The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) tribunal has cancelled the aviation fuel supply contract that Uganda National Airlines had awarded to Vivo Energy, citing procurement irregularities.

On November 8, 2022, Uganda Airlines, through a newspaper advertisement, invited sealed bids for the procurement of supply of aviation fuel and inflight support using the open international bidding method.

In a hearing at the PPDA headquarters in Kampala on March 6, the tribunal ruled the day after (March 7) that Jenifer Bamuturaki, Uganda Airlines’ chief executive officer, who also doubles as the entity’s accounting officer, did not treat all the bidders equally, rendering her decision to award the contract null and void.

“The tribunal has determined that the respondent (Uganda Airlines) erroneously stipulated eligibility criteria which do not belong to eligibility requirements. The tribunal has also determined that there was unequal treatment of bidders in the impugned procurement. Even the purported best-evaluated bidders (Vivo Energy Uganda Limited and Associated Energy Group LLC) did not qualify for the awards made. In the circumstances, the procurement will be cancelled,” the members ruled.