Shortage of stock and skyrocketing prices. The emergency unleashed with the explosion of covid demanded an exceptional and accelerated reaction from all administrations. The contracting via fast It was imposed to give an urgent response to the shortage of medical supplies, thus skipping the ordinary bureaucratic processes. Each public worker should have his mask, in each corner a dispenser of hydroalcoholic gel and the disinfection of common areas was essential to minimize the spread of the virus; which forced the mobilization of an unprecedented amount of resources. The Barcelona’s town hall allocated during from March 14, 2020 and until the end of the year a total of €5.2 million to provide themselves with sanitary material and disinfection services, according to the data analyzed by EL PERIÓDICO collected from the transparency portal.
The unforeseen situation and the collapse of the market unleashed an unprecedented rise in prices and forced the reconversion of companies to alleviate the effects of the pandemic. Two years after that administrative stress, it was revealed that in the City of Madrid A ‘pitch’ was created in the acquisition of masks when it was reported that two businessmen allegedly charged commissions of up to six million euros through some finger contracts. Beyond these supposed commission agents, how much did each consistory pay for the acquisition of sanitary material?
From the control of Court of Auditorswhich analyzed the operations of the 12 Spanish municipalities with a population of more than 300,000 inhabitants during 2020, it appears that the Barcelona City Council bought FFP2 and KN95 masks, as well as rapid antibody tests, at half the price of the city council that directs Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida. However, in the Catalan capital they paid twice as much for gloves and five-liter bottles of hydroalcoholic gel.
The covid emergency went far beyond the purely viral and the city council that directs Ada Colau He had to spend substantially more money to attend to the sudden poverty and to protect those who were caught by the confinement without a roof of their own under which to shelter than to buy medical supplies. Specifically on masks, screens, disinfection services and information for the prevention of covid, it spent 5.2 million euros, the 6.9% of the entire emergency budget mobilized since March 2020. He spent practically the same on equipping himself with computers and other computer devices for municipal employees to telecommute.
Providers
The consistory contracted a total of 67 suppliers through the emergency route, with a very diversified contracting but among those that stand out as proper names Original Stock Barcelona SL Y Suara Serveis. The first is a textile and footwear retail firm founded in 2012 in Ripollès and which, like so many other companies, was converted with the arrival of covid to specialize in sanitary material and billed, in 2020, 4.26 million euros and earned 220,372 euros as recorded in the commercial register. In total, for masks, gloves, protective overalls or thermometers, this company received 673,516.1 euros of the City Council in 2020.
The second is a cooperative specializing in services for dependency and children. It regularly works with public contracts, manages a workforce of 5,190 workers and in 2019 it invoiced a total of 110.3 million euros, according to its own annual report. Among the different contracts awarded by the City Council in 2020, there are two directly related to covid material: a batch of individual protection equipment for home care service workers (SAD) valued at €323,475.24.
Prices
The Madrid City Council was the one that paid the most expensive for the FFP2 and KN95 type face masks. In two orders executed on the same day, March 25, he deposited per unit €6.24 to one company and 5 euros to another. A day later, Barcelona acquired the same type of mask for €2.50. A few days before, Zaragoza closed an award at 1.60 euros per unit. In April prices between 3 and 4 euros began to be equated, in May they were around 2.5 euros on average, and on December 29 Malaga obtained an agreement at 0.69 euros, the lowest price recorded.
For surgical masks, Barcelona paid 0.70 euros in an order on March 26, while three days earlier the Zaragoza town hall purchased them for 0.43 euros. After Seville broke the record with masks of this type at 1.15 euros on April 15, prices began to fall, except in Bilbao, which bought this material at 0.98 on those dates. Already with the people of Barcelona unconfined and the market less stressed thanks to a greater supply, the price fell to 0.28 euros per unit at the end of July (Valencia bought at 0.50 euros) and to 0.22 euros in mid-July. october. The cheapest price was obtained by Alicante on December 15 at 0.09 euros per unit, a reduction of 80% compared to what the same consistory paid on April 24.
Barcelona bought the most expensive nitrile gloves and doubled the price of the 5-liter hydroalcoholic gel compared to Madrid
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As for the rapid antibody testsAlmeida breaks a record again by acquiring the supply at 16.03 per unit on March 25, a contract awarded to a Malaysian company, Log, now under suspicion by the investigated commission agents. That same day, Barcelona bought these tests at 7.36 euros. On April 1 Madrid fell to 10 euros per unit. But the cheapest price was found again by Zaragoza, 6.40 euros per test, on April 3.
The council led by Colau, on the other hand, was the one that paid for the most expensive nitrile gloves, at 0.21 euros on April 30. The lowest, again, Zaragoza, at 0.06 euros on March 23, a very affordable price that rose to 0.11 euros on June 19. The 5-liter hydroalcoholic gel that the Barcelona City Council bought doubles the Madrid price (52.48 euros compared to 23 euros) although Valencia exceeded these figures by buying the supply at 57.30 euros.