The Diplomat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to spend €108,295 on moving back to its former site in the building in Plaza Marqués de Salamanca, following its refurbishment. The move is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
According to the contract awarding the move, to which Europa Press had access, the contract for the inventory verification service, the drawing up of the furniture implementation plan, and the management and coordination of the move to the Palacete del Marqués de Salamanca has been awarded to the company Savills Aguirre Newman Arquitectura SAU, the only company that had bid for the contract.
The company has offered to carry out the required service for 89,500 euros excluding taxes, so the total cost will be 108,295 euros. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had planned a budget of 111,840.00 euros excluding taxes to carry out the inventory and removal.
The objective of the contract is to verify “the inventory of furniture, archives, equipment, paintings and other existing belongings” in the different headquarters in Torres Ágora, Pechuán and the central headquarters in the Palacio de Santa Cruz, as well as in the furniture repository in San Fernando de Henares.
In addition, according to the technical specifications, it will have to draw up “the plans for the occupation of this furniture” and be responsible for “the management and coordination of the move to the new headquarters of the Palacete del Marqués de Salamanca”.
The inventory, which will be carried out by means of on-site visits, must include the model, measurements, singularities and current use of the existing furniture to be moved, with its corresponding reference, description and current and future location.
“The reuse of the furniture and its arrangement in the new headquarters will be done according to criteria of uniformity and homogeneity in the furnishing of the workstations,” the document specifies. In addition, the contractor may indicate the need to purchase additional furniture “if it is not possible to reuse the existing furniture or if it is necessary to purchase new furniture” for the new headquarters.
Planning by phases and sites
With regard to the management and coordination of the move from the various sites to the new site, it will have to draw up “a detailed timetable for the necessary removal work by phase and site”.
The timetable, according to the specifications, must take into account issues such as the duration of each activity, the number of staff needed to carry it out and the existence of certain goods that require specific treatment in terms of handling and transport (cultural goods, safes and armoured archives, etc.).
The contract also requires the awarded company to “have a civil liability insurance policy of at least 3 million euros to cover all damages and losses that may arise from the execution of the contract.
The planned execution period was to begin in May and end at the end of this year, but the contract was only awarded on 6 June, which could lead to a certain delay.
According to the deadlines set out in the specific technical specifications, the verification of the inventory and drawing up of the plans for the current occupancy and the installation in the new headquarters was to be carried out between May and June, while the report on the possible purchase of additional furniture is to be submitted this July.
Preparations for the move should be made in September, while the transfer from the various sites of the 1,335 planned posts should take place between October and the end of the year. In the specific case of the two main current sites, the Santa Cruz Palace and Agora Towers, the move should be completed by 21 November.
Two years behind schedule
The commission for the refurbishment of the Marqués de Salamanca building was signed in July 2016 and the Ministry of Finance entrusted Tragsa with its execution. It was initially scheduled to be completed within 30 months, so it should have been finished in 2019, but its completion has been delayed.
The Foreign Ministry abandoned the building in the Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca in 2004 due to naphthalene contamination problems and moved the bulk of its departments to Torres Ágora. However, after the move to the refurbished building, the historic headquarters in the Plaza de Santa Cruz, next to Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, where the ministers have their offices, and the adjacent Palacio de Viana, used for meetings and protocolary acts, will be maintained.
