VALENCIA. The Central Administrative Court of Contractual Appeals (TACRC) has rejected the appeal filed by Compromís against the tender for the environmental management contract for the Devesa-Albufera Natural Park, thus lifting the suspension of the proceedings. The court states in its ruling—without addressing the merits of the appeal—that Compromís councilor Sergi Campillo lacks standing to appeal through this channel, as he is not a member of the Local Governing Board, the contracting body that approved the tender specifications.
Therefore, the court clears the way for the tender process to continue, which had been provisionally suspended last December following the filing of this appeal. The contract, put out to tender last November for just over one million euros, includes support for the environmental management of the Devesa-Albufera Natural Park, the preparation of technical reports, environmental education initiatives, and communication tasks. These functions have been performed until now by municipal technical staff.
It should be noted that this is a contract promoted by the Devesa-Albufera councilorship, headed by Vox deputy mayor José Gosálbez, through which the City Council intends to outsource the environmental management and communication service for the area.
The TACRC does not rule on the merits of the appeal.
The administrative court’s ruling concludes that the Compromís councilor is not entitled to file a special appeal regarding contracting matters since «he was not part of the contracting body and therefore could not have voted in any way regarding the appealed agreement,» a requirement that the regulations demand for members of a local corporation to challenge this type of decision. Therefore, the body has decided to dismiss the appeal without ruling on the merits of the issue raised by Campillo.
The tender generated criticism from both the opposition and from the labor and environmental sectors. Compromís denounced the contract, arguing that it opened the door to the «privatization» of the environmental management of the Devesa-Albufera Natural Park and warned of the risk that the winning company could produce «reports on demand» regarding the park’s condition. Similarly, the Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) union branch at the Valencia City Council warned that the contract could lead to the outsourcing of tasks that, in their view, should be the responsibility of municipal employees, such as technical advice and the preparation of environmental reports related to the management of the protected area.
Three companies are vying for the contract.
A few days before the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Appeals (TACRC) ordered the precautionary suspension of the proceedings, the City Council had already opened the bids submitted for the tender. At that stage, three companies were admitted: Instituto Imedes, SM Sistemas Medioambientales, and Tahler. Following the court’s ruling, the process will now continue with the evaluation and scoring of the submitted proposals to determine which one will be awarded the contract.
Now, after the court’s decision, the City Council can resume processing the contract, which was temporarily suspended last December while the appeal filed by the Compromís councilor was being resolved.
