Ecuador Ministry of Public Health draws from CDB credit line to purchase medical equipment worth USD 7.5 million from Sinopharm (Linked to Record ID#91357 and #91328)

📋 Staff Comments

1. In press releases regarding the arrival of the second batch of materials, Ecuador's Ministry of Public Health reported the purchase involved a total investment of USD $26,686,000. However, the combined value of the two contracts signed May 4, 2020, is USD $28,539,285 according to a document published by Ecuador's Official Public Procurement System. Other sources verify the value of the contracts individually, including official Government of Ecuador sources for the 20.9 million USD contract and images of official source excerpts published by investigative journalists. The 20.9 million and 7.5 million USD numbers have therefore been reported as the contract values. It is unknown if the USD $26,686,000 represents just the value of the materials on the second flight (31 tons of supplies), the materials on the first two flights combined (31 + 71 tons of supplies), is simply an inconsistency, or something else. This issue warrants further investigation.
2. The specific China Development Bank credit line that financed these purchases is unknown. Investigative journalists from Periodismo Investigación published a letter from Carlos Julio Jaramillo Vintimilla of Ecuador Development Bank (BDE) to CDB representatives dated March 21, 2020 (Oficio Nro. BDE-BDE-2020-0136-OF). This letter requested the use of the B Tranche of a credit line signed with CDB on October 20, 2017 for 'areas of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the COVID-19 virus; allowing us to acquired [sic] and distribute several medical supplies and equipment in an urgent manner according to our clearly defined territorial needs'. This credit line is captured via Record ID#91971.However, these is no evidence presented that the funds specifically from the October 2017 credit line Tranche B were (1) released as requested and (2) applied to this project. This claim is also not made by investigative journalists at Periodismo Investigación. Further, according to Record ID#91971, only USD $1.63 million had been actually disbursed through this credit line by the end of 2020 (although $71.08 million had been approved/formally committed). Full versions of the May 4, 2020 contracts may include reference to the specific CDB credit line used for the purchases, but even this is not guaranteed. These full contracts are, further, not currently available. This issue warrants further investigation.
3. Other recent CDB credit lines to Ecuador that may have financed this project are captured via Record IDs: #59015, #59014, #62782, #58842, and #58839. This is a non-exhaustive list of possible funding sources, and this issue warrants further investigation.
4. A transaction amount has not been included on this project in order to avoid double counting because it is very likely the CDB credit line used to finance this purchase is already captured in AidData's database, either via Record ID#91971 or one of the other records capturing CDB credit lines to Ecuador.
5. While a full version of neither the April 10, 2020 Framework Agreement nor the two May 4, 2020 Sales Contracts are available, investigative journalists published parts of the documents here: https://twitter.com/VillaFernando_/status/1262098461803118593 and here: https://periodismodeinvestigacion.com/2020/05/20/china-enfermedad-y-mal-remedio/. Further, a summary document from the Ministry of Health Ecuador, published on the Official Public Procurement System of Ecuador website, contains details regarding the May 4, 2020 contracts. This document can be downloaded from here: https://www.compraspublicas.gob.ec/ProcesoContratacion/compras/PC/bajarArchivo.cpe?Archivo=A2BY73my_TdsvGWGbOOUEP7hygbtfIHPIuETtMA5yxI,6. The date on which the CDB credit line funds were officially committed or approved to fund these purchase contracts is unknown. Thus, the date the contracts were signed (May 4, 2020) has been used as a proxy for the commitment date.
6. Intent for this project has been set to Mixed insofar as the CDB credit line that financed it carried the provision that proceeds be used to contract exclusively with Chinese companies. This indicates a combined commercial - development intent.

📚 Sources & References

• MSP adquirió insumos de protección y equipos médicos de China para solventar pandemia por el Covid-19
• 中厄同心，共克时艰——国药集团国药国际供应厄瓜多尔抗疫物资正式交付
• 中厄同心，共克时艰——国药集团国药国际供应厄瓜多尔抗疫物资正式交付
• MSP puntualiza sobre la adquisición de equipamiento médico a empresas de origen chino
• 千山万水，为你而来！国药集团国药国际厄瓜多尔抗疫设备提升项目完成安装培训
• CHINA
• ENFERMEDAD Y MAL REMEDIO
• Informe parcial de adquisiciones de dispositivos médicos - EPP, medicamentos y equipamiento para enfrentar la emergencia sanitaria por coronavirus COVID-19 - del 21 de abril al 05 de mayo de 2020
• Convenio Marco de Cooperación Entre el Ministerio de Salud Pública del Ecuador y China Sinopharm International Corporation 00016-2020, [Tweet and accompanying photos posted 3:11 PM on May 17, 2020 by @VillaFernando_ at beginning 'URGENTE: Confirmado y ampliado. El ministro de @Salud_Ec firmó un contrato por $40 millones...']
• Oficio Nro. BDE-BDE-2020-0136-OF Quito
• D.M., 21 de marzo de 2020, 2da CONVOCATORIA A INTEGRAR VEEDURIA CIUDADANA, 20,9 millones de dólares en adquisiciones del MSP a Sinopharm serán vigilados por la ciudadanía
• Resolución No. CPCCS-PLE-SG-052-2020-294 El Pleno del Consejo de Participación Ciudadana y Control Social
• El Ministerio de Salud defendió contrato con empresa china Sinopharm
• 千山万水，为你而来！国药集团国药国际厄瓜多尔抗疫设备提升项目完成安装培训, [Tweets from @EmbajadaChinaEc posted June 30, 2020 including '...Hoy el Gobierno ecuatoriano recibió 31 toneladas de equipos de protección adquiridos en #China mediante financiamiento con el Banco de Desarrollo de China...'] Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.