The Comptroller General’s Office has annulled a decision awarding the concession for the Flamingo Marina to an international consortium of developers, turning back the process almost two years.

Nineteen months after one group, Desarrollo de Marinas Matapalo Demm S.A., had been awarded the concession, the Comptroller General’s Office has ruled the process did not conform to the laws that govern administrative contracting.

All six of the eight groups, which passed a rigorous first phase, pre-selection process in their quest to build and operate the Flamingo Marina, have been asked to re-submit their tenders.

Ruling upon the first of two appeals filed by losing bidders the Comptroller General concluded the Municipality of Santa Cruz had chosen the bidder without evaluation parameters or methodology, and that “any position assumed would be based on subjective analysis, unknown to the participants.”

At $91 million, Matapalo DEMM was the biggest and most ambitious project among the bidders. The company’s plans call for a new breakwater plus 442 boat slips, some capable of handling mega-yachts of up to 45 meters (150 feet). There will be coastguard, immigration, police and refueling facilities, a 20,000-square-meter hotel, a commercial center and an unspecified number of condominiums. The facility was also to have included an extended pier for cruise liners.