The government has announced the "unification of public procurements" when the only modification from the previous situation is the change of name and the logo for "Mer-Link" to "SICOP", while keeping the CompraRed system in operation.
EDITORIAL
The officially announced "new Integrated System for Public Procurement (SICOP)" by the Solis administration is the exact same Mer-Link which has been used up until now.
The Chamber of Commerce has asked the Ministry of Finance to clarify changes in the new public procurement platform.
From a statement issued by the Chamber of Commerce in Costa Rica:
The Ministry of Finance has not justified the reasons why RACSA was delegated the development and management of the platform.
The Chamber of Commerce of Costa Rica requests that the Minister of Finance Helio Fallas, clarify the technical rationale behind the State's decision to develop a new public procurement system and the establishment of CompraRed as the obligatory platform for carrying out administrative procurement processes for the central government, while a new platform is being developed.
In a "Solomonic" decision, the Ministry of Finance has decided to settle the dispute between CompraRed and Merlink, ordering the development of a new platform, giving the moribund state telecom company RACSA something to do.
EDITORIAL
With the introduction of the yet to be developed Integrated Public Procurement System (SICOP by its initials in Spanish), an end could be given to the bitter struggle between different groups of state officials and private providers over "their" respective public procurement systems.
The government of Costa Rica has still not been able to establish a single system for state purchases, while the battle continues between the individual interests of the supporters of each of the two systems currently in operation.
EDITORIAL
Roberto Sasso, in his opinion column in Nacion.com notes: "... the opportunity cost caused by this senseless struggle amounts to several percentage points of GDP."
Mer-Link and CompraRed are fighting each other, "as if they were two private companies seeking to address the issue of the Costa Rican state."
An article on Crhoy reports that "Deputies are asking the government to accelerate the transfer of purchases to the Mer-Link system ... Members of the Committee on Revenue and Public Expenditure yesterday received representatives from Digital Government and the Ministry of Finance, who are fighting over which is the best system to use for public procurement."
After a long process the decree establishing the mandatory use of Mer-Link in procurement processes has been signed.
Nacion.com reports that "Treasury officials on Tuesday signed a decree establishing a unified procurement system, which will begin operations in January."
Accordingly, the Comprared system will ceased to be used definitively on January 1, 2014.
From January 2014, the Government of Costa Rica will use Merlink as its sole purchasing platform.
According to Alicia Avendaño, secretary to the Digital Government, the transition to a single electronic procurement system is in the phase of adjustment, and should be ready in July.
Elfinancierocr.com reports that "migration to Merlink is tied to a bill to strengthen the leadership of the Ministry of Finance in this regard.
The struggle between the two main systems used for Costa Rican government purchases could end with Mer-Link being the winner.
From a press release issued by the President of Costa Rica:
In order to facilitate the establishment of a National System of Public Procurement, the president of the Republic, Laura Chinchilla Miranda, signed this morning a guideline for all the institutions which make up the Civil Service to unify their methods of procuring goods and services.
In Costa Rica fifteen state institutions use different digital systems for the dissemination and management of purchasing goods and services.
The Costa Rican government is planning to unify state purchases by institutions under a single technology platform.
President Laura Chinchilla has formed a procurement committee that will define the steps required for using a single digital system for purchases by state institutions.
In order to avoid chaos in contracting procedures, the Constitutional Court has allowed the resumption of normal operation of the state procurement system Mer-Link.
In order to avoid disruption to the operation of administrative contracts, the court authorized the re start of operations until the final resolution has been declared.
The claim of unconstitutionality by the Chamber was filed by attorney Jorge Enrique Romero Perez against the Mer-Link’s regulations.
Mer-Link, a system that handles 80% of government purchases, is not able to grant awards because of a legal action brought by the competing system CompraRed, which is also state run.
Hundreds of purchases involving amounts of millions of dollars and which are vital for state agencies such as the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the University of Costa Rica and the National Insurance Institute, have been paralyzed.
It is estimated that it will save 76% in administrative costs and between 5% and 15% in prices.
The finance minister, Guillermo Zúñiga "emphasized the transparency and effectiveness of the system because each of the framework agreements is done through public tenders and because you can choose what you need through an electronic catalog where suppliers and their products have already been analyzed."
Various government authorities are promoting three different system in efforts that seem to be heading in conflicting directions.
The drive to become the platform for directing all public purchases is increasing.
There is now the possibility that the purchasing system of the ICE (Costa Rica Institute of Electricity) will become the base for ordering public acquisitions and evolve to the electronic phase, which is already being disputed by CompraRed and Crcompr@s.