NCA contractor categories and registration in Kenya
Which National Construction Authority category a Kenyan contractor needs for the work it wants, and the documents and accounts registration asks for.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Construction businesses in Kenya
A growing Kenyan contractor reaches a point where the work it is offered is bigger than the work it is allowed to do. A county wants a classroom block; a developer wants a small apartment building; a water company wants a pipeline extension. Each comes with a contract value, and each requires a National Construction Authority category that covers it.
Registration with the NCA is not a formality to sort out after the tender is won. It decides which jobs the business can legally take on at all. This article explains how the NCA's categories and value limits work, what registration requires, and how a contractor's books feed the audited accounts the NCA asks for.
No contracting without registration
Kenya's National Construction Authority says that under section 15 of the National Construction Authority Act No. 41 of 2011, a person shall not carry on the business of a contractor unless registered by the Board and holding a valid practising licence. That covers the business as a whole, not only public sector work.
The NCA's local contractor registration page sets out the categories, the value limits and the documents required, and is the place to confirm current requirements before applying.
Eight categories across three classes of works
The NCA registers contractors in eight categories, from NCA 8 up to NCA 1, across three classes of work: building works; electrical and mechanical engineering services; and roads, water and other civil works. A contractor can hold different categories in different classes, depending on its experience and capacity in each.
Value limits by category
The category sets the largest single contract the contractor may undertake in that class. For building works, the NCA's value limits are:
| Category | Building works, up to |
|---|---|
| NCA 1 | Unlimited |
| NCA 2 | KES 500 million |
| NCA 3 | KES 300 million |
| NCA 4 | KES 200 million |
| NCA 5 | KES 100 million |
| NCA 6 | KES 50 million |
| NCA 7 | KES 20 million |
| NCA 8 | KES 10 million |
For roads, water and other civil works, the NCA's limits run from up to KES 750 million for NCA 2 down to KES 20 million for NCA 8. For electrical and mechanical engineering services, they run from up to KES 250 million for NCA 2 down to KES 5 million for NCA 8. NCA 1 is unlimited in both. The intermediate categories in those two classes are set out on the NCA's page.
These are the figures the NCA published at the time of writing. Check the NCA's page before relying on them for a specific bid.
The documents every applicant needs
The NCA lists mandatory registration documents for all local contractors:
- the company registration certificate, or certificate of incorporation and CR12, with directors' IDs;
- academic certificates for technically qualified directors and staff;
- a valid KRA Tax Compliance Certificate;
- a copy of the current business licence, which the NCA requires to be certified.
Applicants also submit proof of experience, proof of plant and equipment and asset ownership, and three years' audited accounts, which the NCA requires to be certified by a person registered with ICPAK.
The tax compliance certificate is the item most often found expired at the last minute. Check its validity before starting the application, not on the day you submit it.
Three years of audited accounts
The accounts requirement is the one that takes longest to fix if it is missing. A contractor that has never had its accounts audited cannot produce three years of audited accounts in a month. If a higher category is in the business plan, the audits need to start years before the application.
Audited accounts begin with good books. Achekam's general ledger lists every posted line, and its trial balance shows each account for all time, for a period or at a date, and says whether debits equal credits. Management accounts show an income statement for a chosen period beside the period before and a balance sheet at period end, both added up from the business's own journals and exportable as PDF or CSV. Those are the starting point an auditor will want: complete, balanced books, closed month by month.
A business can appoint its accounting firm in Achekam by the firm's Achekam address or firm code, as accountant, auditor, tax practitioner, payroll provider or adviser, with an access level, and the firm accepts or declines. Appointing the auditor that way means the auditor works from the same books the contractor keeps, rather than from exports sent by e-mail.
Make sure the person who certifies the accounts is registered with ICPAK, as the NCA requires. Your auditor's registration is worth confirming before the engagement starts.
A workspace registered as Kenyan at sign-up uses the Kenya pack as its default and, on activation, sets the shilling (KES) and the Africa/Nairobi time zone unless already set, so the books are kept in the currency the NCA's limits are expressed in.
Specialist subclasses and other regulators
The NCA says contractors in certain specialist subclasses also need licences from other regulators. Electrical installations, generating plants, and lifts and escalators need EPRA licensing. Radio communication, structural cabling and telecommunication works need a licence from the Communications Authority of Kenya. A contractor moving into those areas needs both the NCA registration and the specialist licence.
Planning the next category
A practical sequence for a contractor that wants to move up:
- Decide which class and category the business is aiming for, and why.
- Check that the experience, plant and staff qualifications will meet the requirement.
- Make sure three consecutive years of audited accounts will exist by the application date.
- Keep the tax compliance certificate and business licence current.
- Assemble the documents before the tender that needs the new category appears.
For the tax certificate itself, see the KRA tax compliance certificate; for confirming your auditor's standing, read checking an auditor with ICPAK.
The contractor that plans its category a few years ahead is the one ready when the bigger job is advertised.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
