• CONTRACT: In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, the Mexico City government awarded a face masks contract, equivalent to US $1.1 million, to a firm that has no successful history in public procurement and with a scarce trail of publicly available information about its nature.
• MURKY: With no known record as a provider of personal protective equipment, the contract-winning firm, Partners & Pérez, listed as its official address a commercial space in Mexico City which most recent known activity was a coffee shop. The firm’s Facebook page disappeared yesterday.
• HISTORY: Procurement data shows that the firm was previously unsuccessful in selling mattresses and arts workshops to the city government. Yesterday, the Mexico City government clarified that the contract involved 104,000 face masks and not 4,000 as was originally stated in the online procurement database.
• TRANSPARENCY: “In the event that this was a typing error, this is an extraordinary opportunity for the city to share not only this particular contract…to upload all contracts on procurement regarding the emergency”, said Eduardo Bohórquez, head of Transparencia Mexicana, a civil society NGO.
