The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) decided on August 29 to revoke the Resolution No. 0406 of June 13, 2024“by which the opening of the public bidding procedure ANH-001-LP-2024 is ordered”, according to what the newspaper EL TIEMPO was able to determine.
This competition was about seeking a contract for the provision of services 3D seismic data acquisition services in the Lower Magdalena Valley basin, San Ángel 3one of the richest areas in natural gas at a national level-
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This case is particularly relevant, since at the time of opening the investigation, the ANH stated that “The country needs to advance in the knowledge and evaluation of its gas potential, for which it is necessary to identify, prioritize and explore in those areas where it is considered possible to find new gas reserves.“.
And he also mentions: “Only by investing in regional studies and work for gas exploration will the country be able to continue exploring and exploiting reserves in new prospective areas for the nation’s energy security and continue generating greater tax revenues (…)“.
Natural gas
The Attorney General’s warning
After making some adjustments and postponing the process for eight days, The ANH set August 6 as the date for awarding the contract, worth 38.613 million pesos.
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Likewise, there was already a single selected bidder: the temporary union ‘San Ángel 2024’, made up of the company Vector and Effective Trends Renewables SASIn fact, the same entity had already dismissed an observation that spoke of alleged inflated prices and favoritism.
However, that same day, the First Delegate Attorney General’s Office for Preventive Oversight of the Civil Service, through the Official document filed under No. PDFP1 0581did “Warnings and risks of public tendering“, which led to its award being postponed until August 29, when it should have been revoked.
Marcio Melgosa, deputy attorneywarned him Orlando Velandia, head of the ANHthat “The way in which the entity determined the total budget of the project is not sufficiently clear, since items are arranged in global prices without clearly supporting or justifying each of these.“.
Orlando Velandia, president of the ANH
Unlawful contract?
Melgos also points out that in the document ‘Specialized personnel is required to carry out the work’, a merit-based competition should have been held. Therefore, requested to immediately suspend the process and thus avoid a possible illicit object of the contract that would lead to its nullity given its defects..
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“According to the above, in the specific case it is evident that the selection procedure is allegedly not appropriate, since the object to be contracted and the activities are typical of a consultancy contract – not the provision of a service – therefore, the National Hydrocarbons Agency is responsible for carrying out a contracting process through the merit-based selection process, guaranteeing respect for the right to competition and freedom of competition and its corollary of equality, in order to obtain the most favorable offer.“, the delegate pointed out to them.
After several months of studies, reports and evaluations, it will now be necessary to start again, with the adjustments noted and the consequences and delays of a sector in which new discoveries are urgently needed.
PORTFOLIO
*With information from EL TIEMPO – INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
