The Public Sector Contracts Law obliges public administrations to program, plan, and publish their contracting activity in advance, but in the case of the Canary Islands, out of 819 contracting bodies inspected, only 7% comply with the obligation to program their contracts, according to a corruption prevention report carried out by the Court of Accounts of the Canary Islands.
60% of local government hirings in the Canary Islands are carried out through minor contracts, and in general, any programming and planning is violated in public administration, the report states, which was presented this Monday by the president of the Canary Islands Court of Accounts, Pedro Pacheco, in a parliamentary commission.
"Contractual programming must be formulated before the fiscal year in which it is to take effect," Pacheco insisted, who described the general breach of contract situation as "worrying."
The president of the Court of Auditors has specified that the data in the report corresponds to 2022, but has been repeated in 2023 and subsequent years.
Pacheco has pointed out that the minor contract "is intended for unforeseeable and exceptional circumstances," but it is used "in a very widespread manner."
The minor contract is a convenience for officials and managers because it involves fewer procedures, but "it can be used for other darker or gray things," Pacheco warned, recalling that this type of contracting does not promote transparency or equal access and distorts competition
The Case of the Canary Islands Health Service
Pacheco has assured that the rule, which obliges the public sector to program and publicize procurement activity in advance within a budgetary year or over multi-year periods, "is not unachievable," as demonstrated by the case of the Canary Islands Health Service, which does comply with this requirement."There is no greater volume or complexity of contracting than that of the Canary Islands Health Service, and it is the one that programs the most," Pacheco said to illustrate that the rule is not "unmanageable" by the administration
The Court of Accounts report defends the need for regional legislation to clarify the content that should be included in the prior publication of contracts, as in many cases the programming does not reflect the minimum content required by the Public Sector Contracts Law.
"The Directorate-General for Heritage has responsibilities in contracting and can clarify the obligation, the contents, and the periodicity," Pacheco emphasized, denouncing that "at certain levels" of the administration, "programming is considered a 'walk in the park'."
Programming "shines by its absence, it's something minor, just like the evaluation of programming" which should be carried out at the end of each budgetary year and which "is also minor and would be another pending issue".
Of the 7% of compliant contracting authorities, 25 are from the Autonomous Community and 29 in local entities, mostly island councilsIn the case of the regional administration, there is a general breach except in six entities, according to the report, which highlights the Canary Islands Health Service, which does regularly schedule contractingIn the realm of island councils, those of Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and El Hierro carry out unified planning for all their contracting bodies, while in the case of municipalities, only Tuineje, Teguise, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, along with the autonomous bodies of the latter and the Municipal Housing Society of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, undertake programming
