Contract deals at Tocumen violation of free enterprise principles business leader

"The current method of handing out contracts at Tocumen International Airport is a violation of the principles of free enterprise according to the outgoing president of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives, Felix Cuevas.

The  manager of Tocumen, SA looks at it from another angle and calls  the giving of a new power to the board to issue "direct contracts by invitation" an example of intitiative and creativity.

The changes also included a peculiar power to the board: the possibility of not making public tendering processes by invitation says La Prensa.

The first changes in how the airport  does business began soon after the present government took office with the amendment to Law 23 of 2003 establishing the regulatory framework for airports in the country with the aim of changing the board of Tocumen, SA

Later, in June 2010, the new board, chaired by the now Minister of Economy and Finance, Frank De Lima, amended the rules governing contracts and concessions, to make it easier contracting directly (Resolution 016-JD- 2010).

. Only one month later, on July 7, 2010 – the game plan in Tocumen, SA to match procurement tenders and direct no bid contracting.