Orihuela Town Hall, through the Department of Contracting, headed by Councillor Mónica Pastor, has decided not to award the contract for the maintenance of green areas in Orihuela Costa and is notifying the companies accordingly.

The resolution of the council is a consequence of the agreement at the municipal plenary session of 29 February 2024, in which it was agreed that the service would be provided directly through the municipal company ILDO SL.

The company ILDO is considered a special employment centre and promotes the recruitment of people with disabilities and people at social risk, so that in addition to the business logic, its activity is based on social responsibility. In addition to promoting and encouraging the recruitment of people with disabilities and people at risk of exclusion, the City Council will save around three million euros over the life of the service, as direct provision through ILDO is more economical, sustainable, and stable than through a private company.

The economic report that endorses the commissioning of ILDO highlights that the average payment period to suppliers, if the service is provided by the municipal company, will be less than 20 days, while if it is provided by the City Council it will be much longer. Therefore, from a financial sustainability point of view, the performance by ILDO will be in the public interest.

The resolution deciding to waive the award and close the open tender procedure is signed by councillor Mónica Pastor and is being notified to the bidders in the dossier.

ILDO SL is an own means of the Council, entirely municipal capital, which has sufficient economic and technical solvency to perform the service, integrating a very important perspective of social and labour responsibility.

In the past, it has provided the service of maintenance of green areas in the coastal area and has carried out a multitude of orders related to gardening and landscaping for the Town Hall, and is also currently carrying out the regulated parking service (ORA) in an efficient manner.

With this resolution, the Department of Contracting puts an end to a controversial contracting process, in which the Town Council’s Contracting Committee denounced coercion and threats by representatives of some of the participating companies, and opens a new stage in the provision of the service with the clear interest of improving it, increasing the number of personnel assigned to it, incorporating new technical and material resources and putting the focus on the citizens living on the coast.