With a lengthy statement the Municipal Authority responded to the major opposition and Mr Panagopoulos regarding the list of direct award projects. The statement stresses both the legal part of the assignments and the fact that they are known to the opposition and to every citizen since they are posted on Transparency. Finally reminds that direct assignments have signed and Mr. Panagopoulos as Governor of the Hospital of Molae. Read the announcement.
The truth about direct awards
The major opposition was unable to respond to the key issues and questions raised by the Deputy Mayor Mr.Charalambos Sougianis with 2 consecutive answers. Of course this does not surprise us, it was completely expected, not only by us but also by the vast majority of our fellow citizens. Among other things, we expect (from May) to answer us directly, clearly and with clear and concrete data «WHEN», «WHERE» to «WHOM» by all those responsible for the implementation of the project Belvedere and «WHAT» exactly «INTERVENTIONS» did the Opposition make to correct omissions in the study?;
The Major Minority Group has from time to time submitted written requests for direct awards, which have been answered within the statutory deadline set by law (30 days). Apart from the obvious answer, i.e. all direct awards (as well as all administrative acts) are posted on Transparency and the Public Procurement Register so that everyone (including elected officials) can obtain any information, on 26-02-2020 with our reply (no. 374) to the councillor Mr. Nikos Magoulas, we mentioned the following regarding the distinction of «project» from «work-service»:
«According to Article 1 of Law 4412/2016 it is defined that ’‘project’ means the result of a set of building or engineering works which is sufficient in itself to fulfil an economic or technical function. The performance of such work requires in particular the application of a study, using technical knowledge and methods and involves new constructions, extensions, renovations, repairs - maintenance during operation, demolition of infrastructure, especially in the categories of roads, construction, plumbing, electromechanical, port, industrial - energy, networks, greenery, water purification and treatment, liquid, solid and gaseous waste, drilling, special insulation, lifts, electronic equipment, floating works and installations, shipyards, mining excavations or as these categories are defined by the applicable provisions and the infrastructure resulting from the combination of the above categories. However, according to what has been consistently accepted both in case law (see Act 56/2017 of the Greek Parliament) and from the practical application of the relevant provisions in all public bodies of the country, it is undeniable that simple technical work for which no specialised personnel is required but the usual experience of using machinery is sufficient, such as (indicatively) simple repairs to buildings and infrastructure, painting and insulation, replacement of windows and doors, earthworks, replacement of lamps, electrical panels, tiles and sanitary equipment, landscaping and horticultural applications, etc.etc. do not constitute independent works but «works» for which the Court of Auditors has ruled that they are awarded (or put out to tender if the expenditure exceeds €20 000 + VAT) without being classified as «works» but as «services», so that the contracting authorities are not burdened with contractor's profit and savings are ensured in the public interest. This has been consistently accepted, not only in our own municipality, but also more widely at the stage of the Court of Auditors Commissioner's preventive control of expenditure. The Municipality has on file a series of Payment Orders for the period 2011-2019 (i.e. the period of mandatory preventive expenditure control by the ECA) which were unambiguously considered by the Commissioner as perfectly legitimate and as having been correctly issued and which related to the execution of technical work which does not constitute a complete and independent project and which can be carried out with normal experience of using machinery or tools or which does not require highly specialised knowledge or highly specialised scientific personnel. For all such contracts covered by the direct award procedure under article 118 of Law 4412/2016: a) the preparation of a study is not required but the preparation of a simple technical description of the estimated cost, b) no supervising engineer is appointed and there are no pre-measurements but the work is received by the three-member committee appointed by decision of the Economic Committee and under the supervision of the Head of the Municipality's Technical Department who prepares the technical descriptions, c) the obligation to inventory the work in the IKA is borne solely by the contractors and for this purpose there is an explicit reminder to contractors in all relevant contracts while the submission of a certificate of inventory of these services to the I.K.A. is a necessary supporting document payment which, if not presented, does not complete the payment or issue the relevant C.I.P..».
It follows from the above that direct awards are a legal and statutory procedure followed by all public bodies in the country for any supply or work with a budget of up to 20.000€ + VAT, i.e. up to 24.800€, and are the exclusive competence of the Mayor and no decision of a collective body is required for them. Direct awards are made on the basis of the lowest price offered.. Direct assignments have signed and Mr. Panagopoulos as Governor of the Hospital of Molana, therefore the above is fully known to colleagues of the major minority. Besides more than 60% of the budgets of all public entities in the country are implemented through the direct award procedure.
If one looks back to the 2014 budgets of the Municipality, i.e. those of the then Municipal Authority which, as everyone knows, is the political ancestor of the current major minority, he will realize that direct awards had been instrumentalised for political gain. Hundreds of micro-codes for each community separately: for rural roads, for shields, for water damage, etc. It was the current Municipal Authority that from its first budget, that of 2015, eliminated almost 70-80% of direct awards and in their place put in aggregate amounts that are put out to public tender each year, such as the annual contract for rural roads, concrete, water damage, etc.
Direct outsourcing has been limited to what is strictly necessary and concerns mainly day-to-day issues and maintenance of infrastructure and networks. For example, the blocking of the VIKO network in Kapsali or the supply of pumps, signposts, waste bins, asphalt mix for potholes, etc. are carried out under the legal direct award procedure. Water supply, sewerage and energy studies are also carried out by direct award up to the amount of 20,000€ + VAT. With this procedure, for example, we have prepared the study of energy upgrade of school buildings which we have submitted for funding in the Attica Regional Development Programme. By direct assignment we prepared the Business Plan of Water Supply (Master Plan) but also the preliminary studies of the biological treatment of Ag. Pelagia and so on.
In fact, most of the money from direct contracts is returned to the local community since most of the professionals who work with the Municipality are Kytherians. And it will continue to be our choice to work with local crews, with local businesses and professionals, since the Municipality as has been emphasized is the largest «employer» on our island and especially in the pandemic crisis the support of local businesses is our primary objective.
So without any shade we publish the list of direct awards of works, services and basic supplies from 01-01-2019 until today. Supplies related to water supply and cleaning or the daily operation of municipal services (pumps, borehole pipes, import/export of pumps, electromechanical equipment, cleaning and disinfecting agents, lawnmower consumables, stationery, etc.) are not mentioned as they are everyday procedures and we do not think that they are considered by the opposition as «shadows», moreover, they are not considered as "shadows".everything is posted on Transparency and the Contract Register.
However, the conclusions are obvious and have not NO SHADOW: 41 direct awards in 2020 and at the same time 25 public tenders (auctions).
Absolute balance, absolutely necessary direct awards (in all public bodies direct awards represent more than 60% of their annual expenditure), absolutely legal and transparent. Period.
See the list in detail
