The Paraguayan Indigenous Institute (INDI) seeks to acquire notebooks for a unit price of G. 13 million, when they barely exceed G. 4 million according to the market price. M y F Industrial y Comercial Representaciones SA is the awarded company and it is the same one linked to the gold coquitos case.
The INDI awarded for a total value of G. 199,988,224 for the Acquisition of Computer Equipment. Through the call for bids for the Bid Contest, two were the companies that came out as winners, M and F Industrial and Commercial Representations SA and Master Soft Paraguay SRL.
For a total price of G. 109,240,000 M y F Industrial y Comercial Representaciones SA was awarded for the delivery of 8 notebooks, with a unit price of G. 13,655,000. For its part, the firm Master Soft Paraguay SRL will receive a total award of G. 90,748,224 for the provision of 14 desktop computers for a unit price of G. 6,482,016.
The notebooks to be ordered have specifications such as a 1TB SATA hard drive, a minimum of 8GB RAM, among other features, but making a comparison with the prices found in the market, it can be seen that a notebook with the same details are found around G. 5,316,000.
On the other hand, the hard disk to be integrated is purchased for about G. 431,000, according to price verifications found in the market. In this way, between the two articles the total price reaches G. 5,747,000, for which we can speak of an overinvoicing of G. 7,908,000.
Apart from the aforementioned cost overrun, another question found within the adjudication process is about the beneficiary company, since M y F Industrial y Comercial Representaciones SA, represented by María Digna Mendez Escobar, is the same firm involved in the case of overcharged purchases in the National Emergency Secretariat (SEN), better known as the gold coquitos.
However, another precedent for the firm refers to the “golden chairs” for the National Police, since G. 50 million was awarded for ten chairs for administrative staff, for a unit price of G. 4,600,000, when in the market a chair could be purchased for G. 450,000 or G. 2,045,000 in the case of a more sophisticated one.
MORE QUESTIONS
Master Soft Paraguay SRL, the second firm awarded and represented by Luis María Oreggioni and Gisela Selma Weiberlen from Oreggioni, also has objections, because within the portal of the National Directorate of Public Procurement (DNCP), the company has two reprimands and two disqualifications in your history.
The records correspond to the years 2012, 2017, 2019 and 2021 and all are because the supplier has provided false information or has acted with intent or bad faith in a contracting procedure.
On the other hand, the firm has other questions for “pocketing” most of the awards made by the State for the supply of ink and toner, when it was presented with prices even higher than those of its competition.
“MATTER OF PRICES”
Cristian Yalluf, head of INDI’s Contracting Operations Unit (UOC), had stated that the acquisition of computer materials corresponds to equipping 20 areas of the institution, since many of its machines are already obsolete. “Likewise, we are hiring more personnel and they need the equipment for the daily work of INDI,” he explained.
Regarding the overinvoicing observed, the director highlighted that it corresponds to one of the requested components, which is the 1TB hard drive and, responding to the history of cost overruns already made by M y F Industrial y Comercial Representaciones SA, he indicated that he awarded it to all modes because, for him, he submitted an offer at the market price.
“This company was the only one that applied for the lot of notebooks and we awarded it so as not to declare that lot void”, pointed out the person in charge of the INDI UOC. Regarding the reprimands and disqualifications that weigh on Master Soft Paraguay SRL, he said that they were actually guided by the prices offered by the company at the time of awarding it, since it had the lowest offer.
