Employees of the trouble-ridden Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) will operate without medical cover following a dispute over the award of a tender.

A firm which lost in the tender has protested the award to the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board and wants the process repeated for a fair hearing.

Jubilee Health Insurance Limited is seeking for a review of the decision of the accounting officer at the authority to award the tender to First Assurance Company Limited.

This comes even as the fate of the hundreds of employees at the agency declared redundant last year remains at home.

The multi million shillings tender was awarded on November 15 for the provision of medical insurance cover for all the staff members.

Jubilee Health Insurance in the letter protests that despite submitting a bid that met all the mandatory requirements, the evaluation committee found the Applicant’s bid non-responsive, and declared it unsuccessful thus resulting in the issuance of the notification letter dated November 15.

The firm through Gerivia Advocates argues that the procuring entity breached the law by failing to evaluate the applicant’s bid in accordance with the procedures and criteria set out in the Tender Document.