The General Directorate of Public Procurement (DGCP) declared invalid, due to lack of motivationof the Act of Award number LPN 0052/2021 of the tender carried out by the National Institute of Student Welfare (unabie), of the process for the acquisition of rFood meals for lunch and its distribution in schoolsduring the extended day for the current school year (2021-2022).
The resolution issued this March 22, six months after publishing the results of the tender INABIE-CCC-LPN-2021-0009, declares “the invalidity of the aforementioned act, due to verifying the lack of motivation, for which it orders the unabie to issue the acts that are necessary to explain what were the criteria used to have awarded zero rations to one of the bidders, represented by the lawyer Pedro Vicioso#.
According to Purchasing and Contracting Law, administrative acts that lack motivation and justification are null.
The document signed by the director of the DGCP, Carlos Pimentel, refers that unabie must issue the acts, as applicable, to allocate the rations that should correspond according to the award criteria established in the specifications.
It is recalled that the past authorities of the unabieheaded by Cecilio Rodríguez Montás, authorized and awarded 1,260 suppliers that did not comply with the specifications to supply the school lunch in public educational centers, as stated in the Act of Adjudication number LPN 0052/2021 of the process. They also left out bidders who had been notified as winners of the process.
The resolution of the governing body of purchases and contracting orders the unabie publish in the Transactional Portal the administrative acts that are issued as a result of the decision taken.
The decision was also notified to the Comptroller General of the Republic and the Chamber of Accounts, for their knowledge and purposes of place.
The resolution is final in administrative headquarters and the unabie may file a contentious-administrative appeal before the Superior Administrative Court, within a period of 30 days, counting from the day following the notification.
legal implications
Pedro Vicioso, lawyer for the affected offeror, explained to Free Journalthat the fact that the invalidity of the administrative act is declared for a bidder, directly involves the others as the same document.
“What we are analyzing is the real feasibility of applying this resolution, since there are already bidders who have been supplying for seven months. We are talking about the program being 60% complete and the legal and factual implications should be analyzed; that is, what could be done with this resolution ”, he exposed.
Understand that while it is true that the DGCP I acted correctly, adhering to the law, it is no less true that the resolution was issued after the deadline, since the appeals (more than 50) were submitted more than three months ago.
“And what can be done is really little. Being optimistic at this point in the game, perhaps the award act can be reviewed and a kind of redistribution made that favors the affected bidders, but reality indicates that due to the collective interest, it is unlikely that this resolution will be executed, ”he concluded. vicious lawyer.
