The management of vehicle maintenance for the Alicante City Council is currently in a precarious situation. The delay in awarding a new contract has meant that only security and emergency vehicles can be serviced on an exceptional basis.

The Governing Board agreed this Tuesday to continue these works for specific vehicles, as the extension of the previous contract has exceeded the planned deadline. The new contracting file is still in the bidding phase.

The Intervention Department has pointed out that the contract renewal process did not start with sufficient urgency, as the tender had not been launched three months before the previous contract's end. This situation has allowed the previous contractor, Alejandro Rico SL, to maintain the service exceptionally, benefiting from a delay partly caused by an appeal filed after the classification proposal of the three companies that bid for the service.

The Governing Board's agreement states that the service provision will be limited exclusively to the repair of vehicles assigned to municipal public security and emergency services, such as those of the Local Police, Civil Protection, and utility vehicles for fire extinguishing and protection. It should be noted that fire department vehicles are covered by a separate contract. The municipal fleet comprises 471 such vehicles.

Furthermore, the Governing Board has also agreed to withdraw from the process to contract the service of courses and aquatic, physical, and sports activities for the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 seasons. Although the same body approved the call for the procedure on April 7 with a base bidding budget of 534,000 euros, the head of the Sports Service later warned of errors in the determination of labor costs, which affected the adequacy of the budget and compromised the economic viability of the future contract. Now, the City Council will have to redo the specifications and restart the bidding process.