| Work Detail |
This is what the readaptation and expansion of the Bariloche forensic genetics laboratory demanded. The Attorney General authorized this mechanism. The amount paid tripled the original budget.
The Attorney General reported that the work is finished and the inauguration will take place in the coming weeks. Photo: archive
The Attorney General reported that the work is finished and the inauguration will take place in the coming weeks. Photo: file
The Attorney General of the Judiciary of Río Negro, Jorge Crespo, approved the remodeling and expansion of the Bariloche forensic genetics laboratory for a total amount of 65,661,820 pesos, with 71 cents.
The execution of the work triples the official budget of 21,101,982 pesos, with 73 cents, which had been set in the public tender of June 26, 2020, which was unsuccessful.
On June 22, Crespo signed resolution 169/23 that approved the work through direct contracting 008/21 and payment to the company MR Services SA, which did the work.
He highlighted that of the total amount of the work, 39,233,977 pesos, with 32 cents, correspond to the execution of the contract, another 5,581,040 pesos, with 29 cents were paid for additional and 20,846,803 pesos, with 10 cents were paid to the signature according to decree 1313/14 that establishes the redetermination of prices of public works.
From the Procuratorate they explained to Río Negro that the contracting of the work was arranged directly after two calls for public bidding were declared void because no construction company submitted offers. They explained that the work has already been carried out and in the coming weeks the ribbons will be cut.
They indicated that the call for the first public tender for the work was made on November 11, 2019 "and no offer was submitted." For this reason, the authorities of the General Administration of the Rio Negro Judiciary made a second call on December 13, 2019. There were also no interested parties.
A company submitted to the June 2020 tender, but with an offer higher than the official budget, according to Resolution 186 of October 20, 2020.
From the Procuratorate they affirmed that the file with all the documentation "goes through all the control organisms" and they affirmed that there is an evaluation commission, made up of officials from various areas to establish the budgets and review everything related to the contracting.
The contracting regulations of the Judiciary indicate that "Direct Contracting will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of article 92 of Provincial Law 3186" on financial administration and internal control.
"If two bidding or bankruptcy processes are unsuccessful or void, it will be expedited to carry out a Direct Contract, and the records of the unsuccessful processes may also be used, for the purpose of justifying the reasonableness of the price," says the regulation.
At the end of last October, the General Administration of the Judiciary of the province issued Provision 538 that updated the amounts of the contracts due to the increase in prices.
According to this provision, it is appropriate to call for public bidding starting at 2,325,000 pesos, with 1 cent. For the private tender, a range was set that goes from 1,162,500, with 1 cent, up to 2,325,000 pesos. For a price contest from 348,750 to 1,162,500 pesos. While the ceiling for direct contracts was established at 348,750 pesos. Although they are amounts that are updated every year due to the fluctuations of the economic crisis and galloping inflation.
In the recitals of Resolution 169/23, Crespo explained that on June 11, 2021, direct contracting 008/21 was approved and the work was awarded to the firm MR Services SA for 39,233,977 pesos, with 31 cents. An execution term of 300 calendar days was established in the contract. The work began on August 12, 2021.
Other resolutions authorized the payment of additional amounts and the extension of the execution period to 475 calendar days.
A key job for hundreds of criminal and family cases
The forensic genetics laboratory, which the Judiciary of the province has in Bariloche, plays an essential role in hundreds of criminal and family cases.
The work of the professionals of that body was key to many criminal investigations, for example, from the comparison of DNA profiles.
Only last year they processed 2,800 samples in around 560 court cases. Each sample takes 5 different trials. For this reason, they carry out some 9,800 reactions per year. This was reported in mid-June by the director of the laboratory, Silvia Vanelli Rey, to Río Negro.
He said that before the laboratory began to work, they sent the samples to the genetic fingerprinting service of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry of the UBA, in charge of Daniel Corach.
He recalled that the regional laboratories were created from a project promoted by the Council of Prosecutors, Prosecutors, Defenders and Advisors of Argentina and the Criminal Policy Council. The proposal was designed in 2008, but it was finalized in 2010.
Nation bought state-of-the-art equipment for the laboratories. He arrived in Río Negro in 2010.
The forensic genetics laboratory began operating in 2011, but was inaugurated in 2012 due to the emergency eruption of the Cordón Caulle volcanic complex in June 2011. They
receive samples from Río Negro and Neuquén. And they work for the federal courts of the two provinces and Chubut.
Vanelli Rey stressed last June that DNA studies "not only serve to arrive at a guilty verdict, they also sometimes serve to arrive at an acquittal."
There are cases where "it is assumed that the blood in the weapon corresponds to the victim or to the possible perpetrators of the act, but it may happen that you have an unknown perpetrator, but you want to preserve that genetic profile for later when one He wants to make a comparison that can be done”.
Source: Rio Negro newspaper |
