The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Revolving Fund will be notified within the next few hours following the request for a non-judicial conciliation hearing. He appeared before the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on a matter believed to be over in the country: Failure of the tender for passport and visa procurement.
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After several suspensions and the declaration of invalidity of the process by presidential order, Secretary of State Álvaro Leyva Durán used clear urgency. We started a new process by hiring Thomas Greg, who won the tender and received the highest score, for one year.
The decision not to deliver the contract worth 599 billion pesos was taken following the instruction of President Gustavo Petro. To ensure a plurality of bidders and in response to complaints from other participants about alleged favoritism in the specifications of the Thomas Greg group, which has executed the contract in recent years.
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However, the partners of this firm are gathered (and composed of companies) in Temporary Union Passports 2023 Thomas Greg & Sons of Colombia SA; Thomas Greg & Sons Limited (Guernsey) SA; Thomas Greg Express SA; Mobile Security of Colombia SA; Thales Colombia S.A.; Thales DIS Finland OY-NIE with Y-Tunnus)They decided to take legal action.
EL TIEMPO learned for the first time about the request for extrajudicial conciliation submitted by the UT to the Office of the Chief Prosecutor. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Revolving Fund.
Judicial sources explained that the conciliation summons is a prerequisite for filing a lawsuit. The document clearly states what kind of regulation was proposed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before this step was taken.
As a matter of fact, through his representative criminal lawyer Juan Pablo Estrada, UT Passports 2023 The legal requirements that are fulfilled during the tender process are explained step by step until the authority and recommendation for awarding the million-dollar tender is reached.
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“On July 31, 2023, Revolving Fund published the process evaluation report on the SECOP II platform, where the Evaluation Committee (i) rejected the proposal submitted by UT Libretas 2023 and (ii) “the spending authority recommended that Public Procurement 001-2023 be awarded to the party defending UT Passports 2023, which is competent in all components of this process and is deemed suitable for the implementation of the contract”“, reads the document, known for the first time by EL TIEMPO.
And lawyer Estrada insists (as he said in one of the hearings) that the decision No. 7076 of September 5, 2023, which the Minister of Foreign Affairs Álvaro Leyva Durán was never published in the Official Gazette, reassumed the role of management of the contractual tender process and, in parallel with it, He declared that a sentencing hearing or declaration of invalidity would be established.
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It also states: “On September 13, 2023, notwithstanding Participated as a full bidder in the UT Passports 2023 tender and received the required points for its award, Against the recommendation of the Evaluation Committee, the Minister issued Decision No. 7485, declaring the tender process invalid and notifying the same.
on the stands”.
For contractors and their lawyers,
Decisions of the Minister of Foreign Affairs dated 2023 and numbered 7485 and 7540
engaged in illegal behavior A lawsuit was filed against the administration because the event budgets could not be met due to not being published in accordance with the procedure and therefore could not result in legal consequences.
They also assure that case law shows that it is not possible to declare an electoral process invalid. due to the simple convenience of the business or simply because an offer is made.
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Therefore, as a reconciliation mechanism, it was suggested that the decisions in question be canceled and the tender be awarded to UT Passport 2023.
If there is no access, criminal Estrada offers to pay utilities
stopped buying, increased amount 107 thousand 507 million 163 thousand pesos: 107,507,163,749.00 dollars.
The same document also clearly states that if no compromise is reached, a lawsuit will be filed in the administrative court to request the annulment and return of the rights.
The amount of the process to be opened in this scenario It amounts to $107,507,163,749 for UT Passports 2023’s lost profits due to the tender being declared invalid.
(See all articles from ELTIEMPO Investigation Unit here)
However, an additional number is added to this “The loss of reputation suffered by UT Passport 2023 members due to the unfounded questions they were victimized by.”
“deployed by those who were called”.
this total That’s an additional 10 billion pesos.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is expected to take up the case after it is officially notified.
RESEARCH UNIT
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Source: Exame
