STATEMENT MARTINA SCHEURER – CHIRINGUITOS

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This is a statement issued by the Councillor for the coast, Martina Scheurer, regarding the controversy surrounding the award of the management contract for beach bars on the Orihuela Costa.

Pedro Mancebo was dismissed by Mayor Monserrate Guillen after many internal problems and certainly NOT to be able to stop the tendering process for the Chiringuitos.

Having taken over the council area of Orihuela Costa in February 2013, I stopped the tender as I did not want to sign something of which I had no information.

The at the time existing contract with Chiringuitos del Sol S.L. had the administrative legal clause to be extended for one further year, which was done. If Mr. Mancebo was, as he states, at that time already aware of the “massive debt”, why was the contract extended the year before? Why did he not take any kind of action? Contracts which are made for example with the clause “4 years plus 1 plus 1” can be cancelled after the initial 4 years, or can also be cancelled during the period if the company does not fulfil the contract.

At that time I was absolutely NOT aware of the fact that the town hall should have claimed to Chiringuitos del Sol the amount of the fee issued by the Ministry of Coast. In fact the outstanding amount which is now claimed to them is due to the inactivity of the town hall since the beginning of the contract back in 2006. It is outstanding and only converts into a DEBT when it is officially requested and when the legal period of voluntary payment has expired.

When we got information about the outstanding coastal fee, we asked the contract department to make an official request to Chiringuitos del Sol. As this did not happen, the “famous” letter signed by Monserrate Guillen and myself was send to Chiringuitos del Sol in October 2013.

In fact they than answered making allegations to why in their opinion this amount would not correspond to them. This answer was in hand of the legal department, General Secretary and Contracts to investigate the legal part of it and make the appropriate answer.

Clearly nobody before claimed this coastal fee to Chiringuitos del Sol (neither Mr. Mancebo who was councillor of Orihuela Costa).

Chiringuitos del Sol has a “Q” since 2012, and not only since July 2013 as Mr. Ray Kearney mentions. And it is not the only company having a Q.

It is a certificate issued by the ICTE = INSTITUTO DE CALIDAD TURISTICA EN ESPAÑA and in Spain there are more than 2000 companies operating in the touristic business which do have this certificate, the number is continuously increasing as the Spanish Government is asking the town halls to take the “Q” in consideration to raise the standard of Spanish tourism. Unfortunately no company from other areas was apparently interested to bit in the tender and – also unfortunately – it does not seem that there is a lot of interest from companies of Orihuela / Orihuela Costa to obtain certain service certifications.

A part from the “Q” the tender conditions did also require the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

A fact that is never mentioned by those who were not allowed in the tender process or by Mr. Kearney or Mr. Mancebo.

ISO = INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF STANDARDIZATION, founded in 1987. In Spain 59.854 companies do have the ISO 9001 (service management) and

267.457 companies in 158 Countries do have the ISO 14001 (environmental management service). Spain is on rank 3 of those 158 Countries.

None of the 3 other companies who did bit had any of the ISO certification. So even if the “Q” would not have been a part of the conditions, those 3 companies would not have been able to participate.

The new contract is for 4 years, and not for 7. It can be extended, but the local government which will be in place than, can also decide to make a new tender after the 4 years.

After opening the 3rd envelope with the economic offer in the contract meeting, legally the moment came to ask the company their declaration to be up to date with their taxes and social security payments, which they are. BUT knowing about the outstanding amount, we insisted than with the treasurer department to make the still outstanding proper request of payment to Chiringuitos del Sol. That was the reason why the tender procedure was stopped at that point.

This requirement was made and the legal schedule expired on the 5th of June. If no payment/bank bond etc. would have been handed in, that would have been THE date to declare the procedure as “deserted” because this outstanding amount could than be called a “debt”.

Amount bided: We have NO knowledge about the other offers, by law they are not allowed to be opened, as the companies did not match the requirements to be admitted. The town hall published the tender with the amount of 350.000.-€ (it was 250.000.-€ in 2006) and Chiringuitos del Sol bided 363.000.-€ plus a high amount on additional improvements. The law does not give the possibility to the town hall to declare at that stage “we don’t want this offer”.

There are legal procedures in how those tenders are handled and these procedures have been clearly maintained. This is also confirmed by the new Interventor (Auditor), who certainly does not form part of the “conspiracy” of which Mr. Ray Kearny is talking.

If anyone thinks that a conspiracy has taken place, such as Mr. Kearny says, he should do whatever he thinks is necessary. Everything has been done legally, and so confirmed by the head technician of the contract department, the general secretary as well as of the new Interventor (Auditor), who is known all over Spain for his strict acting against any kind of corruption.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/43909/

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