The Dominican government has contracted upwards of RD$25 billion in deals with the United Nations in the Dominican Republic. In 2020, the government spent RD$13 billion to purchase services from the United Nations office in the Dominican Republic.
Carlos Pimentel , director of the Procurement Agency (DGCP) said that since he was appointed, he sent out a notice to all government entities in September 2020 that government institutions were unauthorized to delegate public contracting to third parties, the UNDP included. He said this contracting through a third party is not contemplated in Procurement Law 340-06 and therefore, the practice is illegal.
The reason is that the contracting of the United Nations does not fall under government control mechanisms. Pimentel said the government controls receive scant information on the UN contracting.
Pimentel says a correction to the contracting is contemplated in the amendments recommended to be made in Procurement Law 340-06. Pimentel said that the original bill had a robust system for consequences when it originally passed in Congress, but it was covertly later diluted when six months later Law 449 was passed with amendments eliminating the consequences to violations in the law.
Pimentel explained that no one in the Dominican government audits the United Nations Development Program. Neither Controller Office, Chamber of Accounts or the National Congress. He said the controls are left up to the United Nations program.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) issued a statement regarding the Julissa Céspedes journalistic investigation on CDN, Channel 37 revealing the flaws in contracting with the United Nations Development Program. In the statement, the international organization limits itself to say that the claims are malicious denunciations. The UNDP office did not present documents or answer questions that were raised in the investigation.
In the Reporte Especial, Cespedes denounced that over the past decade, the Dominican government has paid the UNDP more than RD$25.57 billion. Ironically, payments have been made so that the Dominican state can have better access to transparency in procurement of goods and services.
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8 February 2022