Managing public money is not at all easy. Since we are talking about the resources contributed by the citizens themselves, collected with everyone's taxes, it is logical that the controls to which said spending is subjected are correlative to its importance.
Likewise, since we must all have the same opportunities to access public contracts under equal conditions, the procedures become complex due to the pertinent guarantees and other aspects derived from all this.
A final important factor to take into account are the conditions that are set for us from Europe in terms of contracting to achieve certain objectives. I have to say that from the Cabildo of Lanzarote we are giving full coverage to European directives by incorporating qualitative, social and environmental criteria into the tenders and the evaluation scales of offers.
However, the situation we are facing at the moment, with a health, social and economic panorama that demands an immediate response to the needs of the moment, makes it almost impossible to comply in time with the bureaucratic framework that today represents Law 9/2017, of November 8, on Public Sector Contracts, with 347 articles and a few other additional, transitional and final provisions.
Without renouncing the basic principles of auditing and control of public money, much less altering or reducing anyone's right to compete under equal conditions for public contracts, nor without failing to comply with the result obligations that we have assumed at the level of the European Union, it is possible and absolutely necessary to simplify our public procurement regulations if we really want to move forward and make the economic and social recovery of the islands a reality.
From the experience of managing the public works of the Island Council, what I propose is to rationalize the procedures, maintain the necessary controls but avoid duplication in them, shorten deadlines and systematize procedures.
It is not that complex and it is possible, you just have to look at other countries in our environment that use more pragmatism and efficiency for these issues.
Let's not fool ourselves. Let's be realistic. If we want to give quick answers and be able to arrive in a timely manner, especially for the money that may come from Europe to have a leverage effect and transform our economic model, we must do our homework and be more agile.
And this is where I demand that the state legislator act now because, otherwise, the recovery will be a mere mirage.
Jacobo Medina, vice president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote and Minister of Public Works, Planning and Projects