A contract for 305 million dollars signed by the Ministry of Defence at the end of 2022 it has attracted attention, not only because of the astronomical figure, but also because of the details of the agreement. While on the one hand irregularities are pointed out, the entity spoke through a statement and assured that it complied with the norm.
The contract was revealed by the magazine Weekto which a source gave details of the commercial agreement to buy 55 8×8 armored military cars. Apparently, he pointed out that the contract presented cost overruns that could amount to up to 17 million dollars.
“Regarding alleged cost overruns that had been presented in the acquisition of said vehicles, the Ministry of Defense allows itself to specify that, according to the available information that has been corroborated, such irregularity does not exist”, pointed out the portfolio directed by Ivan Velasquez through a statement.
The vehicles, which will serve to strengthen the capacities of the National Army mainly in border areas, they will be delivered gradually from 2026 when the first nine should arrive, until 2032. In this first period for the next three years the country would pay 66.8 million and the rest would be paid in annual installments after that date .
However, according to Week, draws attention to the agreement that despite having been signed within the figure DPU Incoterms (delivered at place unloaded) which consists of the supplier delivering the products at the place of use, it would be the Colombian State that assumes these costs. That would generate a higher contract value and be unfavorable for national finances.
He Ministry of Defence pointed out that “it must be taken into account that storage activities and test exercises, engineering administration and program management, non-recurring engineering and updating of manuals are costs that are included in the full contract value; however, the contractor was required to discriminate the values, in order to identify which services would be executed in Colombia, with the purpose of discriminating the payment of taxes”.
For the storage and testing services 2.9 million dollars would be paid, according to the cited media, which according to the Ministry are typical of any supplier of goods. The non-recurring engineering, which is contracted to meet the additional technical requirements required by the client, would have a value of 7 million; and another 1.4 million for the function manual updatewhich must be delivered to the portfolio to carry out maintenance without losing the guarantee, plus another 4 million that would depend on the contract management, which refers to the elements that the contractor must have made to meet the specifications, but does not have in stock. Additional to transportation costs.
Although the Ministry explained that the costs are included in the value of the contract to deny that there is an overcharge, it did not explain why they are not assumed by the contractor. As reported by the magazine Week they would have conditioned the delivery of a response to the signing of a confidentiality agreement that can be considered an attempt at censorship.
The Defense portfolio maintained that the “new acquisitions were made through a government-to-government agreement for the sum of 305 million dollars, a project approved by document conpes 4079 intended for National Defense System, (Siden). Said contracting was carried out with an exclusive supplier, which allows additional costs such as intermediation or outsourcing in the manufacture and delivery of the product not to be generated”.
The entity, on the other hand, assured that the “acquisition contract for these vehicles contemplates that the contractor transfers knowledge to the National Army, through the offset policy.”
