The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Appeals Tribunal canceled the Shs18bn office space renting deal that Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) signed with controversial city businessman Sudhir Ruparelia citing irregularities in the bidding process.
Members of the tribunal committee led by Nelson Nerima, and others who include; Geoffrey Nuwagira Kakira, Paul Kulumba, Charity Kyarisiima, Keto Kayemba and Eng. Cyrus Titus Aoma agreed with the management of the Twed Property Developments that the necessary requirements were not followed when giving the deal to Sudhir’s Speke Hotel 1996 limited to house the offices of the tax collecting body.
According to documents seen by this website, in April 2025, URA invited bidders with offices space around Kampala Central Business Area to apply for the deal and Twed Property development were among those who applied by presenting its building situated on plot 16 Lourdel road and plot 18 Kyadondo road.
Speke also presented its building at Pearl Business Park at plot 1 Kira Road Kampala and Apple properties offered a building situated at plot 4, Block 1, Old Kampala Road.
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Speke hotel secured the deal after Apple properties were eliminated at the preliminary stage for failing to submit a valid audited financial report and in May 2025, URA issued a Best evaluated bidder notice to the winner in the Shs18bn deal which was supposed to run for three years.
Twed Properties, according to documents, were defeated because they quoted a higher price compared to the successful bidder which they protested insisting that there were irregularities in the procurement process and as a result filed an administrative review complaint with Rujoki Musinguzi the URA Commissioner General.
In their complaint, they alleged that the successful bidder did not have the required 312 parking slots with an additional 100 walk-in for clients which was contrary to the requirement statement issued when inviting the bidders for the deal.
The complainant added that he also secured satisfactory information from a whistleblowers that the premises that the successful bidder offered had been allocated to Energies EP Uganda and according to the agreement signed, they were supposed to use 440 of its parking slot.
Twed based their complaint to the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) approved building plan given to the successful bidder which indicated that the said premises should accomodate only 354 parking slots.
As a result, Rujoki decided to establish an administrative review committee to investigate the allegations presented by the complainant to guide his final decision.
The committee however established that the successful bidder had 1049 parking slots at plot 1 Kira Road and on plot 6, 7 and 9 Kitante close off-site. They as a result recommended that the complaint be dismissed which the Commissioner General did in May 2025.
Unsatisfied by the decision, the complainant again protested and filed a complaint with the tribunal.
Both URA and Speke hotel denied the allegation and asked the tribunal to dismiss it with costs noting that the evaluation and bidding committee followed all the required procedures when awarding the deal.
They insisted that the KCCA approved plan was done when the building was still under construction.
However, in their final decision, the tribunal established that URA did not do post-qualification on the bidders to ensure the principle of maximization of the competition and achievement of value for money as stipulated under section 49 of the public procurement and disposal of public assets Act is fulfilled.
“ The tribunal noted that the evaluation committee did not evaluate the Qualification Forms and supporting documents submitted by the bidders. The evaluation report and the minutes of the evaluation committee do not show that the bidders Qualifications Forms and supporting documents were evaluated at any stage of the evaluation,” the ruling reads.
As a result, the tribunal dismissed the entire process directing URA to re-evaluate the bids in a manner not inconsistent but only following the law and it should be done within ten days after the delivering of their ruling.
