The Interior Ministry dismissed the process of acquiring bulletproof vests for the National Police that initiated the Army Army and Ammunition Factory (FAME), and decided to start a purchase on its own through the General Office of Administration and Finance (OGAF).
As the Republic reported, on August 11, the state company FAME, attached to the Ministry of Defense, granted the good Pro to the American company High End Defense Solutions (HEDS), to co -produce 10,164 vests (3,164 Antibalas type IIIA and 7,000 personal protection), destined for the PNP. It was supposed to be a commission from the Ministry of Interior to Fame to seek a supplier abroad.
However, a few days later, on the 15th of the same month, the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Interior authorized the OGAF to initiate the procedures of law to stock up on bulletproof vests in the foreign market.
FAME initiated the process by raising in Law No. 31684, of February 15, 2023, which provides that the Armed Forces and the National Police must process the acquisitions through the state company. In fact, the former Minister of the Interior, Juan Santiváñez, in application of the so -called “FAME Law”, hired the Israeli company (Israel weapons industries) for the supply of 7,323 Rifles Arad 5 aimed at the National Police.
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No market availability
But the Mininter changed its mind and will now convene a contest of proposals for the supply of level IIIa bulletproof vests.
According to Mininter sources, they consulted with FAME if it had the availability of bulletproof vests, and replied that no but had initiated a process to select a supplier.
The schedule seemed too long to the Mininter authorities, so they chose to promote their own procedure.
“A non -domiciled process (Copra abroad) has been chosen because here in the country, there are no companies that make bulletproof vests,” a senior official of the internal sector told the Republic.
“He talked with Fame, but he was just in the process of selecting the company that will manufacture the vests. We need the bulletproof vests for the National Police, because we are in deficit due to the carelessness of the previous governments,” said the source with knowledge of the case.
In addition, they indicated that FAME does not manufacture the bulletproof vests, but signs agreements with foreign manufacturing companies to achieve the equipment needed by the Armed Forces and the National Police.
At least 30,000 Type IIIa bulletproof vests are required. In 2024, the Interior Ministry awarded the purchase of 3,164 units, but in the end the process was canceled for alleged irregularities.
The Mininter sources explained that one of the reasons why the National Police does not have bulletproof vests, it is because most tenders were annulled by the challenges filed by companies whose proposals were dismissed
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Direct purchase in the foreign market
At present, of a universe of 140,000 police officers, only 6.55% have the protection of level IIIa vests.
The mininter sources stated that the State Contracting Law empowers to hire companies from abroad if there was, for example, an emergency situation due to shortage.
“This is precisely the case. We do not have in the Peruvian market manufacturers of the Type IIIA bulletproof vests, therefore, there is justification to request proposals to companies from abroad. The current process allows you to have the bulletproof vests for the beginning of 2026,” they said.
On June 27 of this year, the Office of Administration and Finance (OGAF) of the Ministry of Interior approved the “Directive for hiring with non -domiciled suppliers in the country excluded from the General Public Procurement Law” in order to acquire 3,164 Type IIIA Antibalas vests, aimed at the commissaries of the seventh police region of Lima and Callao.
On August 15, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior, Erick Caso Giraldo, authorized the special procedure as part of the “Optimization, Marginal Expansion, Rehabilitation and Replacement (Ioar)”. In the contracting modality with a supplier not domiciled in the country, under the argument that the acquisition of bulletproof vests is not viable through the mechanisms and procedures for selecting the contracting law with the State.
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“The purpose of the current process is to hire directly with the manufacturers of the bulletproof vests abroad, without existing intermediaries, because the idea is to buy a significant number of units of a single blow. It will be a rapid and effective contract,” the sources reported.
The Republic reported that Fame awarded the American company High End Defense Security (HEDS) the hiring for an agreement for the manufacture of 10,164 vests for the National Police. This newspaper detected that, during the selection process, FAME granted the good Pro to HEDS without having questioned that the company is involved in investigations in Ecuador.
HEDS was hired by the Ecuadorian police for the munition supply, but the delivery period only completed, only completed 50% of the total. For this fact, the American firm was sanctioned with a fine and with a prohibition to hire the State for non -compliance until 2029.
The company returned to the center of the scandal when the press discovered that the Joint Command of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces signed a contract with HEDS for the provision of antibalas and protective helmets for the army, despite the disqualification of the company as a supplier.
“How can you trust a company that in a neighboring country breaches with contracts? It is not reliable a company that has been sanctioned with the disqualification for five years. These transcendental details were not taken into account by Fame when giving it the good pro,” said the sources.
“FAME states that disqualification is only in Ecuador. It is true, but it is an antecedent that says a lot about the seriousness of that company,” they concluded.
There are no vests for 6 years
● “Since 2019, before the state of emergency by the Coronavirus, the seventh police region requests the Governing Board (Ministry of Interior), the acquisition of an average of 4 thousand bulletproof vests. However, so far a single vest has not been received,” said a senior officer of the PNP Logistics Division.
● The sources explained that the seventh Lima Police Region has an average of 22 thousand distributed police stations, emergency squad, special services units, criminal investigation divisions among others. However, there is a deficit of 8 thousand bulletproof vests.
● “The issue is not a policeman, the issue is the process of acquisitions of the State that allows a second or third bidder to fight some observation, the whole process falls. And so we have been for more than a decade without being able to buy the antibala vests,” they said.
