Civio investigations
emergency contracts
Investigation into the procedures for awarding public contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic and how emergency measures were used—with scant monitoring or transparency—to award thousands of contracts that weren’t always related to healthcare. This series was published in El País newspaper, and received the following awards::
- Sigma Award 2022, the most prestigious international award in data journalism
- API Data Journalism Award 2022, from the Association of Investigative Journalists
- Observable Community Recognition Award for Carmen Torrecillas, for the visual and web development of this series
Transparency delayed: Officials published at least half of 2020's emergency contracts late
In situations like this pandemic, public entities can issue emergency contracts without opening a file, even orally. But they do have to comply with transparency rules afterward and publish the details within 15 days. In 2020, it took an average of 43 days. And some of them are not even published yet.
From 25 cents to 8 euros a mask, the price war that paid millions to middlemen
The Spanish Ministry of Health paid more than six euros for each swab for PCR tests. The autonomous communities and municipalities didn't escape the price spikes either. In one case, they paid more than 100 euros for a 5-litre jug of hand gel.
Four companies won one in ten euros from 2020 Spanish emergency contracts
This procedure was used - with no bids and little monitoring or transparency - in 16,589 contracts totaling 6.445 billion euros. The vast majority went to the purchase of supplies such as masks, but officials snuck in public television concessions, swimming pool operations, Tasers and even camels for a Three Kings parade.
If you want to know more about this topic, check out all our articles on Procurement