3 members of metro evaluating committee had links to winners
A THIRD member of the evaluating committee for the awarding of the contract for Metro line 2 with links to the winning consortium denies that it influenced the decision,
Eduardo Lee, of Deloitte Panama, confirmed that he was a paid consultant of FCC Construction, one of the members of the consortium that was awarded the contract
but denied that his association with the company influenced the decision.
"I do not know of any restriction in public procurement law which prohibits the participation of an independent auditor from serving on an evaluation committee for a public tender," he said.
The Independent Movement for Panama (MOVIN) and Transparency International have said that reforms are needed in the public procurement law to regulate the awarding of tenders and avoid conflicts of interest.
Two other members of the seven-member committee had ties to the winning consortium: University Rector Óscar Ramírez was a consultant for consortium member Odebrecht while Agustín Arias was a consultant for FCC.
Both Ramirez and Arias have claimed the relationship they had with the companies did not influence their opinions as members of the committee.
The consortium was awarded the bid based on its technical proposal, as its price was $200 million more than the lowest bidder.
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