> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Costa Rica Closed Its 5G Tender This Week. The Comptroller Examined the US$38.8 Million Award and Not the US$97.76 Million One. - URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/costa-rica-ice-5g-contraloria-standing-ericsson-award-2026/ - Published: 2026-11-04T02:59:05.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-08T05:21:31.000Z - Description: Costa Rica's comptroller made the last three lots of the state utility's 5G tender firm on 30 October, closing a procurement worth about US$136 million. On the three larger lots it declined to examine any allegation against the winner, finding that no complainant had standing to be heard. - Author: Theon Alleyne - Tags: Costa Rica, Telecoms, Procurement, 5G, Business, Beat: procurement-project-finance **Quick summary:** Costa Rica's Contraloría General de la República made the last three lots of the state utility's 5G tender firm on 30 October, closing a procurement worth about US$136 million. On the three larger lots it declined to examine any allegation against the winner, finding that no complainant had standing to be heard. By LCN Business Desk A supplier that loses a public tender has a right to complain and no automatic right to be answered. Costa Rica has just produced a clean demonstration of the difference, across two halves of the same contract. The [Contraloría General de la República issued](https://www.cgr.go.cr/?ref=lacaribenanews.com) resolution R-DCP-SICOP-01987-2026 on 30 October, notified on 2 November, declaring three appeals without merit and leaving lots 4, 5 and 6 of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad's 5G tender with IT Servicios de Infocomunicación S.A., at an estimated US$38.8 million. With that, all six lots of procedure 2025XE-000492-0000400001 are firm and the institute can contract. ## What was awarded, and to whom? The tender was awarded in two blocks, three and a half months apart. | Lots | What they cover | Awarded to | Amount | Firm | | ------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------- | --------------- | | 1 to 3 | The mobile 5G network | Ericsson Costa Rica S.A. and Ericsson AB, in consortium | US$97.76 million | 9 July 2026 | | 4 to 6 | Data transport equipment, management software licences, and installation, support, maintenance and training | IT Servicios de Infocomunicación S.A. | US$38.8 million | 30 October 2026 | \*Lots and amounts as reported by Delfino and Semanario Universidad from the Contraloría's resolutions and the SICOP file.\* The institute announced the main award on 29 April. Three parties challenged it: Samsung, Nokia and the consortium Datasys-Ciberc-ITC. ## Why were the allegations against the larger award never examined? Because the comptroller found that none of the complainants had standing, and it declined to look on its own initiative. Samsung alleged that Ericsson had breached the regime of prohibitions by bidding at all, because an earlier contract with the institute had allowed the company, in the appeal's words, \*"presentar, explicar, posicionar y familiarizar a funcionarios clave del ICE con su propuesta tecnológica particular"\*. Nokia alleged that the winning offer \*"incumple requisitos esenciales relacionados con la estructura económica del precio, la razonabilidad financiera de las propuestas, la inalterabilidad de las ofertas y las reglas aplicables a la etapa de mejora de precios"\*. Neither set of allegations was tested. In resolution R-DCP-SICOP-01220-2026 the Contraloría held that the appellants had not shown they could have won the tender, which under Costa Rican procurement law is what gives a losing bidder the right to be heard at all. Its resolution states the doctrine directly: > \*"Este órgano contralor únicamente podrá conocer los incumplimientos señalados en contra del adjudicatario y ofertas elegibles, cuando se trate de nulidades absolutas, evidentes y manifiestas; visión que se estima responde al principio de eficiencia y con ello permite la continuidad del servicio."\* A comptroller may examine breaches alleged against a winner even where the complainant lacks standing, if the defect is absolute, evident and manifest. It declined on both. Samsung's allegations were held not to be evident or manifest, because testing them required weighing evidence. Nokia's were set aside on grounds of procedural economy and speed. ## Which complainant could have been heard? The one whose appeal was rejected over its paperwork. The Datasys-Ciberc-ITC consortium had been declared eligible by the institute and stood second on price, which on the Contraloría's own reasoning would in principle have given it standing. Its July appeal was not admitted, because of a misuse of the required forms. **On the larger award no allegation was weighed. The party entitled to be heard lost that entitlement on a form.** ## What did the comptroller examine? The smaller block, in detail, and twice. On the lots covering transport equipment the Contraloría acted on its own initiative in July, annulling an award to Coasin Costa Rica S.A. and declaring that company's offer and that of Sisap Infosec S.A. ineligible. It then examined the October appeal on its merits. Datasys-Ciberc-ITC argued that the institute had applied different standards to manufacturer backing, excluding GBM for want of direct authorisation while accepting documentation from IT Servicios de Infocomunicación carrying what it said were the same defects, and that IT's certifications named it an \*"aliado comercial"\* of Microlink S.A.S. The Contraloría found the two bidders were not in the same position: AXIS had authorised Microlink alone, while IT's certifications came from the manufacturers directly. That comparison weighed two bidders' evidence against each other. On the larger award no allegation was weighed at all. ## Did the price move? The reporting puts the earlier award on those lots at a lower figure than the one now firm. Semanario Universidad reported the annulled Coasin award at US$26.59 million. The award now firm is US$38.8 million, and the appellant's own offer was US$42.6 million. Whether the scope of the re-tendered lots is identical to the annulled one is not established here, so the two figures are not a like-for-like comparison. ## What does this mean for a supplier bidding into the region? That standing, not merit, is the first gate. A losing bidder who cannot show it would have won may find that nothing it alleges about the winner is examined, however serious. The exception, for defects that are absolute, evident and manifest, is narrow by design and was not reached here. And a complaint that would have cleared the standing gate can still be lost on the forms it was filed on. Caribbean and Central American state telecoms buyers are making vendor decisions of this size now. This newspaper has reported on [the pressure on regional telecoms boards over network vendor choices](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/huawei-visa-warning-calf-neuquen-caribbean-telecoms-boards-2026/), where the question was who may supply. Here the question is who may object. The institute is one state enterprise carrying both a national grid and a mobile network, and the same procurement rules reach both. This newspaper reported in August on [what its own planning expects from solar generation by 2027](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/costa-rica-ley-7200-solar-electricity-reform-2026/). ## What is not established? The resolutions themselves, the scope comparison, and what follows. The quotations and findings here are as published by Delfino and Semanario Universidad from the SICOP file, not from the resolutions themselves. Whether the lots re-awarded in September cover the same scope as those annulled in July is not stated. Whether any party will seek judicial review of the Contraloría's standing findings is not on the record, nor is the date the institute expects to formalise the contracts. ### The entities - **Contraloría General de la República** is Costa Rica's comptroller general, which resolves appeals against public contract awards. - **Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad** is the state utility running the 5G tender, known as ICE. - **R-DCP-SICOP-01987-2026** is the resolution of 30 October 2026 that made lots 4 to 6 firm. - **R-DCP-SICOP-01220-2026** is the July 2026 resolution that resolved the appeals against the main award and annulled the award on the smaller lots. - **Ericsson** is the supplier whose consortium holds lots 1 to 3 at US$97.76 million. - **Samsung** is one of the two appellants against that award whose allegations were not examined. - **Nokia** is the other. - **Datasys-Ciberc-ITC** is the consortium that stood second on price, whose July appeal was not admitted over its forms and whose October appeal was rejected on the merits. - **IT Servicios de Infocomunicación S.A.** is the company holding lots 4 to 6 at US$38.8 million. - **Coasin Costa Rica S.A.** is the company whose earlier award on those lots the comptroller annulled on its own initiative. - **SICOP** is Costa Rica's integrated public procurement system, which holds the tender file. ### What the title card says - Headline: Costa Rica closed its 5G tender, and its comptroller weighed the smaller award and not the larger one. - Approximate value of the whole tender: US$136 million. - Value of the lots examined on their merits: US$38.8 million. - Value of the lots on which no allegation was examined: US$97.76 million. - Date the final three lots were made firm: 30 October 2026. - Appellants against the larger award whose allegations were tested: none. - Reason given: the appellants had not shown they could have won. - Why the one eligible complainant was not heard in July: a misuse of the required forms. - Lots in the tender, all now firm: six. ## Frequently Asked Questions What did Costa Rica's comptroller decide? On 30 October 2026, in resolution R-DCP-SICOP-01987-2026, it declared three appeals without merit and left lots 4, 5 and 6 of the state utility's 5G tender with IT Servicios de Infocomunicación S.A. at an estimated US$38.8 million. All six lots of the tender are now firm. Why were the allegations against Ericsson not examined? The comptroller found that the appellants had not shown they could have won the tender, which is what confers the right to be heard. It may still examine a defect that is absolute, evident and manifest, and held that the allegations did not meet that test or that procedural economy told against taking them up. Who was entitled to be heard? The Datasys-Ciberc-ITC consortium, which had been declared eligible and stood second on price. Its July appeal was not admitted because of a misuse of the required forms. How much is the whole tender worth? About US$136 million across six lots, made up of US$97.76 million for lots 1 to 3 and US$38.8 million for lots 4 to 6. What should a bidder take from it? That the first question on an appeal is not whether the winner breached the rules but whether the complainant has standing to say so, and that an appeal which would clear that gate can still be lost on the forms it is filed on.