{"id":6798,"date":"2025-12-15T23:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/?p=6798"},"modified":"2025-12-15T23:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:02:09","slug":"public-contracts-through-the-lens-of-social-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/?p=6798","title":{"rendered":"PUBLIC CONTRACTS THROUGH THE LENS OF SOCIAL INQUIRY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An increasing number of news reports concerning public contracts, whether they refer to intangible goods or to construction works, have recently appeared in current affairs. The multiple potential approaches to their content provide the opportunity to shed light on their until now silenced aspects which, in many cases, bear unlawful characteristics that reach as far as financial irregularities at the expense of the public, for the benefit of specific individuals or groups involved in the management process, and ultimately for favoured individuals. The fact that the tentacles of these situations reach into the political system with its many versions creates even stronger destabilising tendencies in the social fabric, because this strengthening of the tendencies toward corruption undermines the foundations of social cohesion and of the common course along the path of progress and prosperity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the general decline of social morality now confirmed, it appears that the main possibility for dealing with such situations lies in reinforcing the principle of competition among the teams managing the projects carried out through public contracts. Once competitive interests are identified and specified during the drafting of the tendering terms for the projects, and subsequently maintained during the long course of the projects\u2019 development and the monitoring of their social results, it is certain that they will protect public funds as well as the social benefits that the projects\u2019 design aims for.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To avoid theorising, we present a case in which the principle of competitiveness was effectively applied through the formation of competing interests among the teams participating in the implementation of the projects: During the second half of the 2000s, the Ministry of Public Works was headed by George Souflias<\/strong> as minister and Polytechnic Professor Themistocles Xanthopoulos<\/strong> as deputy minister. At that time, the European Union\u2019s priority was the opening of reliable and safe road axes that would bring the peoples of the European Union closer in terms of travel time. The crucial element for this goal to be implemented were the tendering terms of the projects, which would lead to the achievement of the goal through reliable procedures. The key elements of these conditions, which the ministry leadership successfully formulated, were: a)<\/strong> tendering through the process of Public\u2013Private Partnerships (\u03a3\u0394\u0399\u03a4), with funds from the state, the European Union, and consortia of private companies and banks; b)<\/strong> a complex repayment of construction costs through grants from European Union funds and long-term concessions for toll collection; and c)<\/strong> The inclusion, within the construction cost, of maintenance for the entire duration of the contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this complex set of terms, the construction works escaped the exclusive supervision of the state\u2019s Technical Services, since the Technical Services of the Banks also participated\u2014with indeed a strong capacity for intervention. Thus, a competitive framework was formed between the construction consortia, which sought to reduce construction costs in order to generate higher profits, and the Banks, which sought to optimise the quality of construction, thereby ensuring the safe repayment of the loans they had granted, in combination with the reduction of operating costs during the total time of toll management concession. Ultimately, from these compositions of purpose and conditions for the projects\u2019 implementation, the result was: a) the obligation for quality construction in order to avoid damages that would lead to costly repairs, and b) the smooth operation of the road axes for the benefit of travellers\u2014an element that translates into long-term social benefit.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elements of a competitive framework in the operation of the construction sector of public contracts were also contained in the same ministerial team\u2019s proposal to create a few, but highly capitalised, public works construction companies that would undertake the execution of projects with reliability and credibility. One of the goals of this initiative was also the linking of construction with the undertaking of long-term maintenance. The proposal was fought by various kinds of interests, among which petty political expediencies and guild mentality are no exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Result: instances of poor workmanship have flooded current affairs due to the decline in construction quality, the tolerant legislative framework that sustains these phenomena, and the denial of responsibility for the poor workmanship by everyone\u2014both contractors and supervisors.<\/strong> In our immediate surroundings, we have for years observed how the poor-quality asphalt resurfacing done two years ago on the Kardamyli\u2013Areopoli Provincial Road, on the straight stretch between Stoupa and Agios Nikolaos, is being dealt with. Large potholes have formed on the asphalt in two or three areas roughly in the middle of the roadway, and they still remain in the same condition! Apparently, no one is responsible for carrying out the repair and ensuring safe driving for those travelling by car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 THE EDITORIAL BOARD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An increasing number of news reports concerning public contracts, whether they refer to intangible goods or to construction works, have recently appeared in current affairs. The multiple potential approaches to their content provide the opportunity to shed light on their until now silenced aspects which, in many cases, bear unlawful characteristics that reach as far … \u03a3\u03c5\u03bd\u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1 \u03b1\u03bd\u03ac\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b7\u03c2 PUBLIC CONTRACTS THROUGH THE LENS OF SOCIAL INQUIRY<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[392],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6799,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6798\/revisions\/6799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maniatiki.gr\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}