Members of the Army have begun to express their concern about a million-dollar process underway for a sensitive issue for national security: the acquisition of maintenance spare parts for the so-called howitzer cannons.
It is a towed artillery piece, for launching projectiles over long distances, key in the fight against criminal structures such as the dissidents of the FARC, the ELN, and the ‘Gulf Clan’.
The alerts
Within the ranks, they say that the new contract would be awarded to the company Novamek SAS, despite having active non-compliance processes in two other contracts.
EL TIEMPO investigated and established that the process they refer to amounts to more than 2 billion pesos, under the abbreviated reverse auction selection modality, in which Novamek was the only one to submit an offer.
For last Monday, July 27, at 7 p.m., the contract signing hearing was scheduled, but it has not yet been confirmed whether it was awarded to Novamek or declared void.
The non-compliances
According to documents from the Army Inspection, dated December 2024, several artillery systems showed precision failures with deviations between 200 and 500 meters in shots at 10 and 15 kilometers distance.
Additionally, according to Force records, since 2022 there have been accidents with these cannons. Specifically, it is said that they have exploded leaving 7 injured and one soldier dead.
What they warn in the Army is that the company to which the new contract would be awarded is the same one that had been maintaining the same cannons that exploded and has been supplying spare parts.
Novamek’s response
The company has been based in Bogotá since December 2011.
The firm, which is dedicated to the manufacture of military combat vehicles, consulting activities, trade of telecommunications parts, and repair of metal products, has Cristian Eduardo Murillo Ujueta as its sole shareholder.
In a conversation with EL TIEMPO, Murillo Ujueta began by assuring that the company has no fines or disqualifications to participate in the million-dollar process.
“Although there are delays in two contracts, it is not only because of the company, it is on both sides. A extension was requested, which was denied, so now we are in a process of alleged non-compliance, which is not final”, Murillo assured.
When EL TIEMPO asked him about the Army inspection alerts and the accidents in which seven soldiers were injured and one died, he said: “Those accidents were human errors, the Army itself has the ruling on that. In one, the ammunition charges were loaded incorrectly and in the other, the breech block was not secured. These are things that can happen in full combat.”
‘They have not awarded us’
Regarding the new contract, he was emphatic that although the process schedule ensured that the contract signing was scheduled for last Monday, they have not awarded the business to them.
“Yesterday, around 6 p.m., we were enabled to participate. If the Army wants to allow another company to participate, it is within their rights. But we are the only company certified to perform that maintenance nationwide,” said Murillo.
About the precision failures of the cannons, he explained: “That is software installed on the Howitzer that tells the operator where to shoot, but it does not mechanically interfere in the process, the person is still responsible for making the shots.”
And he added: “The 105 howitzer had not been maintained for more than 10 years, that is what is being done now in contract 045, which considers that it is a very sophisticated piece and has a very high degree of maintenance difficulty.”
Murillo concluded by explaining that, so far, they have not been informed when the contract will be awarded.
(Check here all the articles from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit)
Meanwhile, the Army is advancing a parallel process to determine whether there were indeed non-compliances in the two previous contractual processes.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com
@UinvestigativaET
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