Beyond Truffaut: when the public tender price makes the difference

GironaThe public sector contract law is based on the principles of free competition and equal opportunities. Any company, entity or person from all over Catalonia can submit bids for public tenders of the Catalan administration. Also from the Spanish State and from any country in the European Union. The awarding bodies are very demanding and do not accept any criteria that discriminate on the grounds of origin or nationality. However, these public tenders, necessary to guarantee transparency and avoid arbitrary concessions, are sometimes resolved with surprising awards, with decisions that are difficult for citizens and the local business fabric to understand.

In Girona, the case of the Truffaut cinema

In Girona, there has recently been a lot of dust raised by the The Revista de Girona was printed in Llo

The Revista de Girona is a publication that publishes articles bimonthly on all kinds of topics related to the Girona regions. It depends on the Diputación de Girona and all its activities go out to tender, from management and coordination to printing or design. Now, precisely, the management and coordination of the publication must be renewed, and a company from Barcelona has submitted a bid for the public tender, so the paradox could arise that the Revista de Girona would be coordinated from Barcelona. The printing contract has also been renewed, which currently falls to Imprenta Pagès, from Anglès. But, between 2021 and 2025, the company awarded this service was Editorial MIC, from León, so every two months the layouts were sent to Castilla and the copies returned printed to Girona.

"The truth is that we are often affected by the fact that the market is open to all of Spain, we accept it with a certain resignation. We would prefer Catalan administrations to prioritize the territory's business fabric more, especially considering that other autonomous communities work actively to retain tenders within their scope," explains to l'ARA the Girona-based owner of a printing company. And he continues: "This is perceived as a loss of opportunities and saddens the entire graphic arts sector, especially considering that subsequent transport implies a higher environmental footprint."

Local communication at 100 km distance

Another paradigmatic case is that of the institutional communication of small town councils, which do not have the budget to hire permanent staff and put the service out to tender. On many occasions, large companies located kilometers away end up winning, also with the lowest economic offer. In the Girona regions, for example, the communication of La Jonquera, Begur, Roses, Camprodon or Pals is handled by the same company from Sant Cugat del Vallès. The journalist from Llagostera, Marc Sureda, co-founder of the local communication company Notidig and the portal Canal Ajuntament, knows the issue closely. With his team and various collaborators on the ground, he works with a dozen town councils in Girona, between 100 and 15,000 inhabitants. "There are some things that can be done remotely, but the drafting of clauses should be improved to favor the ability to respond within 30 minutes or an action radius of 30 or 40 km. It makes no sense to have to travel 250 km to take a photograph. These things should be scored, just like the language," he argues. The contracting law does allow for the incorporation of conditions such as these in the tender documents, but many town council technicians and secretaries opt for the generic formula and avoid them.

Local communication at 100 km distance An engineering company wins an international cooperation plan

In some courses, the price even reaches 100% of the scale, so that the cheapest economic offer unequivocally wins, provided that it does not incur in reckless low bidding. This is the case of a minor contract of less than €15,000 for the strategic plan for international relations from 2027 to 2037 of the Girona City Council for the next 10 years, which was put out to public tender in October 2025. 8 applicants submitted bids and a micro-enterprise from Sant Feliu de Pallerols won... an engineering one! With no visible track record in this field, it will be responsible for developing two internationalization master plans for 10 years. The second in the ranking was an innovation company from Asturias and only half of the applicants had accredited experience in internationalization plans. Along the same lines, another recent controversial case is the tender for the sale of books in Girona schools, designed by the Diputación, which last November was won by an investment company from Barcelona, with no experience in the sector, a fact that has caused much discontent among booksellers, who ask for “common sense” when drawing up the tender specifications.

An engineering company wins an international cooperation plan