‘Hot tar’ scandal widens

Santo Domingo.- The Public Procurement Directorate (DGCP) affirmed yesterday that the Ministry of Public Works (MOPC) violated the Purchasing Law because the “Technical justification reports for contracting the supply of Hot Asphalt Concrete” do not motivate or justify the use of exception of a procedure as such, instead of an ordinary process.

In a 78-page report posted on the DGCP website, the entity also noted that the minutes of the Procurement and Contracting Committee approve reports “that lack the content established by the regulations.”

According to the document, the executive report and the minutes of that committee recommend and approve, respectively, the hiring of certain companies and do not recommend the selection of the exception procedure for exclusivity, which, in effect, is what would enable the MOPC not to contract directly but to carry out a procedure only between those companies.

“The choice of the exception procedure for exclusivity is not justified considering the criterion that hot asphalt concrete is a standard product, the price of which is set by the MOPC, since the legal basis for the MOPC was not presented nor could it be determined to establish the price, nor that there was the possibility of carrying out an ordinary procedure,” said the DGCP report.