How to challenge a government tender award you lost
Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act; Public Procurement Administrative Review Board · sources read 5 Oct 2026
File a request for review with the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board within 14 days of the award notice (or of the breach). The Board must decide within 21 days, and anyone unhappy with its decision has 14 days to go to the High Court for judicial review.
- How long
- The Review Board must decide within 21 days of receiving the request.
- Deadline
- 14 days from the award notice or the breach to file a request for review
- Deadline
- 14 days from the Board's decision to seek judicial review; after that the decision is final
- Deadline
- The High Court decides a judicial review within 45 days; an appeal to the Court of Appeal must be filed within 7 days and is decided within 45 days.
- Where
- Public Procurement Administrative Review Board, secretariat at PPRA, 6th Floor KISM Towers, Ngong Road, Nairobi; then the High Court for judicial review
Steps
- Within 14 days of the award notice or the breach, file a request for review with the Review Board, saying what the entity did wrong and the loss it caused you.
- Pay the review fees in time. The Board Secretariat rejects requests whose fees are not paid within the set time.
- Once filed, the Board notifies the procuring entity and the procurement is suspended while the review runs.
- The Board decides within 21 days. It can cancel the award or the whole tender, order steps redone, replace the decision, or order a new tender.
- If you disagree with the Board's decision, apply to the High Court for judicial review within 14 days.
Watch out
- A request the Board finds frivolous or meant only to delay can be dismissed with costs. You lose your deposit and the Authority debars you.
- Only a candidate or tenderer who shows loss or risk of loss can bring a review. Being unhappy is not enough.
- Some things can't go to the Review Board at all: the choice of procurement method, a tender properly terminated under section 63, or a contract already signed in line with section 135.
- The request must come with a refundable deposit of at least 10% of the contract cost (the exact amount is set by regulations). This does not apply to tenders reserved for women, youth, persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups.
- A review request does not take away any other legal remedy you may have.
Who this covers
- Candidates and tenderers in the procurement who suffered, or risk, loss from the entity breaking the procurement law.
Official sources (4)
- Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 (No. 33 of 2015), as published in Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 207 new.kenyalaw.org · read 5 Oct 2026
- PPARB Application No. 122 of 2025, Jubilee Health Insurance Ltd v Accounting Officer, Kenya Airports Authority (decision of 21 January 2026) ppra.go.ke · read 3 Oct 2026
- Lodge a Review ppra.go.ke · read 3 Oct 2026
- PPARB Application No. 89 of 2026, Platinate Solutions Ltd v Director General, Communications Authority of Kenya (decision quoting s.167(4) of the Act) ppra.go.ke · read 4 Oct 2026