The Directorate of Remount and Veterinary of the Argentine Army has made an unusual awarding in the framework of Private Tender No. 84/13-0083-LPR25. In this tender, the delivery of four official trucks was agreed upon in exchange for sanitary supplies to renovate the bathrooms of its facilities in Palermo. The swap was carried out due to a lack of funds to carry out the maintenance work.
The awarded bidder for this tender was Fernando Andrés Ríos, and the company Siderworld SRL was excluded for not presenting the required product samples. Although the Army argues that the vehicles were no longer useful, the operation has raised questions about state management and the budgetary difficulties of public institutions.
In detail, the four trucks in question are: Chevrolet TFR54HDL, Chevrolet S10 2.8 HDI 4X4, Ford Ranger DC 4X4 XL Plus 3.0, and Ford Ranger DC 4X4 Super Duty 3.0, valued at a total of $25,940,000 considering their state of deterioration. In exchange for these vehicles, the awarded bidder must deliver a specific quantity of toilets, bidets, faucets, ceramics, and other sanitary materials for the bathrooms of the Army's facilities.
Although the swap is justified as a way to stop the deterioration of the facilities without allocating specific funds for the work, the question arises whether this transaction was the best option or if the State could have obtained a greater value for the vehicles. The lack of specification of the market value of the products and the fairness of the transaction raise doubts about whether the swap was truly beneficial for the State.
