| Work Detail |
The 9/24 public tender, promoted by the General Directorate of Culture and Education of the province of Buenos Aires, has generated controversy due to alleged irregularities in the awarding of a contract worth more than 4 billion pesos for the purchase of school furniture. Companies in the sector filed challenges after discovering technical specifications that they claimed favoured a particular supplier. They say the material and design requirements were so specific that they restricted competition, a practice that has been criticised in previous tendering processes. In response to these complaints, the Buenos Aires government decided to postpone the tender to review the complaints. However, after almost fifteen days of analysis, it ratified the conditions of the original tender without modifications, which generated even more suspicions about the transparency of the process. One of the most questioned aspects was the joint award of two lines of the contract. The company Tamecas SRL, mentioned in previous challenges for its alleged links with groups benefiting from other tenders, submitted a high offer in the first line and a more competitive one in the second. This strategy would have allowed the award of both segments, resulting in an estimated overprice of 1.2 billion pesos. In a context of economic emergency declared by the provincial government, tender 9/24 exposes the need to strengthen control and transparency mechanisms in public contracting. Restrictive clauses not only increase costs for the province, but also limit competition and facilitate the concentration of contracts in certain business groups. The situation has revived the debate on the urgency of implementing reforms that guarantee more equitable and efficient bidding processes, ensuring that public funds are used responsibly and for the benefit of education and other key sectors in the province. |
