"Hugo, the Turtle Ecologist" was the character created by the Authority Matanza-Riachuelo Basin (ACUMAR) to tell visitors of the science fair Technopolis the history of one of the world's most polluted waterways and "efforts to recover through sanitation works "being conducted by the agency, according to its own website.

The animated figure was the main attraction of a stand that Acumar mounted on the grounds of Villa Martelli in 2013 and, according to a report by the General Audit Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish), cost nearly 4 million pesos, executed by direct contract to a company that changed its category and even its address so it could be awarded the contract.

Unsuccessful Tender

The AGN stated that the Acumar received an invitation to participate in the 2013 edition of Technopolis and therefore called a public tender for the "Recruitment of a service architecture, creativity and integrated management" of the future stand with an official budget of $ 4,320,000.

Three companies answered the call, of which one, Kudi SA, caught the attention of the inspection body basically because, at the time of presentation, claimed to have corporate purpose tasks as the "plumbing conducting natural gas and oil."

However, Kudi clarified that reached the tender with "extensive experience in the field of design and construction of structures," and in fact sent as background images that, according to the company, appeared on a website that was another company called Integrated Communication (IC). The theme was "the link could not be verified" by the technicians of the Audit.

Similarly, the tender must be declared as "failed", the report says, because "none of the bidders met the requirement to establish an annual turnover of not less than $ 5 million in the last three years."

The AGN explains that "before issuing the corresponding administrative act" by which the tender was declared unsuccessful, the Acumar "orchestrated by file 2094/2013 direct contracting for the same purpose", but this time "with an official budget of $ 3,810,000 "and abolishing the requirement of annual turnover floor left out before participating firms.

Again the same three companies were presented and finally the recruitment was awarded to Kudi.

Now, how did the firm achieve its goal? According to the AGN text: "In this regard it is noteworthy that Kudi S.A. changed its corporate purpose during direct recruitment. On May 10, 2013, by Act of unanimous EGM, (the company) modifies the object by the following: 'manufacture, processing, repair, acquisition, assembly, construction of stands and any type of property', as well it changed its registered office, which happens to be the same as the company CI Integral Communication, which Kudi SA sets as their own work."

At the discretion of the inspection body, this award should have been done "considering, inter alia, the suitability of the bidder", and noted, "it was inopportune inclusion of Kudi, since it made the change of social object in May 2013, after being invited to participate in the procurement."

In addition, the full report that the changes made by the company were "unobserved by the authorities of Acumar."

Other Contracts with Delays
The investigation of the audit was approved in August last year and discussed a number of recruitments made during 2013 the agency in charge of cleaning up the Riachuelo.
For example, in August of that year, the Acumar opened a dossier fot hire buses that transfer students from nearby schools to Riachuelo precisely of the Technopolis fair.
The idea was that the children will visit the site of Villa Martelli at weeks of the 14th and on October 28 and on November 11, always 2013. The problem was the October 29 this tender was also declared "failed" by what Acumar opened a new tender dossier, after which Plusmar reported that the company met all the requirements.

The problem was that this announcement was met precisely on November 11, 2013, which caused that, again, the initiative was "withdrawn, aware that the period had elapsed it was intended to hire the service," said the AGN.

And while on the topic of tardies, technicians noted that the recruitment of servicing of Fiat trucks belonging to the Basin Authority took nine months from the time arrangements (December 2012) were requested and award, which came only in September the following year.

Legitimate Payment

The Watchdog says that "the figure of legitimate payment is an exceptional measure planned for Public Administration in cases where, for reasons of speed or urgency, the normal procedures for procurement of goods and services cannot be followed, for Public Bidding example."

As for the Acumar, the report noted the "recognition of expenses (legitimate via manure) as a regular practice." It noted three cases: on the one hand, hiring security service that provided a security company at the headquarters of the River Basin Authority in Esmeralda 255; on the other printed about 16,000 booklets; and finally, a study of air pollution and air quality monitoring.

For the AGN, in these examples of contracting the Basin Authority "inadequate planning of expenditure transpires."