ZPPA bans Biogenix and Leisely Howards for a year after K2.4 million in school supply advances brought no usable equipment

The Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) has barred two companies from public procurement for a year each, after the Ministry of Education complained that equipment it paid for in advance did not reach schools as agreed. Biogenix Limited and Leisely Howards Limited were both contracted under the World Bank-funded Zambia Education Enhancement Project (ZEEP). ZPPA Assistant Public Relations Officer Lucy Lumbe announced the decisions in a statement issued in Lusaka. The authority opened its investigations in September, acting on the ministry's complaint, and made its decisions under the Public Procurement Act No. 8 of 2020. ## What each firm was paid to do Biogenix was to supply laboratory equipment and reagents to 82 secondary schools. It received an advance of K239,494 and did not deliver the goods. Its suspension took effect on 23 October 2026. Leisely Howards held a K8.62 million contract, about US$332,800, to supply home economics equipment to ZEEP schools. It received a 25 percent advance of K2.16 million in December 2024 and was given 12 to 16 weeks to deliver. It missed that window and made partial deliveries in June and July 2025, after the contract had expired. The ministry rejected those items because they did not meet the specifications. The firm is already serving a one-year suspension over a separate tender. Its new ban takes effect on 22 January 2027, the day that earlier suspension ends, which keeps it out of public contracts for longer. A suspension is an administrative penalty and not a conviction. Neither company has been reported as facing criminal charges, and no response from either has been reported. ## Background ZEEP was approved by the World Bank in 2017 to improve maths and science teaching in targeted schools and to widen access to secondary education. The Bank's share was put at US$60 million at the time. Other cases involving school money have surfaced recently. The Financial Intelligence Centre said last week that two publi