The independent committee overseeing the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) identified “a series of bureaucratic hurdles” associated with reporting information, as well as uncertainty over material costs.
“We discovered a series of bureaucratic obstacles at the PRR level. We found that contracting authorities had to set up departments dedicated to reporting different information”said Ana Gouveia Martins, Chair of the Independent Commission for Oversight and Oversight of Special Measures for Public Procurement (CIMEC), speaking to members of the Subcommittee for Oversight of European Funds and the PRR (SAFE-PRR).
For this official, barriers and authorizations should be subject to “reflection and consideration” when multi-year financial commitments are at stake.
Moreover, in the same audition, the member of CIMEC João Silva said so “some uncertainty” about the maintenance costs of equipment purchased under PRR projects, which also includes costs involving ‘software’.
As he underlined, there is “a degree of uncertainty” about how these will be supported beyond 2026, the limit for PRR implementation.
João Silva also moved forward, citing data from the Court of Auditors, which more than 90% of contracts concluded under the PRR relate to information and communication technologies (ICT) and are awarded to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
Also in this regard, MEP Sara Augusto Matos noted that preparations should be made for “tomorrow” and added that, despite the legal reporting obligations, they should not “suffocate the activity and proactivity” of the public buyer”.
Responding to the interventions of the delegates, the President of CIMEC clarified that there is already some facility in terms of reporting, as once Law 30 of 2021 entered into force, the Court created the eContas portal.
In the beginning, however, many contracting authorities were not aware of this obligation, he stressed.
Regarding the lack of proposals in various procedures, Ana Gouveia Martins considered it “a situation that immediately raises a warning”, similar to what happens with proposals submitted by recently established companies.
Still, he recalled that the private sector faces some serious difficulties, illustrating that “contractors negotiate prices”.
There are also problems in obtaining basic materials, as well as in terms of transportation, which worries the chairman of CIMEC.
The total amount of the PRR, managed by the structure of the mission to recover Portugal, is divided into three structuring dimensions — resilience (11,125 million euros), climate transition (3,059 million euros) and digital transition (2,460 million euros).
This plan, which runs until 2026, aims to implement a series of reforms and investments to restore economic growth.
This plan aims not only to repair the damage caused by covid-19, but also to support investment and create jobs.
Source: DN
