CEOE detects high rates of deserted tenders in public contracts linked to European funds

He asks that the request for the 70,000 million loans be articulated as a Country Plan, with the participation of social agents and Autonomous Communities.

MADRID, 27 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) has warned that high rates of deserted tenders are being detected in public contracts linked to European 'Next Generation EU' funds (which the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility estimates at 10%), mainly as a result of inflation and its low budget allocation.

"This uncertainty is hindering the mobilization of private investment, as the successful bidder does not have a guaranteed return on investment," says the employer's association in the third 'Monitoring Report on Next Generation funds in Spain', prepared by the Projects Office CEOE Europeans and that last week was presented at the meeting of the CEOE Board of Directors.

The document also underlines that the lack of aggregate information regarding the level of execution of the funds "continues to be a pending issue in the public sector."

"It is necessary to deepen the information on calls, tenders and execution of funds, especially to know in detail, and in an updated manner, how many funds have reached the real economy," says the employers, also recalling the improvement they must make in this Autonomous Communities and Local Entities area.

In its report, the CEOE considers it essential that the request for the 70,000 million in loans from the European recovery funds that Spain will carry out in the second half of the year be articulated as a Plan for the country and not just for the Government, involving social partners and autonomous communities.

"At CEOE we are generating a close dialogue with the European Commission and the Government in this area in order to incorporate some improvements. In this sense, we believe it is essential to involve both the social partners and the autonomous communities in defining the reforms and investments that will go in the Addendum to the Plan", indicates the Confederation. In his opinion, the limited involvement of the social partners in its definition should be corrected.

The text underlines that Spain is at the forefront in receiving funds already transferred by the EU, as it is the first country to request the second disbursement of 12,000 million euros, corresponding to the fulfillment of the milestones and objectives of December 2021.

However, the CEOE recalls that it is essential to match this speed in the reception of funds by Spain with the same rhythm in the arrival of resources to the real economy.

"We perceive an acceleration in the publication of tenders and announcements, but we still have room to increase this rhythm, especially in some areas, such as Perte", the document points out, adding that "it is necessary to focus on the agility of investments for the following disbursements".

According to data from the European Commission included in the document, in 2021 France led the execution of the funds, with spending equivalent to 0.5% of its GDP, while Spain barely reached 0.2%.

The report also emphasizes that the shared effort of companies and the public sector is a key element in European funds.

Thus, acknowledging the "very important" effort being made by public administrations, coordinated by the Government, to maximize the impact of European funds, he recalls that companies are also "working hard to fine-tune their projects, especially so that they can fit into the different calls for subsidies and tenders for public contracts".

Another of the conclusions of this third report on the European recovery funds is the need to ensure their transformative impact, so that they have a significant boost for Spain in terms of employment and economic growth and that calls and tenders do not become "in a new Plan E.

Regarding the main problems of access to funds for companies, those already detected previously are maintained and it considers that the excessive fragmentation of the calls and a limited innovative approach in their design continue to constitute two important areas for improvement.