Comptroller’s Office endorses the work of the MOP with a bond lower than the regulations

The Comptroller General of the Republic prepares an accounting of the direct hiring of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP)after the questions that arose as a result of publications in this medium about direct contracts, possible cost overruns and conflicts of interest. At the same time, The entity guaranteed a million-dollar work of that ministry with a bond lower than that required by regulations.

In June of this year, the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) admitted a bond of less than 50% of the cost of the work, in the contract for the study, design, construction and financing of the expansion of exclusive MiBus lanes in the Via Spaina project that had already been questioned for its technical and environmental aspects.

According to the contract published in Panamá Compra, the tendervalued at $107.9 million, has a bond of $40 million, equivalent to 37% of the total value of the work.

This contradicts what is established in the Resolution 2259 of 2023whose article 20 points out that performance bonds “In no case may it be less than fifty percent (50%) of the total value of the contract, when it is for work”.

The tender document itself It also establishes that the compliance bond for the Vía España lane expansion project must be posted for an amount equivalent to 50% of the contract value..

Despite this, the MOP contract for this work was endorsed by the Comptroller of the Republic, Anel Flores, on June 30, with a deposit below the percentage established by the regulations for this type of hiring.

The Vía España project was put out to tender C&T Vía España Consortium, composed of the companies Constructora Urbana SA and Toronto Global Holdings, Corp.both chaired by Rogelio Alemán Arias. Also on the board of directors of both companies is Carlos Fábrega Alemán, as vice president, and Pedro Ariel Espinosa, as treasurer.

The Star of Panama He consulted the Comptroller’s Office why it made this decision and on what basis the contract was endorsed with a bond lower than that established in the regulations. However, as of press time, no response has been received.

Experts in public procurement consulted by La Decana, including lawyer Alexis Zuleta, They warn that any contract that fails to comply with the provisions of Resolution 2259 of 2023 could constitute an illegal action.

Additionally, Comptroller Anel Flores spoke, through a circular dated July 17 of this year – that is, after the endorsement –on the limit of liability for performance bonds in contracts that include financing.

In the letter, Flores pointed out that The percentage corresponding to the performance bond must be calculated on the total amount of the execution of the project, service or supply, “not including financing”.

Under this criterion, the tender for the expansion of Vía España is a project that includes financing. Therefore, if what was established by the comptroller himself in his recent circular were applied, The amount on which the bond should be calculated would be approximately $80 million, excluding the $26 million corresponding to the financing.

In that scenario, A bond of $40 million would be equivalent to 50% of the value of the work, not including financing..

When consulted by this means, The MOP indicated that this performance bond was correct in accordance with the provisions of the Comptroller’s Office circular..

”As it is a turnkey project, the performance bond is calculated on the amount corresponding to the execution of the project, not including financing, in accordance with what is established by the Comptroller General of the Republic in Circular No. 25-2026-DNFG/FySE, of July 17, 2026”noted the entity.

However, The MOP contract had already gone through the CGR inspection department and had been endorsed on June 30while the Comptroller’s circular was published the following month, on July 17.

“This is an issue that has had variations over the years and there are many cases already documented where bail has not been handled correctly and the one who suffers is the State because when it needs it it does not have it”explained to this newspaper the lawyer Carlos Barsallo, former president of the Foundation for the Development of Citizen Freedom and expert in public procurement.

However, The bail is not the first question that the Vía España project faces. In April of this year, the minister Jose Luis Andrade publicly admitted to the Committee on Commerce and Economic Affairs of the National Assembly that the tender “started on the wrong foot”in response to the accusations for not having, at that time, the proper environmental impact study or the endorsement document.

Businessmen and residents of Río Abajo affected by the work also expressed their rejection. According to them, since the end of January and beginning of February, tree felling, installation of signs and the entry of personnel from the C&T Vía España Consortium to land whose occupation had not been verified were recorded.

Added to this are various investigations of The Star of Panama that have revealed possible conflicts of interest linked to Minister Andrade, as well as questions about direct contracting and possible cost overruns in MOP projects, including the wattles from the Ngäbe-Buglé region and the Tapahueco program, among other contracts. These actions have generated questions from different sectors of civil society.

Although Andrade has maintained that direct contracting responds to the fact that these are social works that must be executed quickly in the communities, during his accountability to the Budget Committee of the Assembly, on the occasion of the discussion of next year’s budget, also faced questions about these processes. In response, he stated that he had requested the CGR to audit the direct contracts..

In this sense, Comptroller Anel Flores has twice defended the management of the MOP and has described some of the questions as “morbid”.

“Many of those contracts they refer to are emergency contracts; they have to be done (…). There is no time to do a public tender because there are people affected. We are doing an audit and we will be giving a report to all citizens”said on September 19 to TVN News.

In June of this year, Flores also publicly supported Andrade, noting that the minister “He has done an extraordinary job” and? “He is the best minister in terms of execution”.