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Colombia: Society of Engineers denounces corruption in public contracts

By  |  June 5, 2017

The Colombian Society of Engineers (SCI) has spoken out against what it called persistent and widespread corruption, even reaching the level of extortion, experienced during the recruitment process for government projects. Algerio Durán, president of the SCI, said that the bidding process remains in the hands of a small group of companies. “What is happening in regional contracting is no longer a matter of corruption, but of extortion: regional institutions are telling potential stakeholders that if they want to participate, they must pay,” he added.

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    The issue can be seen in the regional public procurement report for 2016, published by SCI, in which 1,288 contracts were analyzed (including public tenders, merit competitions, abbreviated selections and reverse auctions), of which 75% received Three or fewer formal suitors.

    This study of public procurement “suggests that lack of transparency and political will to end this scourge has become part of the regional culture, which will not even end with the possible approval of the ‘type sheets’, as we have seen all manner of tricks in regional contracts, “Durán said.

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