The professional associations of Canary Islands They have hit the table. They are tired of the public company Territorial and Environmental Management and Planning (Gesplan)attached to the Canarian Government, “hog” all the projects and works of the Canarian administrations preventing the access of private companies to the procedures. A situation of “unfair competition” that, according to professionals, is “devastating” the business and professional fabric of the Archipelago. This has been denounced through a statement in which the Canary Islands Council of the College of Architects, the Official College of Graduates and Industrial Technical Engineers of Santa Cruz de Tenerifethe Official College of Telecommunications Engineers, the Official College of Industrial Engineers of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the Official College of Quantity Surveyors and Technical Architects of Tenerife, the College of Technical Telecommunications Engineers and the Official College of Agricultural Engineers of the Center and the Canary Islands .
The exception, resorting to “own media” to meet the supply needs of goods, services or works without a competitive process, It has become the norm among the Canarian administrations, something denounced from the private sector. “As a general rule, administrations should openly and transparently tender the jobs they need, so that competition contributes to improving the quality and prices of products and services,” says the document detailing that Gesplan , it is not only a means of the Government of the Canary Islands and of all its dependent bodies, but also of the seven island councils and of 70 of the 88 municipalities of the Canary Islands.
“Before, this type of company was only in charge of managing the tender, but now they are left with the public competition, without a contest and without a tender,” explains the former dean of the College of Architects of Tenerife, La Gomera and The iron (Coactfe), Argeo Semán, who belongs to the working group that has been formed to manage the joint complaint of professionals.
The advantage of this system? The main reason that leads administrations to resort to this operating method, according to Semán, is the simplification of the procedure avoiding the “cumbersome” processing of public tenders. “Officials have fewer problems because making a single file is a faster process,” explains the architect, who assures that these decisions “are costing” the administrations since Gestplan establishes fixed rates compared to a public bidding process that lower the offer by 15%.
Professional associations also complain about the “aggressive trade promotion activity” carried out by the public company, as indicated in the report, much more typical of a private company than of what is an own media. “They themselves offer themselves to the municipalities to become their own media, they prepare the agreements and all the documentation for them,” says Semán.
To denounce this situation, the professional associations have had no other way than to resort to the courts and individually each of the orders that the Canary Islands administrations are making to Gesplan. They have already denounced two cases, from the municipalities of Puerto de la Cruz and Adeje, which are still ongoing. “The possibility of going to the National Commission for Markets and Competition has also been raised several times,” warns Semán.
