Court of Auditors warns that some Autonomous Communities let a month pass to execute emergency contracts in the pandemic

C-LM, Extremadura, La Rioja, Murcia, Ceuta and Melilla approved 8,855 emergency contracts worth 576 million

MADRID, 29 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Court of Auditors has warned that Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, La Rioja, Murcia, Ceuta and Melilla have allowed more than a month to pass to execute the majority of emergency contracts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This follows from the audit report on the emergency contracts entered into in 2020 for the management of the health crisis situation caused by Covid-19 in the autonomous communities and autonomous cities without an external control body that has been approved by the Court of Auditors.

Specifically, with regard to the time limits to which the start of the execution of the contracting carried out through the emergency procedure is subject, breaches have been noted in a small number of contracts (3% of the sample), in which More than a month had elapsed since the declaration of the emergency until the start of its execution.

This is the fifth specific audit on emergency contracting of the seven scheduled by the Court of Auditors, which will also carry out a Global Report whose approval is expected in 2023, which aims to present in an aggregate manner the main results obtained in the analysis of this matter in all sectoral and territorial areas.

The report approved by the Plenary concludes, according to the information collected by the Court of Auditors, that these Autonomous Communities and Cities entered into 8,855 emergency contracts linked to the pandemic caused by the health crisis, for a total amount of 576 million euros.

Of this amount, 452 million euros corresponded to supply contracts, of which 80%, 361 million euros, were for medical supplies such as masks, gloves, hydroalcoholic gel, gowns, glasses, protective screens, among others.

By Autonomous Communities, Cantabria awarded a total of 40 million euros, of which 32 million euros were supply contracts. Of this amount, 22 million euros were allocated to medical supplies and, specifically, 5 million to masks. The price of the surgical ones ranged between 0.50 and 0.40 euros, and that of the FFP2 between 2.62 and 1.05 euros.

Castilla-La Mancha, which at the time of the audit did not have an external control body, awarded 241 million euros, of which 220 million euros were supply contracts. Of this amount, 174 million euros corresponded to medical supplies and, specifically, 100 million to masks. The price of the surgical ones ranged between 0.39 and 0.26 euros, and that of the FFP2 between 2.20 and 0.80 euros.

For its part, Extremadura awarded a total of 108 million euros, of which 59 million euros corresponded to supply contracts. Of this amount, 47 million euros were related to medical supplies and, specifically, 10 million to masks. The price of the surgical ones was 0.18 euros, and that of the FFP2 ranged between 2.38 and 1.75 euros.

In the case of La Rioja, the awards were for a value of 27 million euros, of which 23 million were allocated to supplies. Of this amount, 21 million euros were related to medical supplies and, specifically, 6 million to masks. The price of the surgical ones ranged between 0.56 and 0.46 euros, and that of the FFP2 ranged between 2.49 and 1.94 euros.

Murcia awarded a total of 147 million euros, of which 116 million euros correspond to supply contracts. Of this amount, 95 million euros were related to medical supplies and, specifically, 24 million to masks. The price of the surgical ones ranged between 0.78 and 0.28 euros, and that of the FFP2 ranged between 3.75 and 0.95 euros.

With regard to the Autonomous Cities, Ceuta awarded 8 million euros, of which 2 were supplies. Of this amount, one million euros was related to medical supplies and, specifically, 0.5 million to masks. The price of the surgical ones was 0.91 euros, and that of the FFP2 was 3.61 euros. Melilla made an emergency contract worth 5 million, allocating 1 million euros to supplies. Of this amount, 0.5 million euros was related to medical supplies and, specifically, 0.2 million to masks. The price of reusable approved masks was 2.75 euros.

For this audit, the Court of Auditors has examined a sample of 421 contracts amounting to 406 million, a figure that represents 70% of the total amount of emergency contracts linked to COVID-19 in the Autonomous Communities and Autonomous Cities under examination.

In most cases, the object of the audited contracts was directly or indirectly linked to the adoption of measures to deal with the health situation caused by the pandemic, the number of contracts being low (39 of a total of 421 audited, 9 % of the sample) in which incidents were noticed in relation to the justification.