MADRIDThe public companies that are traditionally most used to bidding for projects are those that have pulled the cart during the first year of deployment of European funds when it comes to channeling money. Without going any further, Adif has tendered about 2.44 billion euros for the construction of infrastructure, almost half of the European funds tendered until February 28, 2022, according to the report The NextGenEU Funds in Spain: an analysis of the execution of tenders, published this Tuesday by Esade, in conjunction with the consulting firm EY. “The main focus of the tenders has been on the construction of infrastructure,” the report notes, noting that when the tenders are broken down by economic activity, 70% are linked to work in the construction sector.
These nearly 2.5 billion euros are part of the total money that public administrations had already tendered on February 28, ie closed and awarded calls: 5 billion, according to the report, of which the 54% have been taken over by public companies (2.7 billion euros). That is why behind Adif there are other public companies that have so far played a testimonial role, such as Renfe or Tragsa.
However, after the public companies the highest bidder is the central government (1,334 million), followed by the autonomous communities (852 million) and, finally, the municipalities (829 million). In terms of state tenders, the Ministry of Health is the one that has launched the money the fastest, with 876 million euros. This amount, however, is also explained by the funds coming from REACT-EU, one of the other branches of NextGenEU linked to health and social spending. It is followed by the Ministry of Transport, with 134 million.
For all this, the report highlights that “it is not uncommon for services associated with transport and goods associated with construction to lead the classification of tenders” by major areas of activity. Specifically, land transport services, construction, construction of motorways or roads and demolition of buildings or other construction works total 3,775 million euros. Bidding is the first phase of budget execution of funds. That is, in the case of public procurement is when the bases of the project are drawn up and published. It is then awarded to the contractor (commitment), who is the one who performs the service who will be certified by the spending center. Finally, the payment arrives (when the money is paid to the contractor).
But the pace is not only uneven in terms of economic activity, but also geographically. Thus, while Castilla-La Mancha and Galicia lead the pace of tenders with more than 200 million, Catalonia, La Rioja and Navarre have activated less than 5 million euros through tenders, according to data consulted by Esade .
However, the report notes that the execution of these tenders remained at a slower pace at the beginning of last year, but that it has “accelerated” by the end of 2021 and especially 2022. This trend towards The increase coincides with the estimates of supervisory bodies such as the Bank of Spain which are moving for this year and, above all, for 2023, a greater impact of the funds as a result of the delay in their execution.
The control of funds
Reaching these results has not been easy. As the report itself points out, there is a “dispersion and lack of information that makes monitoring difficult [de l’execució dels fons europeus]”. As an example, on the Public Sector Procurement Portal (PCSP)”[les dades] either they are not presented in the most practical way if what is wanted is to go beyond simple searches, or not all the information is accessible equally “, the report states. In a conversation with ARA, the The author of the text, the economist Manuel Hidalgo, points out that communities such as the Basque Country, Andalusia and Catalonia do not have a contractor profile on this platform and the information must be consulted on the same web pages of the communities.
In fact, if a negative element has been pointed out by the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (Airef), it has recently been that the Spanish government has not done its homework to monitor the impact of European funds on public accounts. The agency, which has already anticipated that the war in Ukraine will reduce the momentum of European manna this year, called for the state’s public accounts to be accompanied by an impact of the funds “on government revenues and expenditures. as well as information broken down by subsectors.
Esade’s report comes after the Spanish government became the first member state to demand disbursement of the first remittance of 2022: 12 billion euros. Organizations such as the Bank of Spain and Airef insist that the problem is not so much when they arrive, but their ability to execute.