The Administrative Court of Public Contracts of the Government of the Canary Islands has annulled the tender specifications for the maintenance of road signs and security elements of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council. If the contest were still running, with a resolution of this type it would be suspended to correct the specifications; However, the contract was awarded last March for 3.6 million to the only company that applied, Señalizaciones Villar, which is currently in a situation of administrative uncertainty within the capital’s Consistory.
Thus, according to what is included in the municipal file on this matter and to which DIARIO DE AVISOS has had access, given the delay of the Court in communicating its decision (first it dismissed a company’s claim and then resumed it, all without notifying the City Hall), the legal services estimate that the annulment of the entire process could lead to greater damage to the public treasury than continuing with the service that has already been awarded.
In the resolution approved by the Governing Board, once the decision of the Court of Contracts was known, “it is considered that there are justified reasons of general interest to agree to the suspension of the immediate execution of the resolution, and that they advise and justify the formalization and execution of the contract with the greatest agility and diligence possible.
In this way, the City Council ordered to study whether the presentation of an appeal for review of the ruling of the Administrative Court of Contracts is appropriate, as well as whether it is appropriate to initiate legal actions against the same body for the damage that the delay in communicating this may cause the City Council. decision.
In the same resolution, it was agreed to inform the winning company of the situation, indicating that the current situation is not the fault of the Consistory, while informing it that it will proceed to stop formalizing the contract.
The cancellation of the specifications is carried out, according to the ruling of the Court of Contracts, essentially because the different amounts that make up the base budget for the bidding and the estimated value of the contract are not well calculated, as denounced by the Taranis company, at the beginning of the tender.
Apparently, the Court reported in February that the company had dismissed its claim, as it had not proven in due time that its corporate purpose allowed it to participate in the tender, so the tender continued. However, the company had proven what was requested, but that, “by mistake”, the Court had not taken it into account, and resumed the process without the resolution being communicated to the City Council.
The capital of Tenerife currently has 1,119,608 meters of road marking lines; 18,066 symbol units (arrows and speed limits, among others) on roads; 25,765 vertical, informative and circulation signs, and 720 visibility mirrors.
