Emndoduct under Lula borders Bolsonaro with billions in election – 01/15/2024 – Power

The Lula (PT) government maintained the use of the state-owned Codevasf as a conduit so that deputies and senators can pour thousands of meters of asphalting, trucks, heavy machinery, tractors and equipment into their political strongholds in this year of municipal elections.

The maneuver of sending resources from parliamentary amendments to the state-owned company began to be used on a large scale in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government and, in 2024, could favor candidates allied with congressmen and unbalance local disputes.

Survey of Sheet shows that in the first year of Lula’s administration, Codevasf placed bids for works and products worth more than R$5 billion, reaching a level close to that of 2021, the last pre-election year under Bolsonaro.

More than a third (R$ 1.9 billion) of the value of the competitions with results already published in 2023 were for paving and resurfacing works, services that are not part of the historical vocation of Codevasf (Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco and do Parnaíba), which is to promote irrigation and water security projects in the Brazilian semi-arid region.

The bids constitute the first step of the pipeline, as they formally enable the acquisition of services and products by Codevasf. Then, already aware of the collection that the state-owned company can offer, deputies and senators handpick the works and products that will be financed with their parliamentary amendments and where the benefits will go.

To facilitate the allocation of resources, Codevasf even created a catalog that resembles a commercial printout for private companies and resellers.

In this kind of store for politicians, the next step for congressmen is to send letters to Codevasf indicating the values ​​of the amendments that will be allocated to the state-owned company, which services and products will be financed and which city halls or entities will be favored.

Based on these indications from deputies and senators, the public company allocates public resources and its personnel to carry out the politicians’ guidelines, which are based on “whatever” criteria and not on technical studies of local needs or government programs. .

Codevasf was handed over by Bolsonaro to parties in the center in exchange for political support, and under his government the public company grew in contracts and expanded its focus and area of ​​activity — all without planning and with precarious spending control. At the same time, the state-owned company became one of the main instruments for making amendments. The model was repeated by the Lula administration.

During the transition period between governments, at the end of 2022, sectors of the PT and party allies advocated for the state-owned company to return to prioritizing its original functions.

At the time, the then coordinator of the technical groups of the government transition, Aloizio Mercadante (PT), went so far as to say that “you can’t spray on asphalt when you don’t have civil defense. You can’t use resources on small works, when you don’t have Operation Carro- Pipe or water supply, supply to large cities. Once again we are seeing total budget collapse, disruption of public policies.”

However, in practice, the balance of tenders made under Lula indicates that the public company follows the path left by Bolsonaro. The current government even maintained the president of the state-owned company appointed in the previous administration on the recommendation of federal deputy Elmar Nascimento (União Brasil-BA), an ally of the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL).

A Sheet analyzed information published on official websites of around 570 tenders launched in 2023 by the state-owned company. The data shows that the sum of the values ​​of Codevasf competitions with known winners reaches around R$5.3 billion.

The amount exceeds, in absolute values, the amounts of Codevasf competitions under Bolsonaro — in 2021, which was around R$5.1 billion, and in 2022, which was R$3.7 billion. However, the monetary correction of the amount by the IPCA puts 2021 ahead in the state-owned company’s ranking, with R$5.6 billion.

In the current government and in the previous one, the numbers were driven by paving and resurfacing works.

Under Lula, the highest bid values ​​went to the states of Bahia (R$366 million), Minas Gerais (R$208 million), Pernambuco (R$169 million), Ceará (R$157 million), Maranhão (R$ 144 million), Alagoas (R$ 125 million) and Amapá (R$ 120 million).

Most of the competitions of this type were for the signing of contracts known as “umbrella”, in which the winning company commits to closing a price per square meter without knowing exactly where and under what conditions the work should be carried out, which opens up opportunities for distortions in quotes and irregularities in the execution of services.

Technically called a price registration system or minutes, this mechanism in which works can be budgeted as if they were a flooring service in a house is the target of criticism and investigations by members of the TCU (Federal Audit Court), of the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) and the Federal Police.

In addition to paving and resurfacing, the list of works and products tendered in 2023 also includes purchases of trucks and vehicles (R$850 million), backhoes and other heavy machinery (R$650 million), tractors and agricultural implements (R$450 million ) and water reservoirs (R$ 160 million).

The state-owned company also held tenders for the construction of sports courts (R$230 million), artesian wells (R$210 million) and bridges (R$200 million).

State company says it is transparent, and government refutes ‘amendment’

Wanted by SheetPalácio do Planalto stated that “Codevasf does not just pay for amendments, therefore, it is not reasonable to characterize it as an ‘endoduct’. More than 60% of the resource available for bidding to be executed at Codevasf in 2023 refers to government expenses federal. In total, the 2023 budget is included plus the remaining payments (RAP), which refer to previous years”.

According to the government, “of the remaining approximately 40%, half is allocated to the payment of mandatory execution amendments that have a constitutional provision, therefore, execution is mandatory. The other half are non-impositive amendments, but foreseen by the National Congress in the budget” .

These expenses are not created by the Executive and, according to law, the federal government cannot change this budget programming, which can only be modified with the approval of a bill by Congress, according to Planalto.

“Considering the budget, the fiscal rules, the spending limit, the primary result target, the resource was executed according to the program made by Congress”, he added.

Codevasf stated that its actions are aligned with its institutional mission of promoting regional development in an integrated and sustainable way and its business lines are: water security, irrigated agriculture, sustainable economy, structuring of cities and regional planning and innovation.

According to the state-owned company, its budget “is executed in a transparent manner, with procedures that ensure savings and efficiency” and hiring is carried out in accordance with recommendations from inspection and control bodies.