A car valued at just $1,099.34 ended up at a repair shop with a bill of over $17,589.38 for repairs. The case raised red flags within the Municipality of Santa Cruz and led to a review of a series of multi-million-dollar contracts awarded to Baterías Halcón, a company that in just four years secured more than $540,873.31 in vehicle maintenance services.
Behind these contracts, an analysis by GuanaData—a system developed by La Voz de Guanacaste and the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP)—detected unusual patterns: bids with a single bidder, recurring exclusions of competitors, and contracts awarded without competition.
The alerts that GuanaData sent to the La Voz journalism team were “only one bidder submitted a proposal” and “suspicious extension of the deadline for submitting bids,” and they revealed just the tip of the iceberg of a series of alleged irregularities in the Santa Cruz Municipality contracting of services from Baterías Halcón.
Among the findings were repairs of vehicles with low market value that had already been classified as scrap, shipments of vehicles to the repair shop without a purchase order, payments processed without the necessary authorizations, and a recurring concentration of contracts awarded without competition.
Baterías Halcón S.A. is a corporation chaired by Nelson Gamboa Araya, a resident of Nicoya who has been involved for decades in water conservation on the Nicoya Peninsula through the Nicoyagua Foundation.
The repair shop, described by its owner as a medium-sized business with just over 50 employees and a presence in the province for 43 years, has relatively little experience with public tenders through the Public Procurement System (Sicop), although according to Gamboa, contracts with the public sector date back much further.
It has been registered with Sicop since 2019, but the first contract with the Municipality of Santa Cruz was awarded in 2021, for just $705.77. In 2022, it secured $28,582.74, and the economic boom came in 2023 and 2024, when the amounts for both years exceeded $483,709.38.
The preferred supplier
Between 2021 and 2025, Baterías Halcón participated in 20 bids issued by the Municipality of Santa Cruz. Of that total, it was the sole bidder on 11 occasions. In other words, no other individual or company competed for the contract.
In five other processes, it did face competition, but the other bidders were excluded for failing to meet certain requirements.
In four other contracts, the company was awarded only a portion of the contract, as the purchases were divided into lots. This method allows multiple suppliers to participate in a single bid, as they can bid on only certain lots rather than the entire purchase.
The contracts include car repairs, the sale of accessories and spare parts for vehicles belonging to the Municipal Road Management Technical Unit (UTGVM), corrective and preventive maintenance services for the municipal fleet, oil changes, among others.
Of the contracts awarded to Baterías Halcón S.A. between 2021 and 2025, five were awarded under the “on-demand” model. In this type of contract, a base price is offered for the good or service to be purchased by the institution, a contract term is set, and a maximum budget amount is established that functions as a “line of credit.” The supplier—in this case, Baterías Halcón—agrees to deliver the services or goods periodically, via purchase orders, according to the needs of the contracting party, that is, the municipality.
In three of the five tenders under this modality—which are those with the highest awarded amounts—Baterías Halcón won without competition and with a perfect evaluation score of 100 points. Those three contracts alone total a maximum budget of $1,243,568.88.
The contract with the largest budget was awarded in 2023, for a maximum amount of $581,548.74 for vehicle maintenance and repair over four years. To date, according to information from Sicop, 67 purchase orders totaling $221,845.14 have been processed between September 29, 2023, and April 24, 2026.
“There are no other companies that meet the requirements”
Public procurement contracts in Costa Rica must be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the General Public Procurement Law No. 9986.
While it is not illegal for there to be a single bidder, the regulations state that a justification is required. The municipality, or any public institution, must explain why that is the only option available.
Competition, according to the governing document, allows for better price and quality conditions for the services required by institutions. Bidding processes are also a mechanism to prevent corruption in the use of public funds.
La Voz interviewed Nelsón Gamboa Araya to learn his position on the information revealed in this report. When questioned about possible irregularities, the businessman argued that the concentration of contracts was due to the fact that his company is one of the few in the region that meets the requirements established by Sicop.
You have to be up to date with the Social Security Fund (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social), the tax authorities, the municipalities, and Fodesaf [Social Development and Family Allowances Fund]. It’s very difficult for a ‘small business’ to stay current with all that. Sometimes you’re competing against companies in San José that are up to date,” he commented.
In local government, Pedro Raúl González, administrator of the Municipal Road Management Technical Unit, was the one who processed most of the contracts for maintenance and repair of the municipal vehicle fleet, both through Sicop and via purchase orders.
González agreed with Gamboa that it is difficult for companies to bid on Sicop contracts due to the number of requirements they must meet.
He explained that, in addition to being up to date on all payments, suppliers must provide guarantees for the duration of the contract and wait 30 days to receive payment for services. This leads many to prefer not to bid.
Although both parties argued that Baterías Halcón is one of the few companies in the region that meets the requirements to be a public supplier, the company’s involvement in other nearby municipalities is still in its early stages.
According to the Ministry of Finance’s Public Procurement Observatory, between October 2019 and December 2025, Baterías Halcón secured 25 contracts with the public sector, totaling $582,208.13. However, 93% of its revenue came from the Municipality of Santa Cruz, amounting to $541,532.91.
Other contracts, totaling just $40,235.69, are divided among service sales to the Supreme Court of Justice, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, and the municipalities of Carrillo and Liberia.
González added that since March 2025, he has not been responsible for these contracts and that this task is now handled by the municipality’s transportation department.
La Voz de Guanacaste sought to hear Mayor Jorge Arturo Alfaro’s side of the story, but he did not respond to questions sent by email since March 23. On April 7, the mayor’s secretary, Isabel Cubillo, acknowledged receipt of the email and forwarded it to Rony Gómez Hidalgo, an advisor to the mayor. This official also did not respond, either in writing or by phone, despite being contacted on two occasions.
The Scrap Metal Business
Within the municipality, questions about the recurring, multi-million-dollar contracts with Baterías Halcón had already raised suspicions.
A report by the local government’s Internal Audit Office found that of the revenue earned by the company, $116,529.62 came from the repair of old, low-value vehicles.
For example, the municipality sent a car valued at $1,099.34 by the Institute for Municipal Development and Advisory Services (IFAM) for repair, but the repair cost more than $17,589.38. In other words, repairing it at this shop cost 16 times its price. IFAM had conducted the vehicle valuation at the request of the municipal council.
La Voz asked Nelsón Gamboa whether the company had ever warned the municipality about the cost-benefit of repairing these old vehicles.
He explained that when preparing the service quote for the public tender, they have no way of knowing which of the municipality’s vehicles will require it.
The people from the Audit Office, when they were there (at the company), told me that they have a regulation (regarding vehicle repairs) and that this couldn’t be right, but I don’t know the municipality’s internal regulations and I have no reason to know them. Furthermore, we don’t contract directly with the municipality. We contract through the Sicop system, which is very organized and strict. If it were a direct deal with the municipality or a supplier, one might say, ‘Sure, how did they manage to negotiate that?’ but that’s not the case,” he stated.
Following the Audit Office’s report, the awarding of contracts to Baterías Halcón plummeted. It dropped from $301,218.06 in 2024 to just $18,688.71 in 2025. The repairs were processed by Pedro Raúl González through Sicop and using petty cash.
González denied that any irregularities had occurred. He said the vehicles underwent repairs and maintenance because they were needed for service in the transportation department and because no budget had been approved for purchasing new cars.
He added that the cars were not junk and that the appraisal conducted by IFAM, which assigned them a low value, did not reflect the vehicles’ true market value.
Carlos Barrenechea, president of the municipal council, said he has been following this matter for some time.
Once the council presented us with that document (Audit Report, in February 2025), I intervened and began asking the administration for explanations regarding who had authorized the repair of vehicles that had previously been discarded or classified as scrap,” he commented.
Based on that report, he said, they also discovered that the municipality was sending vehicles to the repair shop without a purchase order or authorization from those in charge. Similarly, payments and repairs were made without proper authorization.
The municipal president held Pedro Raúl González, his superiors, and the mayor responsible, “who, ultimately, must sign off on all the paperwork.” He added that since the explanations from the administration were unsatisfactory, he asked the council secretary to compile a statement of facts and send it to the Public Integrity Prosecutor’s Office for investigation.
Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office Investigates
The Press Office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the Deputy Prosecutor’s Office for Integrity, Transparency, and Anti-Corruption in Santa Cruz is investigating Mayor Jorge Arturo Alfaro and the director of the Municipal Road Management Technical Unit (UTGVM), Didier Monge Jiménez.
The investigation, requested in May 2025 by the municipal council, is being conducted under Case File 25-000018-1957-PE and is currently in the evidence collection and analysis phase.
They are accused of causing damage to the public treasury through the misuse of funds—amounting to $160,498.66—for the repair of vehicles that had already reached the end of their useful life.
La Voz de Guanacaste asked Monge Jiménez for comment on the matter, but he declined to speak because, as he stated, he had not been notified and was unaware that a judicial investigation was underway against him.
He added that in February 2026, he was transferred by order of the mayor to the Department of Land Use Planning, so he is no longer in charge of the UTGVM.
The case raised questions among council members regarding the planning and use of resources allocated to road management and the need to evaluate whether these decisions meet criteria of economy and efficiency in the management of public funds.
At that time, Mayor Jorge Arturo Alfaro defended the transparency of the contracting process and noted that such procedures pass through various officials and departments before final approval. “Let’s leave it at that. If we have suspicions, let’s refer them to the Prosecutor’s Office and the Comptroller’s Office,” he stated.
We will tell you the full story of the scrap vehicles in a second installment.
*All amounts in this edition have been converted from Costa Rican colones to U.S. dollars based on the exchange rate as of May 22, 2026.
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