A recent report by the Autorité de Régulation des Marchés Publics (ARCOP) highlighted alleged irregularities in several de gré à gré contracts relating to the acquisition of technical equipment for public universities in Senegal. According to Le Quotidien Libération, these contracts, whose total value is estimated at 17,040 billion CFA francs, raise questions about possible surcharges. ARCOP’s auditors observe significant differences between the prices charged by certain companies and those observed on the market. For example, the price of an electronic tensiometer would have been 2 312 600 FCFA, whereas another supplier proposed the same equipment at 50 000 FCFA. De même, un tensiomètre manuel, sold 204 632 FCFA by Delta Médical, aurait pu être obtenu à 29 000 FCFA selon d’autres références du marché. These price differences also concern other medical equipment, such as thermometers and glucometers, whose prices would record differences of several thousand CFA francs per unit. According to Libération, certain de gré à gré contracts concerned the construction and equipment of infrastructures in higher and technical education establishments, notably the Medical Centre of the École Polytechnique de Thiès and l’Isep de Matam. The auditors affirm that they have not found documents attesting to the level of execution of the works, even though the amounts had been committed. The report also refers to contracts concluded without prior notice from the contracting authority, or the work on which had been begun before the ARCOP’s reply was received, in breach of the procedures laid down by the Code des marchés publics.
Public universities: 17 billion in grants at the heart of surfactation suspicions according to ARCOP
