Santa Cruz Council Halts €34M Parks Bid Amid False Info Claims
Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council has halted a €34 million park maintenance contract bid and launched disciplinary action against current contractor Acciona and Fomento for submitting false information, delaying the new award until early 2027.
The Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council has stopped the bidding process for a new 34-million-euro contract to maintain its parks and gardens for the next three years. This decision came after the council found major problems with the paperwork submitted by the current contractor, a joint venture called Acciona and Fomento.
Reports indicate that the council has started disciplinary action against the company. They claim the company provided false information about how long its workers had been employed, leading to a budget difference of almost one million euros.
The City Council has called this a "serious or very serious mistake." Because of this, Carlos Tarife, the Councillor for Public Services and First Deputy Mayor, immediately signed an order to stop the contract award process. Finding these problems in the bidding documents has caused a big delay in renewing this important service for Tenerife's capital. The new contract was expected by October this year but now won't be awarded until early 2027.
The councillor said both the city and the workers' council are unhappy about what happened. He stressed that in his five years running the department, he's never seen anything like it. The investigation will now thoroughly check all other information provided by the joint venture. Depending on what they find, they might take further steps, including legal action.
While this is sorted out and changes are made to the budget and bidding documents, the Acciona and Fomento joint venture will continue to maintain the parks and gardens. The City Council now needs to do a new financial review for the next bid. This means the current contract will be extended until the new process is finished.