Tunja
In the Tunja Council, the secretary of the Special Contracting Unit, Luz Mila Acevedo Galán, gave a detailed update on the status of the contract for the recovery of the San Antonio Coliseum.
Acevedo Galán stressed the rigor of public procurement, stating that “Public procurement is governed by strict rulesincluding constitutional and legal provisions, as well as internal management guidelines that tell us exactly how processes should be developed. They do not allow interpretations beyond those provided by Colombia Compra Eficiente and jurisprudence, which have always emphasized strict application and restrictive interpretation of the law. Therefore, we must apply the rules rigorously, regardless of our intention for the works to be carried out. “We cannot do more than the law allows us.”
He explained that article 32 of Law 80 establishes that in construction contracts resulting from a bidding or public competition process, the audit must be contracted with a person independent of the contracting entity and the contractor. “This implies that the municipal administration cannot initiate a works contract without having the corresponding audit., following the planning principle,” added Acevedo Galán. “When a public work of this magnitude is contracted (a contract of more than 1,540 million)the contracting process for the work and the competition of merits for the audit must be carried out in parallel, so that, once both are awarded, the contract can begin.”
The process has faced various challenges. The contractor submitted its policies, which were approved by the Special State Contracting Unit on February 20, 2024. However, a budget record was also necessary, issued on December 29, 2023, the last business day of the year. “Given the principle of budget annuality, this generates a budget issue that must be incorporated through a decree of the Municipal Council into the municipality’s budget”explained Acevedo Galán.
Besides, The previous studies for the audit of the San Antonio Coliseum were carried out on November 15, 2023, but the merit contest could not be awarded within that year. “The emails show that on November 22 he was returned with corrections to the Infrastructure Secretariat, so that they could proceed to make the necessary corrections and advance the merit contest for the hiring of the audit,” the secretary explained.
The updated previous studies were filed in the Special State Contracting Unit on April 12, 2024and due to the adoption of new standard specifications by Colombia Compra Eficiente, it was necessary to modify all previous studies and documents again. These were returned to the Infrastructure Secretariat on April 17, and filed again on May 28, 2024.
“Currently, we are waiting for the approval of the development plan ‘Let’s Connect Tunja with the World’. The Infrastructure Secretariat, at the request of the Special State Contracting Unit, and in joint work, is harmonizing the previous studies with the new development plan, with the aspiration of publishing the merit contest process in the coming days, along with the update of the investment project, since the resources correspond to the investment,” concluded Luz Mila Acevedo Galán.
This update reflects the efforts and diligence of the municipal administration to advance the recovery of the San Antonio Coliseum, guaranteeing compliance with all legal and budgetary regulations.
