Comptroller alerted Agro Rural that the acquisition of 73 thousand tons of fertilizers lacked conditions to ensure timely purchase

The Comptroller General’s Office alerted the Agricultural Productive Development Program (Agro Rural) that the approved guidelines and technical specifications (EETT) of the international call launched last May for the acquisition of 73,529 tons of fertilizers, for more than S/ 348 million, recently declared deserted, it did not include conditions that guarantee adequate purchase and would generate the risk that the timely delivery of this priority input would not be met for the start of the 2022-2023 agricultural campaign.

As is known, the world is going through a complicated situation due to the impact generated by armed conflicts, COVID 19 and the rise and international shortage of agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, which can lead to an eventual food crisis in several nations. including our country. Given this scenario, the Executive Power approved on May 19 the DU No. 013-2022 authorizing the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI), through Agro Rural, the purchase of urea nitrogen fertilizers for S / 348 887 735, until August 15, 2022, which will benefit the agricultural producers of the country.

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In this regard and to help ensure that said acquisition is carried out in an optimal manner, the Comptroller General’s Office issued the Official Guidance Reports No. 015-2022-OCI/5741-SOO and No. 014-2022-OCI/5741-SOO notified to Agro Rural on Thursday, June 2 and Friday, June 3, 2022, respectively (Evaluation period: May 19 to June 2). In said documents, the risks identified in the international call were indicated, which were notified to the executive director of Agro Rural so that preventive and corrective actions are carried out, which allow guaranteeing the effectiveness of compliance and the public purpose of the process.

Later, yesterday, Sunday, June 5, 2022, the entity declared the process for the purchase of fertilizers void because the technical specifications requested from the bidding companies were not met, according to the evaluation committee of the foreign proposals.

lack of conditions

According to the Official Orientation Report No. 015-2022-OCI/5741-SOO, it is noted that the guidelines that regulate contracting with suppliers not domiciled in Peru used in the international call made by Agro Rural did not foresee conditions for contracting of the fertilizer supplier such as: deadlines, place of delivery of the good, technical guarantee period, form of payment, date of internment and the quantity by delivery number, if applicable, among other aspects. On the last point, the EETT do not indicate the tons that the supplier had to deliver in the first and second delivery or by port of destination.

The guidelines also did not establish the preparation and approval of a final document that contains the final rules and regulates the contracting process with non-resident suppliers (international suppliers), in order to ensure transparency, free competition and compliance with the public purpose.

For the proper selection of the most favorable offer, the guidelines did not provide qualification requirements or parameters that ensure the objective selection of a company that has the experience and capacity to timely attend to the 73,529 tons of urea nitrogen fertilizer. In the technical specifications, only the presentation of the constitution of the company, the financial statement or another equivalent document that proves international sales of the good object of the purchase or similar in the last two years was considered, without specifying the minimum/maximum volume of production or sale of the requested good.

Likewise, in the guidelines it was established that the purchasing committee is empowered to select the most favorable offer, and that its action was going to be based on the principles of the Code of Ethics of the Public Function, but its activities and/or functions. In the same way, no advertising mechanisms were foreseen in the market investigation and call stage, in order to guarantee the plurality of bidders and free competition to select the most advantageous offer.

Deadlines

For its part, the Official Orientation Report No. 014-2022-OCI/5741-SOO, warned that Agro Rural was exposed to the risk of not complying with the timely delivery of urea nitrogen fertilizer to agricultural producers due to the increase in deadlines established for the delivery of the input indicated in the technical specifications – EETT with respect to the tentative schedule of the explanatory statement of the DU.

From the review carried out in the call declared void, it was noted that the requirement of the user area was made on May 31, the delivery of the product to the warehouse was to take place on August 3, without considering other activities such as “bagging and labeling” that do not appear in the tentative schedule that is part of the explanatory statement of the DU. Therefore, the 73,529 tons of urea fertilizers would probably have been delivered to the port on September 4, 2022, being distributed to the peripheral warehouses of Agro Rural on September 14 and distributed to the field (beneficiaries) on the 21st of the same month.

It should be noted that the agricultural campaign begins in August 2022 until July 2023, for which agricultural producers are provided with fertilizers in advance in order to guarantee the fertilization of their crops from sowing, for which they require fertilization Since August.

Citizens can access the results of these reports and other services through our Control Report Search Engine and portal www.gob.pe/contraloria

Given

On March 19 of this year, the Executive Power issued Supreme Decree No. 003-2022-MIDAGRI by which the agricultural and irrigation sector was declared in emergency at the national level for a period of 120 calendar days, due to the effects generated by COVID-19, the increase in the prices of agricultural inputs at the international level and aggravated by international conflicts that negatively impact Peruvian agriculture, the national economy and food security.