Odebrecht objection puts metro tender on hold

The tender for the extension of line 1 of the Panama Metro to the Villa Zaíta sector has been suspended, to review the claim filed by the Villa Zaíta Consortium, formed by  Odebrecht  the FCC companies, and  Cicsa

The Consortium argues that the Línea Panamá Norte Group, made up of the Spanish OHL and the Portuguese Mota Engil, did not comply with minimum requirements for their proposal to be evaluated as the non-authentication of the signatures of their legal representatives, the lack of technical personnel with experience in the construction of high transport systems, as well as the lack of financing to cover the total amount of the project.

The group in which Odebrecht participates confessed  to the payment of bribes in the Martinelli  administration claims that the Línea Norte Norte Consortium only has bank letters to cover 70% of the amount of the work when the specifications required a minimum of 90%

On May 25 the proposals of qualified companies were opened and where it was known that the OHL and Portuguese Mota Engil companies presented the most economic offer ($ 203.9 million d), surpassing the Villa Zaíta Consortium ($247.5 million ) and the group ACPC ($249.6 million dollars).

This is the second claim filed by the Villa Zaíta Consortium after the first was rejected by the DGCP for not complying with the Public Contracting Law regulations reports La Prensa.

With the admission of the second claim, the  he General Directorate of Public Procurement (DGCP)   must decide review if the arguments presented by the claimant are real and, if so, could order the annulment of the evaluation committee’s report so that a new review of the proposals can be made.

If the claim was not valid, the DGCP would order the file and give the green light to the Panama Metro to continue with the award of the project.

The “turnkey” project must be built in 33 months and the first payment of $13 million this year is set as an advance to start the project. Then it will be paid, according to work progress.