A CLAIM filed against the bidding process that awarded the contract for Line 2 of the Metro to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht SA has been admitted by Panama’s Directorate of Public Procurement.

The claim was made by the Panametro Consortium Panametro, comprised of China Harbor Engineering, China Railway First Group and the Spanish firm Corsán-Corviam, which submitted the lowest bid for the project, but lost due to its low score in the technical evaluation of its bid.

The process has been widely criticized 
The consortium submitted a claim to the directorate on Wednesday, May 21, claiming a number of irregularities in the process. These included the fact that its method of constructing the overhead tracks was described as unsafe despite it being used in other projects throughout the world and the fact that one of the members of the technical committee previously worked for Odebrecht, a member of the consortium that won the bid.
The directorate also ordered the suspension of the granting of the contract until the issues raised by Panametro are resolved.
Panametro is seeking a new analysis of its technical proposal.
Meanwhile prosecutors in Italy are seeking information from Brazil as they investigate an alleged $60 million bribe paid to Panama officials for the construction of Line 1.