Spanish ministers spend $ 37 million on NATO summit without public tender

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The Atlantic Alliance summit was agreed upon during a meeting between Pedro Sanchez and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Monclova. Sanchez assured that “Spain will use all its potential to host the summit and do everything in its power to make it a success.”

Logistics Challenge

The event coincides with the 40th anniversary of Spain’s accession to NATO and, according to government documents, “presents a major logistical challenge for the heads of state or government and representatives of member states to be in Madrid”, so “security is one of the most important and important issues.”

High cost

Assembling the venues for the event, which will take place at the Efima Exhibition Complex in Madrid for audiovisual support, catering, signage, electrical organization, personnel and cleaning, will cost approximately EUR 37 million. And of course security features.

The Interior Ministry will purchase 6,000 surge current arsenals without a public tender for the use of charged police officers for additional security work. According to the ministry, “many organizations and civil society groups have already announced protests.” This was stated in a report seen on the news site 20minutos.es.

Security and requirements

The summit is led and overseen by NATO staff, but everything else – security, site selection, deployment, etc. – is the responsibility of the host nation, Spain. Therefore, NATO has sent a document to the Spanish government entitled ‘Division of Responsibilities and Key Requirements’, which contains a specific link to security, outlining ‘guidelines for security arrangements for secret NATO meetings outside NATO headquarters’.

This is the basis for the Pedro Sánchez government’s report on the organizational requirements of the summit, which aims to award contracts.

The government warns that “the security of the event is one of the most sensitive and important issues”, so “many organizations and civil society groups have already announced protests, as happened at previous summits.”

50 participants

Such a summit would require extensive security arrangements. About 50 countries are participating – NATO has 30 states, but NATO allies are also invited – each with its own representatives. Leaders of the United States, such as Joe Biden, and prime ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy will be in Madrid. Ukraine is one of the so-called foreign countries. About 2000 journalists are expected.

Ministries Reports

According to the documents discussed in this paper, the amounts to be considered by the government for each area have been ‘estimated’, but it has been emphasized that ‘the total cost of the public sector should not exceed Rs. 36 million’. The procedure for its award will be carried out ‘urgently’. Companies wishing to bid on contracts must prepare and submit their offers through the Public Sector Tender Platform (Plataforma de Contratación del Sector Público).

The Interior Ministry has also released a technical report on the ‘security conditions required by NATO’. According to the department headed by Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska, the National Police is responsible for security, so ‘a comprehensive security system must be established. This applies not only to the place where the meetings are held, but also to the movements and all the places where the delegates from the various countries attending the meetings stay.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, it is necessary to take all necessary measures to ensure that the summit takes place in a safe environment, namely the purchase of certain equipment such as “scanners for inspecting metal detection curves and parcels”. , ‘Personal digital video cameras for capturing and managing images related to police work’, ‘Computer graphical equipment and those interested in creating three-dimensional floor plans of complete buildings’ and ‘Consumables with cartridges for the electronic immobility system’.

Justifying defense costs

The latter translates to the purchase of 6,000 Electroshock arsenals, which were justified by the Ministry with the aim of ensuring a safe environment in the event of a hazard that could be resolved by this less harmful agent. It explains the need for this purchase as it is not possible to have all the equipment needed to guarantee the security of the summit with ‘special features’ like NATO.

The country has set aside 341,220 euros (56.87 euros each) for 6,000 magazines for electroshock weapons. A total of 496,317.80 euros was allocated for metal detectors and scanners, and only 1.1 million euros for cameras and computer graphics. Total 1.95 million euros. Expenditure will be offset by the budget of the Directorate General of Police.