Local Governance & Transparency
Migliari, W. (2020).
Introduction
The present analysis of public contracts signed by the City of Barcelona is dived into sections. The first one is called nodes and the second tables. The nodes are simply all connections between the local public authorities working for the Ajuntament de Barcelona, and its suppliers. On the other hand, the tables bring all those authorities or sub-authorities involved in the signing contract acts, that is to say, the entities contracting suppliers. The tables also bring in the second column the number of contracts realised by each authority or sub-authority.
The definition used herein for contracting authority is the one employed by the OECD in the volume Support for Improvement in Governance and Management, “What is a contracting authority?” as follows: “What is a public “authority”?: Public authorities are defined in the Directive as `state, regional or local authorities’. This definition covers not only the executive authority of the state, but all state entities i.e. state administrations and regional or local authorities. The term `the state’ also encompasses all of the bodies that exercise legislative, executive and judicial powers. The same applies to bodies that, in a federal state, exercise those powers at federal level (OECD, 2011)."
With reference to the nodes, it is the visual representation between contracting authorities and suppliers. The flow charts were programmed in RStudio and show in the center of each node the public authority and surrounding it the companies, suppliers and individuals hired by the Ajuntament de Barcelona. As it is seen with the help of Table 1, 2 and 3 below, the first 1000 contracts were signed by the Ajuntament de Barcelona, which is defined here as the main local authority, and its sub-authorities or other “offices” with competence to sign contracts with companies, suppliers and individuals.
Objectives
The main goal of our research is to check if the Ajuntament de Barcelona has been more open in the last three years. Observing the images of the nodes we can say if there are more competencies signing contracts or if the structure remains concentrated in just one head commanding the contracting relations in local level. The other objective is to see if the amount of public funds is distributed among more or few sub-authorities. The participation of more entities hiring companies, suppliers and individuals in local levels may indicate higher level of openness and transparency since there are more people observing the scene of the city management. Other objective is to go beyond and represent these images in 3-D dimensions since the figures printed herein impede visualising all connections.
Methods & Methodologies
The information about the contracts signed by the Ajuntament de Barcelona was extracted from the official Spanish government webpage datos.gob.es. We cover a period of three years anlysing 3000 contracts which were signed in 2016, 2017 and 2018, that is to say, 1000 contracts per year The historical series for the three-year period has two columns as it is seen in Table 1, 2 and 3. The first contains the name of the authority or the public sub-authority, and the other the number of contracts each entity signed.
We used R Studio to create the nodes. They have been programmed by a machine learning code which divided each year in three phases, i.e., for 10, 100 and 1000. We give a very simple example of the technique making a comment about the three photographs we have for Fig. A, Fig. D and Fig. G. Fig. A corresponds the year 2018 and brings forward 8 nodes. Fig. D. for 2017 brings also 8 nodes. On the other hand, Fig. G indicates only three nodes for 2016. We will detail the other figures in the following section (WORKING ON IT!).
Nodes & Tables for Public Contracts
Nodes
2018 
2017 
2016 
Table 2016
Firstly, we analysed 1000 contracts signed by the City of Barcelona during the year of 2016. Table 1 shows the public authorities responsible for the acts in one column, and the number of contracts signed in the second column.
| Public Authority | Number of Contracts |
|---|---|
| FUNDACIÓ BARCELONA CULTURA | 1 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL D’EDUCACIO | 1 |
| SOLUCIONS INTEGRALS PER ALS RESIDUS, S.A. | 1 |
| CONSORCI LOCALRET | 2 |
| FOMENT DE CIUTAT | 2 |
| FUNDACIÓ JULIO MUÑOZ RAMONET | 2 |
| SELECTIVES METROPOLITANES S.A. | 2 |
| CONSORCI DE L’AGÈNCIA LOCAL D’ENERGIA DE BARCELONA | 3 |
| MUSEU D’ART CONTEMPORANI DE BARCELONA | 4 |
| CONSORCI DE BIBLIOTEQUES DE BARCELONA | 5 |
| CONSORCI DEL MERCAT DE LES FLORS | 6 |
| BARCELONA CICLE DE L’AIGUA, SA | 7 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DE SERVEIS SOCIALS | 9 |
| FUNDACIÓ BARCELONA MOBILE WORLD CAPITAL FOUNDATION | 14 |
| PARC D’ATRACCIONS TIBIDABO | 14 |
| CEMENTIRIS DE BARCELONA,SA | 15 |
| CONSORCI DEL MUSEU DE CIÈNCIES NATURALS DE BARCELONA | 15 |
| INSTITUT BARCELONA ESPORTS | 15 |
| INFORMACIÓ I COMUNICACIÓ DE BARCELONA, S.A. | 20 |
| TRACTAMENT I SELECCIO DE RESIDUS , S.A. | 20 |
| BARCELONA GESTIÓ URBANÍSTICA, S.A. | 21 |
| CONSORCI DE L’AUDITORI I L’ORQUESTRA | 23 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DE MERCATS DE BARCELONA | 25 |
| BARCELONA ACTIVA SA | 34 |
| MERCABARNA | 34 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL D’INFORMÀTICA DE BARCELONA | 38 |
| PATRONAT MUNICIPAL DE L’HABITATGE DE BARCELONA | 41 |
| PARCS I JARDINS DE BARCELONA, INSTITUT MUNICIPAL | 49 |
| BARCELONA DE SERVEIS MUNICIPALS SA | 58 |
| INSTITUT DE CULTURA DE BARCELONA | 61 |
| BARCELONA D’INFRAESTRUCTURES MUNICIPALS, SA | 146 |
| Ajuntament de Barcelona | 312 |
Table 2017
Secondly, we analysed 1000 contracts signed by the City of Barcelona during the year of 2017. Table 2 shows the public authorities responsible for the acts in one column, and the number of contracts signed in the second column.
| Public Authority | Number of Contracts |
|---|---|
| CONSORCI DE L’AGÈNCIA LOCAL D’ENERGIA DE BARCELONA | 1 |
| FUNDACIÓ BARCELONA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR THE HABITAT | 1 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL D’EDUCACIÓ DE BARCELONA | 1 |
| SOLUCIONS INTEGRALS PER ALS RESIDUS, S.A. - SIRESA | 1 |
| CONSORCI EL BESÒS | 2 |
| FUNDACIÓ PRIVADA JULIO MUÑOZ RAMONET | 2 |
| SELECTIVES METROPOLITANES, S.A. - SEMESA | 3 |
| CONSORCI DE BIBLIOTEQUES DE BARCELONA | 5 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DEL PAISATGE URBÀ I LA QUALITAT DE VIDA | 5 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DE PERSONES AMB DISCAPACITAT | 6 |
| BARCELONA CICLE DE L’AIGUA, S.A. | 7 |
| FUNDACIÓ MUSEU PICASSO DE BARCELONA | 9 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL D’HISENDA DE BARCELONA | 9 |
| CONSORCI MUSEU D’ART CONTEMPORANI DE BARCELONA | 11 |
| CONSORCI DEL MUSEU DE CIÈNCIES NATURALS DE BARCELONA | 13 |
| FUNDACIÓ BARCELONA MOBILE WORLD CAPITAL FOUNDATION | 15 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL D’URBANISME | 18 |
| INSTITUT BARCELONA ESPORTS | 19 |
| PARC D’ATRACCIONS TIBIDABO, S.A. | 23 |
| MERCABARNA | 25 |
| TRACTAMENT I ELIMINACIÓ DE RESIDUS, S.A. - TERSA | 27 |
| CEMENTIRIS DE BARCELONA, S.A. | 29 |
| INFORMACIÓ I COMUNICACIÓ DE BARCELONA, S.A. | 35 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DE MERCATS DE BARCELONA | 46 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DE L’HABITATGE I REHABILITACIÓ DE BARCELONA | 57 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DE PARCS I JARDINS DE BARCELONA | 58 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL D’INFORMÀTICA DE BARCELONA | 62 |
| INSTITUT DE CULTURA DE BARCELONA | 87 |
| BARCELONA SERVEIS MUNICIPALS | 109 |
| AJUNTAMENT DE BARCELONA | 314 |
Table 2018
Thridly, we did the same research on the number of contracts signed by the City of Barcelona, but this time for the year 2018. Table 3 indicates the public authorities responsible for the acts in one column, and the number of contracts signed in the second column
| Public Authority | Number of Contracts |
|---|---|
| CONSORCI DE L’AGÈNCIA LOCAL D’ENERGIA DE BARCELONA | 1 |
| FUNDACIÓ BARCELONA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR THE HABITAT | 1 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL D’EDUCACIÓ DE BARCELONA | 1 |
| SOLUCIONS INTEGRALS PER ALS RESIDUS, S.A. - SIRESA | 1 |
| CONSORCI EL BESÒS | 2 |
| FUNDACIÓ PRIVADA JULIO MUÑOZ RAMONET | 2 |
| SELECTIVES METROPOLITANES, S.A. - SEMESA | 3 |
| CONSORCI DE BIBLIOTEQUES DE BARCELONA | 5 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DEL PAISATGE URBÀ I LA QUALITAT DE VIDA | 5 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DE PERSONES AMB DISCAPACITAT | 6 |
| BARCELONA CICLE DE L’AIGUA, S.A. | 7 |
| FUNDACIÓ MUSEU PICASSO DE BARCELONA | 9 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL D’HISENDA DE BARCELONA | 9 |
| CONSORCI MUSEU D’ART CONTEMPORANI DE BARCELONA | 11 |
| CONSORCI DEL MUSEU DE CIÈNCIES NATURALS DE BARCELONA | 13 |
| FUNDACIÓ BARCELONA MOBILE WORLD CAPITAL FOUNDATION | 15 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL D’URBANISME | 18 |
| INSTITUT BARCELONA ESPORTS | 19 |
| PARC D’ATRACCIONS TIBIDABO, S.A. | 23 |
| MERCABARNA | 25 |
| TRACTAMENT I ELIMINACIÓ DE RESIDUS, S.A. - TERSA | 27 |
| CEMENTIRIS DE BARCELONA, S.A. | 29 |
| INFORMACIÓ I COMUNICACIÓ DE BARCELONA, S.A. | 35 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DE MERCATS DE BARCELONA | 46 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DE L’HABITATGE I REHABILITACIÓ DE BARCELONA | 57 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL DE PARCS I JARDINS DE BARCELONA | 58 |
| INSTITUT MUNICIPAL D’INFORMÀTICA DE BARCELONA | 62 |
| INSTITUT DE CULTURA DE BARCELONA | 87 |
| BARCELONA SERVEIS MUNICIPALS | 109 |
| AJUNTAMENT DE BARCELONA | 314 |
Machine Learning for Public Contract Analysis
2018 for 10 Contracts
2018 for 100 Contracts
2018 for 100 Contracts