There is concern in the territorial entities about a possible shortage of passports due to the suspension of the bidding of the company that is in charge of manufacturing these documents.
As will be recalled, said tender has been suspended by the national government on two occasions in 2023.
Faced with this situation and to avoid a possible shortage of the notebooks that are delivered to those who are going to leave the country, the national government decided to extend the current contract for another month so that the firm in charge can continue carrying out the procedure.
This is how the current contractor, the company Thomas & Greg Sons, will continue to be in charge of this process until October 2.
Meanwhile, there is concern that if a quick solution to the issue of the bidding is not given, the shortage of notebooks will begin.
According to government sources, the tender was suspended by order of the Presidency of the Republic as a result of the uncertainty that existed, and that all control agencies are aware of it.
However, it is expected that by October 2, when the current contract ends, the government will be able to overcome the popular action and the bidding will continue to guarantee the document.
Meanwhile, it was announced that the process would continue as planned and the contract would be delivered to the Unión Temporal Pasaportes 2023, a company that met all the requirements.
This company had been recommended by the evaluation committee of the Foreign Ministry considering that it is enabled in all the components of this process and considers it suitable for the execution of the contract.
Suspension
As will be recalled, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, José Antonio Salazar, announced the suspension of the bidding process for the personalization, custody and distribution of passport booklets for the second time this year.
This tender has generated controversy, among other things because it is a contract of more than 600 billion pesos.
This suspension was due to a popular action through which it is intended that the violations of the collective rights to “Administrative Morality, Public Heritage and Free Economic Competition” cease, by virtue of the actions carried out by the entity within the framework of the Public tender”.
This process had already been suspended due to complaints that the conditions were in place to favor the current contractor.
For its part, the Foreign Ministry reported that the government is studying all the alternatives that must be adopted, since the issuance of passports is a public service of the State that is provided without interruption.