Civio investigations

emergency contracts

In 2020, due to the COVID pandemic, Spanish public administrations used emergency procedures to award 16,589 contracts worth 6,445 million euros to companies on a discretionary basis and with minimal control and transparency. And while the vast majority of these contracts were for the purchase of COVID-19 medical supplies, they were also used to award concessions to public television stations, buy taser guns and even hire camels for a Christmas parade.

In this data-driven research, Civio analysed for the first time the emergency contracts of all Spanish public administrations - national, regional and local - awarded and published in 2020. This serie was published by El Pais and received the following awards:

  • Sigma Award 2022
  • API Data Journalism Award 2022
  • Observable Community Recognition Award 2021 to Carmen Torrecillas
WHO'S PAID FOR THE WORK?

Transparency delayed: Officials published at least half of 2020's emergency contracts late
WHO'S PAID FOR THE WORK?

From 25 cents to 8 euros a mask, the price war that paid millions to middlemen
WHO'S PAID FOR THE WORK?

Four companies won one in ten euros from 2020 Spanish emergency contracts

If you want to know more about this topic, check out all our articles on Procurement