The presidency of the Port Authority of Las Palmas has contracted for 14,600 euros net for an advisory service for the European project Sotavento. The award has gone to consultant Iñigo Gracia, who previously performed duties as a technician within the Foundation of the Ports of Las Palmas, following an ordinary processing procedure and manual submission in which two bidders competed. The identity of the other bidder is not public.
According to sources familiar with Gracia’s work experience at the Foundation of the Ports of Las Palmas, when the exit of former manager Sergio Galván was revealed, following allegations of a possible conflict of interest, Gracia, who was the technician responsible for implementing European projects, left the entity amid serious disagreements with the then head of the Unipersonal Assistance Body of the entity, which is the legal title of the managerial position and was dismissed by the president of the Foundation of the Ports of Las Palmas and the Port Authority of Las Palmas, Beatriz Calzada. The contract is in effect until September 2026. Although it is consulting for a EU project, there is ‘no financing with EU funds’ according to official sources. His LinkedIn profile states that he is an employee of the Foundation of the Ports of Las Palmas.
What does he advise on?
It is for the Sotavento program, part of the INTERREG VI D Madeira-Azores-Canaries (MAC) 2021-2027 and with a total budget in the region amounting to 2,450,856 euros, co-financed at 85% by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The initiative is designed to promote the blue economy and aims to transform port facilities into guarantors of marine sustainability and technological innovation. The role of the awardee will be to provide technical support to a structure that requires precise justification of each expense item before the audits of the European Union, alleviating the bureaucratic burden on the Foundation’s internal teams.
July 2028
The operation of the project stands out for its cross-border dimension, connecting partners from the Canary Islands, Madeira, Cape Verde, Senegal, and Mauritania. While the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife acts as the leading entity and project leader responsible for technical centralization, the Port Authority of Las Palmas must coordinate local actions with international entities such as the Zone Franche de Nouadhibou or the port of Nouadhibou. The on-the-ground work includes supervision of workforce training programs, technology camps, and blue business incubators, with an execution horizon set until July 2028.
A singular technical aspect of this award is its internal budgetary fit. Although the global actions of Sotavento are funded by community financing, this specific minor contract for assistance is recorded in the State Contracting Platform under the condition of ‘no financing with EU funds.’ This implies that the Port Authority of Las Palmas assumes the amount of 14,600 euros from its own ordinary resources, a common accounting practice to facilitate the hiring of necessary external consulting services to meet the objectives and follow-up reports of the Atlantic consortium.
