract with another firm pursuant to the award of tender and execution of the contract.
The sub-contracted firm was to supply five million smart cards driving licenses by December 312, 2019 to the bank as outlined in the contract.
However, as at June 30, 2021, a closing balance of 1.27 million blank driving licenses cards were still at the Authority’s head office stores.
Included in the number are 296,000 blank smart cards valued at Sh91.1 million that have been rendered obsolete due to changes in printing technology.
“It was not explained how value for money would be derived in the receipt and continued storage of obsolete stocks of blank smart driving license cards,” Ms Gathungu says.
Equally, the ownership of the printing technology for smart driving licenses and the role of the bank – which was the main contractor, was not clearly spelled out in the contract.
Further, under the clause 9.0 of the sub-contract, the bank was required to pay the sub-contractor all amounts paid to it by the authority under the main contract with no deductions whatsoever.
Consequently, according to the agreement, the contract was originally supposed to run up to March 8, 2020, with an extension of two years ending March 8, 2022.
“The Authority management has not justified the extension of the contract for two years and no evidence of contingency arrangements in place to ensure that service delivery is not disrupted in case the contract is discontinued,” Ms Gathungu says.(
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