OFF THE CUFF: Transparency boss issued $1.4 million direct contract

AS A CIVIL SOCIETY activist Angélica Maytín was a scourge of the previous administration but in her role as director of the Transparency Authority (Antai) she has learened that life  inside the bubble  is not always comfortbable.

Since taking  office she has been the subject of several criticisms,  including travel jaunts.

On Monday, November 3 she was forced to justify the  abbreviated bidding process to choose the company that will be responsible for organizing the 17th International Anti-Corruption Conference which will be held from Dec. 1-4 in Panama.

Transparency Authority (Antai) Director Angélica Maytín today justified the abbreviated bidding process to choose the company that will be responsible for organizing the 17th International Anti-Corruption Conference which will be held from Dec. 1-4 in Panama.

“I am proud of the bidding process, although it has been shortened, there was no other option,” she said in an interview with TVN.

The $1.4 million contract was awarded without a public bid to Festieventos, S.A., a company that received at least $30 million in contracts from the previous government.

Maytín said that criticisms of the contract come from “people who are annoyed” that the company received the contract.

She said that the Antai decided to use an abbreviated tender process because there wasn’t enough time to put the contract out to bid. It was awarded in July, giving the firm several months to organize the event.

Maytín said that the public bidding process would have taken an additional two months.

The process was reviewed by the Consumer Protection Agency and the Department of Public Procurement. The international office of Transparency International, based in Berlin, was also asked for its opinion.

Six companies participated in the process, said Maytín