Bidding at Alesp had ‘dispute’ between nearby companies – 04/04/2023 – Power

Shrouded in suspicions of embezzlement and wage arrears, the foundation responsible for TV Alesp has just guaranteed its permanence in the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo in a bidding process that had the participation of companies close to each other.

Fundac (Foundation for the Development of Arts and Communication), which has been involved in communication at Alesp for more than a decade, won a public auction in February for a contract worth around R$ 31 million for 30 months.

according to Sheet showed, this month, Ricardo dos Santos Castilho submitted a letter of resignation from the presidency of the foundation, amid suspicions of embezzlement of funds from the entity’s coffers estimated at R$ 3.5 million through an “orange” company.

Fundac maintains a contract with Alesp, TSE (Superior Electoral Court), TV Câmara and São Paulo City Hall. In the case of the Assembly, the auction for hiring the manager of TV Alesp had 13 participants, of which only 7 offered bids.

During the contest, although the system does not allow identifying at the time who is competing, one of the companies commented in the chat about the existence of “many inexperienced adventurers”.

Among the participants, the report found companies that have or had connections with Fundac or its employees.

One of them is IPCOM (Instituto Paulista de Comunicação e Cidadania), an entity whose president, on the Federal Revenue website, is Roberto Reinhardt Júnior, financial director of Fundac itself. The institute claims that the information on the website is wrong and will be corrected.

According to the entity, Reinhardt Júnior was financial director until he resigned in November 2022 – since, on the IPCOM website, he maintained until this Monday (3) and was changed after contacting the report. The institute says that the website was out of date and presented a waiver dated last year, but stated that there is no need to register with a notary for this type of letter.

In addition to the institute, the company Marcelo Ott Braga Productions of Audio and Video also entered the event, but did not bid. The owner is Marcelo Ottoni Braga, Fundac’s operations supervisor, and the company’s headquarters is actually a family home in the eastern part of São Paulo.

Another company that participated in the trading session was Rentalcine, which has already been subcontracted by Fundac in Alesp and operates with the rental of cinematographic equipment. This year, Giovane Favieri, owner of Rentalcine, became a partner at GDMais, hired by Alesp to supply equipment used by Fundac on TV.

Who made the best bid was the company Take 1 Imagens, but, as it did not officially present the commercial proposal, Fundac took it.

The closed contract was only R$ 1.6 million cheaper than the maximum foreseen in the notice, that is, 4.9% discount.

Entrepreneurs who participate in tenders of the type heard informally say that the presence of companies that are close to each other can help to maintain a false appearance of competitiveness and works as a kind of insurance against an underdog, that is, if the favorite loses.

In the case of this contract, the report also heard an assessment that the account between the requirements and the value would only close if, in practice, there was no inspection of compliance.

Experts see the need for verification.

“Public tenders aim, through competitiveness among bidders, to obtain the most advantageous proposal for equal treatment among participants. the best price”, says Pedro Estevam Serrano, professor of constitutional law at PUC-SP.

Lawyer Anderson Medeiros Bonfim, who works in the area of ​​administrative law and is a doctoral student at PUC-SP, says that the idea is to inhibit combinations.

“The existence of relations between bidders is so damaging to bidding that, correcting an omission in the 1993 bidding law, the new law prohibited participating in bidding processes, competing with each other, controlling, controlled or affiliated companies. There is a logic that inspires the prediction legislation: to inhibit combinations”, he says.

For this year, there is a forecast increase with the budget for publicizing the legislative works in Alesp, which includes TV. The value, of R$ 42 million, is almost double what was spent last year, of R$ 24 million.

Despite being one of the House’s biggest expenses, TV Alesp employees report frequent delays in salary and benefit payments.

In addition, this month Fundac was shaken by another matter, the resignation of the entity’s president, Ricardo Castilho.

The case comes amid suspicions presented to the São Paulo Civil Police by the chairman of the Board of Trustees, Danilo Alexandre Mayriques, after an internal survey. According to the incident report, the possible deviation occurred through invoices issued in the name of the company that belongs to an alleged employee of the foundation linked to Castilho.

OTHER SIDE: Foundation says it follows ethics and legality

Alesp, now presided over by André do Prado (PL), said that the contract was signed in the previous management and that it is up to the House “to supervise compliance with the contract and the execution of services”.

The advisory of former president Carlão Pignatari (PSDB) stated that the current contract was signed before suspicions of internal irregularities regarding Fundac were presented to the police and that the bidding “strictly complied with all the requirements set forth in law nº 8.666, with total transparency, as well as the performance of the effective technical servants of the House, without any questioning”.

The advisory also stated that the company presented the smallest proposal and that the inspection of the contract is up to the Department of Communication.

Fundac stated that it “acts regularly and follows ethical and legal standards”. “All tenders are public and are listed on the bodies’ transparency portal, so the foundation is unaware of any irregularity. The bidding procedure is public and any interested party can manifest and supervise, which is not the role of the foundation”, he says.

Marcelo Braga stated that he entered the bidding just to accompany it. Roberto Reinhardt confirmed the information about the resignation passed by IPCOM.

IPCOM also stated that there is no irregularity. “First, because the legal entity cannot be confused with the individuals that participate in it. Second, because IPCOM did not cover any of Fundac’s bids, therefore, there was no competition between these institutions.”

Giovane Favieri, from Rentalcine, stated that the company has “the experience and qualifications to manage any public or private TV station” and that it is not possible to know who is bidding on the trading sessions in the system.