Wednesday, December 27, 2023, 8:54 p.m.
The Orihuela City Council is not at all satisfied with the result of the Santa Claus parades. They suspect that the winning company may have breached the contract in some of its aspects and has opened an investigation. The PP-Vox government team, as municipal sources have told this newspaper, has commissioned a technical report to determine whether the specifications were not met.
These alleged non-compliances have fallen like one more bucket of cold water on a Christmas organization that is not being particularly easy for the local government. This Wednesday, the criticism for the late contracting of the lights was joined by that of the mayor of Ciudadanos, Mar Ezcurra, on account of a parade, which, only because of the letter of introduction of Santa Claus, pulled in a cart with wheels and without float, aroused negative comments from parents.
In a lengthy statement, the orange councilor has been detailing point by point those extremes that, she considers, have not been observed with strict zeal in accordance with the specifications. According to Ezcurra, “it is evident that the parade that toured the streets of the city was not the event that was contracted according to the tender carried out by the Department of Festivities” and, therefore, he has requested that “the invoice for the same and a non-compliance file is immediately opened for the company so that the appropriate economic deductions can be made. She considers that “paying that bill without going through that file is reckless on the part of the councilor and the mayor himself and can have consequences.”
The government team states, for its part, that they will not make a decision until this report is completed and it is submitted to the Contracting area. They will be the ones who determine whether a penalty or deducting any amount from the invoices that are presented is appropriate. Under the municipal microscope, they add, is both the urban center and the coast parade.
In this sense, they state that they were aware from the first moment, just before the parade left, that there were contracted elements who were ultimately not going to leave and that, for that reason, “from the 26th, the first business day, we began let's get to work with that report,” point out the same sources, who emphasize the enormous anger of the Festivities councilor, Rocío Ortuño, when she realized everything that was missing.
«Bloody»
For the Ciudadanos councilor, the quality of the parade, based on what was invested, should have been even better than last year. «We do not understand that in 2022 this event will be tendered for €58,000 plus VAT and this year for €55,000 plus VAT and the difference in quality is so great. “Someone must answer to this botch.”
Regarding non-compliance with the specifications, Ezcurra highlighted that the 'three quadricycles with Christmas decorations loaded with Christmas gifts' that was established in the second point of the specifications were not seen in the parade. «These did not parade and were replaced by a little train that has nothing to do with what was requested in the specifications. Furthermore, as for the gifts, we have not been able to see that the 8,500 LED bracelets and rings that the specifications established were distributed during the parade. On the other hand, we have verified that at the subsequent reception at Santa Claus Village, low-quality toys were distributed that had nothing to do with those that were requested at the time.
Another of the non-compliances that Ciudadanos denounced this Wednesday is the lack of animation of the Parade, since “without going into assessing the low quality of some characters who paraded, in the snowman ballet there were only seven dancers, two less than those established in the specifications.
punctured inflatable
Likewise, Ezcurra adds, two snowmen paraded, but as soon as the parade began, one of them broke. «It is striking that the specifications requested 'an inflatable snowman whose base is made up of ten segments that allow you to see the interior of the doll illuminated with white LED light' when the parade took place in the morning, in broad daylight. of the day, and you cannot appreciate those details,” criticized the mayor of Ciudadanos.
According to the councilor, neither did the three characters on rotating wheels that the document established nor the elf on top of the 'mobile platform with a minimum size of 3.5 meters high covered with red cloth and a large hanging parchment' that should have been announcing the event. the arrival of Santa Claus with a big megaphone. “This goblin wasn't on any platform, he was walking around with a ridiculous little megaphone.”
Continuing with the non-compliance with the specifications to which two companies submitted, Ezcurra has reported that the platforms with interior lights that were supposed to carry the characters accompanying Santa Claus, nor the parade of giant Christmas balls, nor the three Inflatable Christmas tree-shaped fir trees.
No float for Santa Claus
To conclude, in the ninth point of the technical specifications it establishes the following conditions: «Santa's carriage will arrive on a towing platform with a minimum size of 3.5×2.5m on which his sleigh will go. The float will be decorated with toys, gifts and illuminated. On each side of the float there will be two elves collecting the letters with the children's wishes for Christmas.
“Santa Claus was not on a float as indicated in the specifications, he was on a dragged sleigh that did not in any way meet the minimum measurements required in the specifications, and this sleigh did not have any type of decoration of toys, gifts and lighting,” he denounces. Mar Ezcurra, in line with the image most highlighted by the parents who came with their little ones to see Santa Claus.
«If after all these non-compliances that can be verified simply by taking a look at the recording of the Parade, the Councilor for Festivities, Rocío Ortuño, and the mayor of Orihuela, Pepe Vegara, sign this bill, they will be getting into a big mess. », insists Mar Ezcurra, who has once again attacked the management of the government team. «They are the citizens of Orihuela, who had a terrible ride. “This is for not entering, as my group already denounced, the city's merchants, who due to the schedule chosen by the City Council suffered significant economic losses that morning.”
Two lots
The contract for the parades was awarded just three days after Santa Claus took to the streets, first in Orihuela Costa. The order consisted of two lots. The first, corresponding to the parade in the urban area, had a base budget of 36,058 euros (VAT included). The winning bidder was Mariano Meroño Picazo, whose offer is estimated at 34,364 euros, that is, with a decrease of about 5%. The Contracting Board rated the offer as the best by including “an additional gift unit.”
This parade, it should be remembered, was held last Saturday the 23rd and was already the subject of criticism from the opposition in relation to the schedule, which, for the first time, was at noon (at 12:00 p.m.) and not in the evening. .
The Orihuela Costa parade, for its part, was put out to tender for a base budget of 30,492 euros (VAT included) and was awarded to the same company. In this case, the amount offered was 29,040 euros, also a decrease of just 5%. The offer, once again, was rated as the best for offering “an additional gift unit.”
The Santa Claus parade on the coast left on Friday the 22nd at 5:00 p.m. In this case, the criticism came from Cambiemos, who denounced that the character's departure coincided in place and time with the departure of more than 300 schoolchildren from the coast, who at that same time were taking the bus back home. An issue that made it difficult for them to attend the parade.
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