Hospitalet de Llobregat City Council

December-2023

As a result of a report, an illegal use or destination of public funds, attributed to the municipal entity under the suspicion of duplicity between contracts with the same object related to the planting of trees in the municipality, awarded to businesses, some of which may be linked to the company providing the service of conservation, maintenance and renovation of green spaces, work in the trees, supply of material or plants and the performance of ancillary tasks in public gardens, spaces tous or municipal equipment. The actions carried out conclude an apparent absence of fraudulent use of the analyzed municipal procurement, as well as an apparent absence of any commercial link between the awardees of the contracts. The data provided and the elements to which we have been able to have access do not allow us to grasp any clear indication of substantive irregularities that could be considered in the municipal actions examined relating to the municipality's trees that require a more careful analysis, or at least it cannot be inferred, in this specific case, a risk higher than usual or typical of decision-making in the municipal sphere and of the management of public resources, which is why the action of key research with archiving. However, on the occasion of the examination of the action, it has been noted that among the integral documentation of the procurement files delivered, there is no report on the need, suitability and efficiency of the procurement, mandatory in the general configuration of any file of procurement. The supporting report becomes the necessary preparatory document to certify the rationality and consistency of the contract and, specifically, to help eliminate any defect of arbitrariness. It is for this reason that the indication regarding the convenience of incorporating and recording the aforementioned reports as part of the preparatory documentation for the procurement files is being formulated before the City Council.