Santo Domingo – The National Institute of Student Welfare (INABIE) assured public opinion that the tenders for the acquisition of bread and cookies for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years, as well as the other processes that are carried out in accordance with the principles of transparency.
INABIE said that it interprets these complaints and others that are likely to come as the cost that must be paid for transparency and the ethical criteria adopted for the benefit of students that will not always leave all sectors satisfied.
In addition, for taking control away from people who have historically managed the tenders for their particular interests.
Clarifications
INABIE explains that, in order to provide the current processes with greater transparency and agility, the institution conducts tenders digitally through the Transactional Portal, which allows for greater control and auditable actions, which reduces the discretionary nature of the award.
This is why the institution is not receiving physical offers. Only offers that have a certification from the governing body could be admitted physically or on data storage media (USB, CD, etc.).
Contrary to concerns expressed by the Union of Medium and Small Flour Industrialists (UMPIH), these requirements were not met to receive physical offers.
In this situation there are only 9 bidders related to the tenders INABIE-CCC-LPN-2022-0037 of the Eastern Region and INABIE-CCC-LPN-2022-0038 of the Southern Region for the acquisition of bread and biscuits, among others.
ITBIS must be transparent in the offer presentation
In addition, even when it is a process with a single price, the ITBIS must be transparent in the (Form F.033) so that the economic offer can correctly show the total value, which is the amount that is taken as a reference for the Constitution of the guarantee of the seriousness of the offer.
A total of 13 bidders from these two processes did not carry out this procedure correctly, so their bids did not proceed.
Also, some bidders presented the offer of bread with ITBIS when this product does not carry it and in the case of biscuits they presented 19% instead of 18%, which is the percentage of this tax.
The arithmetic rule established in article 92 of the Application Regulation contained in Decree 543-12 of Law 340-06 on Public Procurement and Contracting, which deals with cases of corrections when there are discrepancies, does not apply to these errors in the economic offer.
Ties were resolved in accordance with the specifications
INABIE clarifies that in the bidding for bread and biscuits there have been no economic draws, since it is a single price.
The ties were due to the fact that there were bidders that had the same installed capacity and a similar distance with respect to the centers that make up the lots for which they competed.
In tenders for bread and biscuits, a maximum distance of 10 kilometers is not stipulated.
In this sense, in these bids related to bakeries, a maximum of 10 kilometers from the bidder’s facility in relation to the supply center was not established, therefore, there are no violations of the specifications in this criterion as alleged.
In the case of distance, the specifications only explain that the bidders with the least number of kilometers with respect to the centers that make up the lot are the ones who would have the greatest possibility of being awarded without having a maximum limit.
For the first time, distance and installed capacity were taken into account in order to have clear criteria when awarding contracts and avoid the discretion of the past.
Payments
Despite the administrative challenges encountered between January-July of this year, RD$12,252 million have been paid to suppliers, mainly for school lunch. Among these, the payment of 931 releases of 1,012 generated has been made, which corresponds to more than RD$640 million allocated to suppliers of bread and biscuits, so it is not true that all suppliers of these services have debts of 7 months.
INABIE recognizes the effort made by the bakers and other suppliers that allowed that, during the recently concluded school year, around 1.8 million beneficiaries could count on more than 90% of the supply of food rations each day.
