La Law 14/2022, of 8 July, amending the Law 19/2013, of 9 Decembertransparency, access to public information and good governance [consolidated version], in order to regulate the statistics of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in public procurement, has amended Article 8(1)(a) to read as follows:
“Article 8. Economic, budgetary and statistical information.
1. Taking into account the legislative competences of the Autonomous Communities, the subjects included in the scope of this title must make public, at a minimum, the information related to the administrative management acts with economic or budgetary impact indicated below:
(a) All contracts, indicating the purpose, duration, the amount of the tender and award, the procedure used for their conclusion, the instruments through which, where appropriate, publicity has been given, the number of tenderers participating in the procedure and the identity of the successful tenderer, as well as amendments to the contract. Likewise, the decisions of withdrawal and waiver of contracts will be published. The publication of information relating to minor contracts may take place on a quarterly basis.
Statistical data will also be published on the percentage by budgetary volume of contracts awarded through each of the procedures provided for in the legislation on public sector contracts.
In addition, statistical information will be published on the percentage of participation in contracts awarded, both in relation to their number and in relation to their value, of the category of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), understood as such according to Annex I of Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014, for each of the procedures and typologies provided for in the public sector contract legislation. The publication of this information will be made biannually, starting one year from the publication of the norm.
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Law 14/2022, of July 8, is the result of a bill presented in the Congress of Deputies. As his explanatory statement points out, “measuring the progress of SMEs in accessing and participating in public sector contracts involves the collection of quantifiable information and the statistical treatment of it. In this regard, the Annual Report on Public Procurement Supervision of Spain of December 2019 of the Office for Regulation and Supervision of Procurement, states that it is necessary to develop instruments to adequately monitor the degree of participation of SMEs in the procurement system, in line with the Public Sector Contracts Act itself to achieve greater transparency in public procurement. In this way, having data that allow us to analyze the situation of SMEs in terms of awarding public contracts, allows us to contribute to the objectives of this Law.”
Thus, “Law 19/2013, of 9 December, on transparency, access to public information and good governance, which aims to expand and strengthen the transparency of public activity, regulate and guarantee the right of access to information, establishes the information and statistics to be published by the subjects included in its scope of application. It seems necessary, given the scarcity of data on the participation of SMEs in public procurement, to propose an amendment to this Law with the aim of making public the statistical information related to the categories of companies we treat.”
