The Nationalist Group (CC-PNC) in the Cabildo of Lanzarote has criticized the president of the institution, María Dolores Corujo, for having "quadrupled the limits to hire directly, while having the nerve to boast in a press release about approving new guidelines to guarantee greater transparency and the appropriate legal framework for the management of the public procedure.”
This is assured by the spokesperson for CC-PNC, Samuel Martín, who emphasizes that when before, to contract a work, from 5,000 euros it was mandatory to request three budgets, "now, as approved by the Governing Council on August 2, works of up to 20,000 euros can be contracted (therefore quadrupled) without requesting budgets, that is, directly". "In the case of supplies and services, for which it was also mandatory to request three budgets from 5,000 euros, now it is possible to contract up to 10,000 euros (double) without requesting any budget," add the nationalists.
"Without a doubt, we are facing the darkest stage of the Cabildo in decades, despite its enormous propaganda machine, as we will demonstrate in full session,” says Martín.
Faced with "such outrage", what the nationalists propose is to "restore competitiveness, concurrence and transparency in the minor contracts of the Cabildo, recovering the instructions in force since 2018 that required requesting three budgets for minor contracts from 5,000 euros".
"She is violating her own rules"
From CC they also denounce that "the worst of this bad decision" of the president is that "she has taken it violating her own rules". And, they affirm that previously, in the same Governing Council, the instructions for the processing of matters in the Council were approved, "which required bringing legal reports that she does not have, a report from the Intervention, which she does not have either, and, to top it off", according to the CC-PNC councilor, Pedro San Ginés, specifies, "she has not even repealed the contracting instructions that were approved in 2018.”
“That is, when the Ministry of Finance, with Luis Arráez at the helm, proposed and we approved requesting three budgets for minor contracts from 5,000 euros, even if it was not strictly mandatory, we did so to guarantee concurrence, transparency and savings, which the president has destroyed, has added.
Although this matter "is not new" according to CC because "they had already changed the budget execution bases eliminating said obligation, however, then they had not yet changed the contracting instructions, which they have just done now completely dispensing with the procedure, for what has already been said and because the proposal, also violating its own instructions for the matters that are taken to the Governing Council, is signed by the island director of Territorial Planning, who we do not know what she has to do with all this”, highlights the nationalist councilor.
"In short, the president, also ignoring the recommendations of the independent office for regulation and supervision of contracting in relation to minor contracts (office created by the Ministry of Finance), far from promoting concurrence and competition, destroys the contracting instructions approved by the previous government in 2018 and completely dispensing with the procedure, to quadruple and double, respectively, the direct minor contracts in works contracts, on the one hand, and supplies and services, on the other," they add from CC.
In this regard, the nationalists affirm that "such has been the discomfort in different departments of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, starting with the Ministry of Finance, for this outrage to transparency, concurrence and competitiveness that, the councilor of the branch, in whom the powers for contracting had been delegated, has not wanted to take responsibility and, for the first time in the history of the institution, each Council will be responsible for making its own minor contracts, as agreed later in the Governing Council held on September 6". "An unprecedented event in the history of the Cabildo that will now have 13 Taifa Kingdoms where each Council will formalize its minor contracts," conclude from CC.
