Hidromex appeals to the SFP for the STE trolleybus tender

The Hidromex company requested the Ministry of Public Function (SFP) to suspend two acts of the contracting procedure (delivery of the proposal and ruling) and those that derive from the tender carried out by the Electric Transport Service (STE), of the Government of Mexico City, to buy 102 articulated trolleybuses, in which the Yutong company was awarded a contract for 1,411.8 million pesos.

On December 15, two days after the ruling, his legal representative, Agustín Hernández, submitted the corresponding complaint for processing, given that the process involves federal resources, transferred by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT). .

The SFP, via the General Directorate of Disputes and Sanctions in Public Procurement, has 10 to 15 days to respond, a period that, vacations, will run from January. Meanwhile, the contract has already been signed.

The only reason for disagreement was a biased evaluation in favor of the winning bidder (of Chinese origin), who had previously sold 50 articulated trolleybuses, the first to circulate in the city.

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The Mexican Institute of Technical Audit, appointed by the SFP and represented by Sergio G. González and David Ledesma, participated as a social witness in the process, who must submit a report on their work to the STE.

The non-conformity document states that in the ruling Hidromex was accused of breaches in the legal documentation (including the manifesto of ties with public servants) that were not fully accredited, despite the fact that an “extremely scrupulous and rigorous” review was carried out ”.

On the contrary, “with a completely different criterion, aspects related to the awarded bidder (Yutong) were inexplicably overlooked, which were evident breaches of the call and its annexes that were flagrant grounds for rejection.”

Hidromex-Zhongtong

From Hidromex’s perspective (which also says that the winning firm did not deliver all the required technical information on magnetic media, in PDF format), the bidding procedure, in the best scenario, should have been declared void.

Although it is true that our proposal was rejected, it is also true that the winning proposal should have been rejected as well”, it was pointed out.

The Mexican company is a bodybuilder that, together with TYCO, is part of the Mangino Industrial Group and has an alliance with Zhongtong (a Chinese firm that manufactures buses and trolleybuses, among other units), which guaranteed its participation in the tender.

In addition, they already have trolleybuses running in Mexico City on the elevated section of Constitución de 1917 to Santa Marta Acatitla.

From the clarification stage, Hidromex requested the STE, in order not to limit the free participation of companies (given that articulated trolleybuses had only sold Yutong to Mexico and that would imply directing the contracting procedure). His proposal was accepted, for which he was able to deliver an economic proposal for 1,312.8 million pesos, less than the winner.

Another reason for requesting the suspension of the ruling is that Mexico has begun a process of converting public transport to electric systems and healthy competition is required in future tenders.

alejandro.delarosa@eleconomista.mx