4×4 trucks from the year 2024, with full equipment, leather upholstery, with powerful 2.4 or 2.8 liter engines, are some of the specifications requested in six million-dollar purchases reported between January and July of this year by six public institutions in the Electronic Administrative Contracting System (Siscae), reviewed by Article 66.
The purchases included the acquisition of 19 pickup trucks, basic or fully equipped, which together cost 41,311,602 cordobas, or 1,128,115.84 dollars, confirmed this media outlet in its data analysis.
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The institutions that reported the acquisition of vans for their respective vehicle fleets were: General Directorate of Customs Services (DGA), Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Marena), Municipal Corporation of Markets of Managua (Commema), National and International Airports Administration Company (EAAI), Ministry of Education (Mined) and Mayor’s Office of León.
Autonomous Community awarded with million-dollar tenders
The company that won the majority of these public tenders was Autonica Sociedad Anónima, which was responsible for providing 11 of the 19 vans purchased by these public institutions.
Autonica sold four pickup trucks to the DGA for 5,602,860 córdobas; it sent three double-cab pickup trucks to the Mayor’s Office of León – one fully equipped and two basic ones – for 4,266,230 córdobas; it provided two pickup trucks to the EAAI for 3,185,940 córdobas; and it delivered two pickup trucks to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources for 2,966,220 córdobas.
Grupo Q Nicaragua Sociedad Anónima, although it only won one of the bids, sold four 2.4-liter turbo diesel engine pickup trucks to the Mined for an amount of 5,271,600 cordobas.
The Municipal Corporation of Markets of Managua awarded the purchase of its four trucks to Servicio Automotiz Mántica Sociedad Anónima for an amount of 7,982,266.19 córdobas. In addition, it acquired from the company Maquinaria y Equipos Sociedad Anónima a mini-loader, a double-cab truck and two dump trucks for an amount of 12,036,486.50 córdobas. According to tender 7-2024, said purchase was made in order to “strengthen Commema’s vehicle fleet in the Managua markets.”
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Intur will expand its vehicle fleet
According to the analysis of Article 66, In the first six months of this year, Siscae reported four other purchasing processes linked to the acquisition of vans, but these were located as “current”, “deserted” or in “evaluation” and to date have not been updated with details that would allow knowing if the purchase was made, the amount for which it was awarded and to which company it was awarded.
The Nicaraguan Institute of Tourism (Intur), according to public tender 6/2024, last April disclosed the process of “Acquisition of 14 double-cab pickup trucks, basic model and a 12-ton truck with their maintenance packages”, but this was closed as “deserted”.
On July 16, once again, Intur published a purchasing process describing the purchase of the same 14 double-cab pickup trucks and a 12-ton truck, with their respective maintenance packages, through tender 6/2024. However, to date, the process published in Siscae remains “current” and has disabled the option to download the documents, with which the bidders can see the specifications requested by this Institute for said purchase.
Marena, according to selective tender 73644-2024, also planned to buy 2 vans “for monitoring areas of forest restoration and conservation systems,” according to the purchasing process it disclosed last May, but it was declared “deserted.”
In addition, it disclosed selective bidding 74536-2024 on July 16, through which it sought to acquire 3 4×4 trucks, financed by the Global Environment Facility, but to date it has not detailed whether the purchase was made or to whom it was awarded, keeping the process “under evaluation”, despite the fact that it closed on July 25.
Over the past six years, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo has used public institutions’ vehicles, especially double-cab 4×4 trucks, to transport sympathisers of the Sandinista Front to political party activities. In the 2018 protests, some of these trucks were even used by armed men in civilian clothes who shot down protesters in the so-called “peace caravans”, which were actually gangs of thugs in the pay of the FSLN.
