Direct assignments, below the threshold, always to the same subjects. Money from the Region disbursed to finance various initiatives - hundreds of thousands of euros in barrels - which pass through an intermediate body (Foundation, consortium or service center) but, in the end, feed the same circuit. This is the thesis of the Progressives in the regional council: «Archeologika 2022, organized by the Mont'e Prama Foundation in concert with the Tourism Department, costing over one million euros, is not an isolated case» ( HERE THE NEWS ).

The opposition group's denunciation comes in a detailed press release, which shines a light on the recent activities of Cipnes, the North-East Sardinia-Gallura Provincial Industrial Consortium, which "only in the last two years has resorted to direct assignments to organize events for over one million three hundred thousand euros in the framework of the “Insula Sardinia Quality World” and “Sardinia Discovery Journey” programs, on the basis of agreements and programs signed with the Tourism Department».

For the Progressives «Cipnes, acting as a paying agency on behalf of third parties, has spent regional resources on events, exhibitions in the area, cultural activities, participation in fairs».

The problem is that the opposition does not know "what are the criteria that led to the identification of the suppliers, this time by the Consortium and what prevented, given the size of the amounts, proceeding with a public tender to ensure maximum competition between the operators concerned'.

Among the events financed in the Region's programs through Cipnes, only "Tourism Experience Management", which was held in Cagliari between 28 and 30 October 2022 "cost over half a million euros, despite being hosted in a structure, the covered promenade of the Bastion, made available free of charge by the Municipality of Cagliari as happened for "Archaeologika 2022"

It is the similarities with the Archeologika affair that worry the opposition exponents: «An analysis of the documents partially available online would show that some suppliers, always chosen on a fiduciary basis by Cipnes», it is underlined, «are the same ones selected for the event organized from the Mont'e Prama foundation held two weeks earlier in the same spaces as the Bastione di Cagliari. The public body that organizes on behalf of the Region changes, the theme of the event changes but the promoter councillorship, the fiduciary methods of awarding contracts and some of the companies involved, which are entitled to the most profitable assignments, do not change».

In recent days , the group leader Francesco Agus has collected an important amount of documents, which will be used for the presentation of a question and to request the presence of the commissioner in the commission.

«The practice of entrusting to third parties, be they Foundations or Consortia, the burden of proceeding with direct assignments makes the expenditure opaque and uncontrollable», continue the Progressives, «Who verifies with respect to the adequacy of the expenditure? Who verifies the urgency of direct award procedures or the reasons why market surveys carried out at the last moment, provided they have been carried out, have registered a single operator available to carry out the contract?».

The names are not currently disclosed. But the Progressives ask «what is the point, for example, of entrusting a restaurant in the hinterland of Cagliari with a contract of several tens of thousands of euros for "food and wine animations" to be held in Gallura, a land certainly not devoid of catering businesses? ». And again: «How is it possible that Cipnes in turn authorizes another public entity, the Maria Carta Foundation, created to enhance and disseminate the work of the Sardinian artist, to make an expense on its own, transforming the Foundation, time after time, in a travel agency or in an organizer of fashion shows?».

(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)

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