- A consortium of Indian and Israeli companies appealed a $24 million contract awarded by Peru’s Interior Ministry to Plasan Sasa for 56 armored vehicles.
- The consortium alleges irregularities and favoritism in the procurement process, requesting that the award be annulled.
Peru has chosen Israel’s Plasan Sasa Ltd. to supply 56 Sandcat EX12 armored vehicles to the National Police, according to a report from Defensa.
The contract was awarded under International Competition No. 003‑2025, launched by the Ministry of the Interior for a multipurpose 4×4 armored vehicle program aimed at strengthening riot‑control and public‑security capabilities.
According to the report, the program falls under the national initiative “Improvement of Crowd Control and Civil Disturbance Service,” supported by Directive No. 004‑2025‑IN‑OGAF, which governs procurement from foreign suppliers exempt from Peru’s public contracting law. The acquisition is valued at roughly $23.8 million.
But according to Peruvian outlet La República, a defense consortium representing Indian and Israeli companies has formally challenged the Peruvian government’s recent $24 million armored vehicle deal with Israel’s Plasan Sasa Ltd., alleging irregularities in the procurement process and calling for the contract to be annulled.
As reported by La República, the award was made on November 7, just two weeks after Ronnie Matienzo Mendoza was appointed as head of the OGAF. He resigned eight days after signing off on the deal.
In an official statement dated November 13, Brigadier Monish Datta, representative of Indian firm DCM Shriram Industries, submitted a formal appeal on behalf of a consortium with Israeli partner Gaia Behri. The consortium alleges “irregularities, bias, and favoritism” in the tender process, and has demanded that the contract award to Plasan Sasa be declared null and void.
“There are irregularities in the evaluation process,” Datta wrote in a letter addressed to the Interior Ministry. “The process did not adhere to the rules established in the international contracting guidelines.”
According to Datta, the evaluation committee “ignored key technical qualifications that are essential to determine which armored vehicle meets the user’s operational requirements.”
“The omission of this technical procedure, designed to ensure an objective comparison of delivery schedules, renders the evaluation of the timing factor arbitrary and contrary to the stated rules,” he said. “Therefore, the process should be annulled, and the Evaluation Committee should be held accountable.”
OGAF rejected the consortium’s bid, citing a failure to submit documents verifying the partnership between DCM Shriram and Gaia Behri. However, the consortium claims it had requested clarifications within the deadline and received no response from OGAF.
The controversy intensified after local media published photos showing Matienzo meeting with Plasan’s representative, César Landman Landman, just six days after the award was granted and one day before Matienzo’s resignation. The meeting reportedly lasted nearly three hours.
The appeal also alleges that the committee “overstepped its functions and conducted a biased and partial evaluation, contaminating the neutrality of the selection process.” The consortium has asked the Ministry to uphold its appeal and void the procurement decision.