The Costa Rican construction company Meco does not give up the contract for the construction of the vehicular bridge over the Bayano River at the height of the Coquira port.
After the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) awarded the company Ingeniería y Tecnología Especializada, SA (Itecpa) the execution of the project for 22.8 million dollars, Meco -which participated together with its subsidiary in Panama under the figure of the consortium called Bayano- filed an appeal before the Administrative Court of Public Procurement (TACP).
The appeal was filed with a challenge bond for 3 million 465 thousand dollars, which corresponds to 15% of the estimated price set by the MOP.
On appeal, Meco asks the Court to reverse the award order issued by the MOP; that the evaluation commission report in which Itecpa obtained the best rating be annulled and that the contract be awarded to the Bayano consortium.
Although the Bayano consortium submitted the lowest offer, with 22 million 72 thousand dollars, its proposal was not evaluated after the claim filed by Itecpa indicating that the Costa Rican construction company and its Panamanian subsidiary had not complied with all the requirements requested in the specifications. , specifically those related to the financing of the project.
The bridge over the Bayano River is part of the infrastructure works package that the MOP is putting out to tender under the ‘turnkey’ figure, where the contractor must provide the funds to execute the contract, and then the State cancels the debt upon receiving to the satisfaction of the project.
Despite the fact that Meco assured that in the past the MOP had validated financing letters similar to those that the company presented in the tender for the contract for this project, the General Directorate of Public Procurement (DGCP) supported what was done by the evaluation commission. which gave Itecpa the highest score.
In the tender, the MOP received 4 offers: Constructora Meco, SA, whose offer was $22 million 72 thousand; Itecpa, SA, with $22 million 88 thousand; Constructora Urbana, SA, (CUSA), with $24,645,000; and Ingeniería Estrella, SA, with $23 million 46 thousand.
In addition to the multiple claims filed by the bid participants, the DGCP ordered on two occasions that the proposals be reviewed.
In both cases the decision of the commissioners was not unanimous. In the first review, one of the commissioners did not agree that the financing letter presented by Meco be considered valid.
In the second review Shadia Massoud, coordinator of the evaluation commission, attached her report of disagreement where she states that in her opinion the financing letter presented by Meco and its subsidiary meet the requirements of the specifications.
The coordinator indicates that the forms are “mere guides” and refers to what is established in Law 22 on public procurement that the Ministry of Economy and Finance will be responsible for negotiating the financing conditions.
