The Diplomat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will spend a maximum of 5,181,023.19 euros on the collection, transport, invoicing and delivery of the diplomatic bag.
This is the result of a call for tenders from the Ministry’s Contracting Board, headed by José Manuel Albares, which was published last Wednesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE).
The tender is urgent, as the previous contract, which was awarded to the company DHL for 2,794,749.31 euros, expires on 12 July this year.
The new contract will be awarded for two years and the companies applying for it must have a turnover of just over 7.7 million euros in one of the last three financial years.
The objective of the contract consists of the collection, transport, invoicing and door-to-door delivery of official documentation and material from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other related Ministries, Agencies and Institutions, which are sent as Diplomatic Bag consignments to the Diplomatic Missions, Permanent Representations, Delegations, Councils and Consular Offices of Spain Abroad. Also of those documents and official material sent to the above-mentioned departments by the diplomatic representations.
Although much of the documentation that was previously sent by diplomatic pouch is now sent by telematic means, it is still used because it guarantees the inviolability of official correspondence between the Central State Administration and its Representations abroad. In order to fulfil its mission, the diplomatic pouch enjoys special international protection under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which establishes, among other protective measures, that “the diplomatic bag is inviolable” and “may not be opened or retained”.
