Panama comptroller blocks $28.4 million laptop contract addendum and sends it back to Education Ministry

The purchase of 54,000 laptops for Panama’s public-school teachers has been thrown back into uncertainty after the Comptroller General refused to endorse an addendum to the contract between the Education Ministry and IS Group, S.A.

The addendum would have authorized an additional payment of $234,956 on top of the agreed contract amount of $28,482,651. The comptroller’s decision means the contractual change cannot move forward for now. The equipment, awarded to IS Group through Resolution 29 on Jan. 19, 2026, consists of Liby N18-14C laptops.

The contract was signed for the state by then-Education Minister Lucy Molinar and by Hamzi Moussa El Reda Jaafar, IS Group’s legal representative. The purchase amounts to $26,619,300 before Panama’s tax on the transfer of movable goods and services. Including that tax, the total rises to $28,482,651, putting the approximate cost at $527.46 per computer. The agreement includes four years of warranty and technical support, with payment due after all equipment had been delivered.

IS Group also had to establish service centers and support channels for teachers through phone calls, WhatsApp, email and a web platform. It was required to record and monitor damage reports, incidents and repairs. The procurement had already drawn questions during the contracting process. The Education Ministry argued that locally available computers with similar specifications cost more, while Molinar defended the price and quality as conditions that could not be negotiated.

Molinar resigned on Aug. 12 amid the controversy after filing a criminal complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which opened an investigation into the process. The laptop purchase formed part of a larger technology project that initially envisioned 654,000 devices, including 600,000 for students and 54,000 for teachers.