ADOCALZA supports transparency in INABIE school footwear tenders
The Dominican Association of Footwear Manufacturers (ADOCALZA) has expressed its firm support for the new evaluation mechanisms implemented by the National Institute of Student Welfare (INABIE). These measures, applied to the 2026-2027 school footwear procurement process, seek to ensure that the selected bidders meet the highest standards of production capacity.
The organization emphasized that the awarded local manufacturers possess the infrastructure, machinery, and human capital necessary to fulfill the commitments made to the State, ensuring the timely delivery of supplies for the Dominican student body.
Objective evaluation methodology
ADOCALZA highlighted as a significant advancement the methodology adopted by INABIE, which directly links the installed capacity of companies with the number of formal workers registered in Social Security. According to the entity, this criterion allows:
- Evaluate the actual production capacity of each bidder.
- Reduce the risk of capacity declarations without infrastructure backing.
- Foster more equitable and transparent competition.
A manufacturer must be able to demonstrate where they produce, what machinery they own, what personnel they have, and what their installed capacity is. That reality can be physically verified.
ADOCALZA
The association clarified that it does not seek to discredit the work of importers or marketers, but underscored the importance of differentiating between those who manufacture locally and those who only distribute. In this sense, they urged the authorities to carry out direct inspections at the factories if doubts arise about the capacity of any participating company.
Boosting the national industry
For ADOCALZA, the strengthening of controls in the INABIE-MAE-PEUR-2026-0003 process is proof that it is possible to combine the efficiency of public spending with the country’s industrial development. The entity reiterated that it does not request privileges, but rather processes where the productive reality of Dominican manufacturers is valued.
When the State buys from a manufacturer that truly produces in the Dominican Republic, it does not just acquire a product: it supports formal jobs, investments, companies, and a national production chain. We do not ask to be believed by words; we ask to be verified by facts.
ADOCALZA
Finally, the association called for not generalizing questions from previous processes regarding the current tender, trusting that the new evaluation criteria will allow for a clear, professional, and beneficial process for the national educational system.
