Court Accounts reject responsibilities in hospital delay and cost

In a clarification note released today, the Court of Auditors (TdC) explains that it was a “high complexity” contract, with an overall value of more than EUR 800 million and a 30-year term, which arrived at it on 21 February 2024 and received the visa on 28 May of the same year.

It recalls that the public procurement procedure began nine years ago in 2017, and that the approval of the minutes of the contract by the parties took place only in January 2024.

The clarification of the TdC comes after, on June 15, at a conference organized by Diário de Notícias, the Deputy Minister and the State Reform, Gonçalo Matias, said that the project of the new hospital was delayed “in years” and will cost “plus 164 million euros” because of the TdC and the current mechanism of the previous visa.

In the context of the prior review process, the TdC says that it made three requests for clarification and documents to “supply faults and illegalities”, because the process reached the court without the contract price and ministerial authorization, did not identify the contract manager and there were “modifying clauses” that violated the Public Procurement Code.

The visa ended up being granted “with the recommendation to better ensure the principles of competition and equality between competitors in future procedures where contractual conditions are changed by means of European funding mechanisms”, says the note released today.

The TdC says that it also left a warning about the need for “base seismic isolation” and a “strict and effective monitoring system for the design of structures and foundations”.

In the document in which it announced that it would grant the prior visa, in May 2024, the TdC conveys “a firm, incisive and solemn warning to the supervised entity”, obliging it — taking into account the principles of “good administration” and the “tutel of the financial interest of the State” – to include in the project of execution of the work the solution of the basic isolation system against earthquakes.

In addition, it is not for the TdC to decide on the technical adequacy of projects, but it is within its competence to apply the rules and principles to assess the legality of the contracts submitted.

At the end of the clarification note released today, the TdC insists that it has no responsibilities regarding the time elapsed between the granting of the visa and the beginning of the execution of the work, or the associated costs.

The process of the new Eastern Hospital of Lisbon dates back to 2017, with the invitation to tender to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union in December of that year. The award ended only in July 2022 and the contract was approved in January 2024, with the contract awarded the following month.

In other words, when the contract was sent to the TdC it had already been rescheduled, including an amendment to the financing model of the public-private partnership resulting from the incorporation of financing of the PRR, up to EUR 100 million, which increased the complexity of the process.

In an order issued in April this year, the Government appointed a commission to negotiate the hospital management contract, after the delays in the work had dictated the loss of the EUR 100 million of the PRR that were intended to finance part of the interventions provided for in the contract with Mota-Engil.

The Hospital Oriental de Lisboa, to be built in Marvila, will replace six health units – the hospitals of São José, Santa Marta, Capuchos, D. Estefânia and Curry Cabral, as well as Maternity Alfredo da Costa.

According to the information available at Mota Engil’s website, which is building the hospital, the unit will have an installed capacity of 849 beds, and can be expanded up to 1,065 in contingency situations.