The General Audit Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish) warned that the equipment they needed to rent for the Antarctic Summer Campaign are of a high degree of complexity and the characteristics are unknown even to the bidders themselves, this "may cause mediation" from business representatives and may "become more expensive to purchase." It was said in the context of an audit of the Joint Chiefs of the Armed Forces (EMCFFAA, for its acronym in Spanish).

In the Antarctic Summer Campaign the substitution of the staff is done and the Argentine bases are provisioned. The EMCFFAA "is responsible for the planning, direction, and execution of logistics activities and budgetary control of expenditures required by the Southern Command Set" (COCOANTAR), which shapes the annual procurement plan and proposed program budget.

The AGN observed in its report adopted in June this year that "due to a budget increase because of the rent of transport charters". The report evaluated the campaign from 2008 to 2009 "as it was the most recent and fully executed." The original budget for 2008 was just over $73 million, but over time had increased to almost $140 million, of which $ 131 million were used.

To carry out the Summer Antarctic Campaign polar ships, icebreakers, and helicopters are needed. Initially the vessel Bahia Paradise was used, until it sank in 1989, Irizar the icebreaker, suffered an accident in 2007 that led to the loss of two helicopters that were on deck.

Following the misfortunes, since 2007 the means of transport must be rented. In the audited period, the company that was awarded was "Transport & Services". The auditors found that the firm "did not meet the anticipation of being representative of a foreign company" but also said that at the time the recruitment was done "they were the only bidders."

The report explains that "the goods and services needed to carry out Antarctic activities have an unusual degree of complexity in the field of application of the procurement of public entities."

In its assessment, the AGN detected that in the "buying of portable tanks, the features were unknown even for the bidders themselves" or in the case of a Doppler radar which "needed clarification from the Italian manufacturer, because the only bidder could not recognize". The watchdog said that "the objects of such contracts in an encrypted market, in which free competition of bidders may result in brokerage representatives, who result in more expensive acquisitions."

The situation described caused the auditors to recommend they "initiate technical discussions necessary for framing a policy that allows procurement with the most appropriate procedure," nothing less than a regime of specific contracts.

In addition to the abovementioned, in relation to the complexity of the contracts, they add that "the acquisition of goods and services principally in the fourth quarter of the season, they registered 85% of all necessary purchases". So, "there was a high concentration of activities in the last months of the year which complicates the handling of selection procedures". In fact, the campaign plan, a task that must be developed by the Antarctic Joint Command was issued only "22 days before the formal start of the Summer Campaign."