The protocol states that all personnel, experts, and bidders must refrain from participating in a process when there are conflicts of interest, whether potential, real, or apparent. If such conflicts exist, the bids submitted will be annulled, regardless of the stage of the process.
SANTO DOMINGO.– All personnel involved in the competitive processes of the Cabo Rojo-Pedernales Tourism Development project must refrain from accepting or receiving bribes of any kind, whether monetary or not, in order to influence decisions regarding contracting; nor establish complicity or illicit and anti-competitive agreements that harm third parties to distort the results of any procedure.
This is established by the “Protocol for the Ethical Management of Competitive Processes of the Pro-Pedernales Trust”, prepared by the General Directorate of Public-Private Partnerships (DGAPP) and the Pro-Pedernales Trust, which seeks to ensure the transparent management of the work.
The DGAPP held two meetings to present the document to experts and bidding companies participating in the competitive processes for awarding infrastructure works and services for the project.
The protocol states that all personnel, experts, and bidders must refrain from participating in a process when there are conflicts of interest, whether potential, real, or apparent. If such conflicts exist, the bids submitted will be annulled, regardless of the stage of the process.
In the meetings, the executive director of the DGAPP, Sigmund Freund, reaffirmed the institution's commitment to ethical, transparent, and efficient practices in all projects carried out under the responsibility of the DGAPP and the Pro-Pedernales Trust.
In the presentation, Freund emphasized that “the Pro-Pedernales Trust is governed by good practices in public procurement and by ethical principles, by virtue of which all its personnel, as well as the experts and third parties related to it, must act with rectitude, loyalty and honesty, following the due process established by our Constitution and the Laws,” he said.
He indicated that in the event of possible non-compliance with the ethical protocol, the sanctions provided for in Article 66 of Law No. 340-06, on Purchases and Contracting of Goods and Services, Works, and its modifications, will be applied, without prejudice to the civil and criminal actions that correspond to the collaborators of the Trust, for which the necessary procedures will be carried out for the implementation of the corresponding actions.
Freund emphasized that the code of conduct for staff, as well as experts and third parties related to the processes, must be based on legality, ethics, integrity, honesty, equal treatment, impartiality, objectivity, and therefore they must refrain from receiving gifts or equivalents: offering, requesting, accepting or receiving, directly or through others, gratuities, gifts, presents, commissions or rewards, as payment for illegal acts.
He explained that the institution will be uncompromising in its compliance with this protocol, which he said guarantees the good practices to which the administration of the President of the Republic, Luis Abinader, has been committed since he assumed the Executive Power almost two years ago.
The protocol released by the DGAPP and the Pro-Pedernales Trust invites those involved in competitive processes to file the corresponding complaints, in order to report any action that violates the principles of ethics, integrity, and due process, by sending an email to denuncias@propedernales.do, and any other means they deem appropriate to maintain the transparency and openness of the processes.
