The Milk Sent by the City to Kindergartens and Elementary Schools was insufficient
<p style="line-height: 20.8px;"><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">It is enough to cover between 72% and 74% of total enrollment. The greatest lack is liquid. Since starting the call to tender the dairy supplier until it became effective 10 months passed, most of the school year. The Directorate for Health and Food Safety took a few samples of the products the children receive and only did so when they had a vehicle available.</span></p> <div> </div>
The ration each student should get is composed of 200 cm3 liquid, milk or yogurt, and a solid unit SSD, gingerbread or cereal bar, among other options. However the Auditor General of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) found that "the amount of products the schools receive fails to cover between 72% and 74% of the total enrollment of the 39 audited schools."
This data comes from the analysis of the Watchdog on the Directorate General of School Services of the Ministry of Education in 2013. It also noted that "at breakfast there is a 29% of solid components while for snacks that number climbs to 19%."
To put it in examples in primary school 15 of School District 17, there are 656 students. Nevertheless "it was given 325 servings of milk and yogurt and 640 units of solids." Is the question, who will remain without drinking fluids, decided by a draw or rock-paper-scissors?
During 2013, the Directorate in question "delivered 174,827 liters of dairy products in 1010 educational institutions." Of that total, the audit relieved 39.
The Famous Tender
The subject of the competitive bidding is quite recurrent in the audit reports. In this case, the AGCBA observed "a delay in starting the procedure of the tender for the procurement and distribution of dairy products that originated the approval of expenses that go beyond current standards."
The procedure for the call for bids (LP) started in January 2013 but it was only in of April that year which effectively called for the 25th of the same month, for a total of nearly $74 million.
When the bids were opened there appeared to be one bidder. Mastellone Hermanos SA By July of that year a report identifying the difference between the original amount and the amount modified (almost $ 88 million), pointing as the cause the "inflation situation".
Finally, on October 21, 2013 a decree in which the tender in the amount of $ 78 million was approved was published. That year marked the school calendar as the end of school on December 17.
The Samples
According to what the AGCBA could verify, "The Directorate of General Health and Food Safety took little samples of dairy products in schools that are to be consumed by children." 40 out of 1010 schools were surveyed, making a total of only 3.96%.
When the audited entity was asked which criteria they used to select these institutions the answer was "that depended on the provision of a vehicle for the transfer of samples and where remaining establishments."
The sampling shows that "products were found whose brands are not suppliers." In the Kindergarten Nursery "Dientito milk" for example, whole milk and yoghurt were found from Veronica a company from Suipacha, when the winner of the tender was Mastellone SA.