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Ceuta awarded two emergency contracts for minors to companies linked to relatives of trusted officials
The resolutions were formalized on August 27, without prior public bidding, amid the migration crisis. According to eldiario.es, one was for works and the other for furniture and equipment for reception spaces.
The Autonomous City of Ceuta formalized two emergency contracts on August 27 to address the reception of minors in the context of the migration crisis, without prior publicity or an open call to other companies. According to eldiario.es, the awards went to firms run by direct relatives of trusted officials of the Ceuta president, Juan Jesús Vivas.
According to that outlet, the larger contract went to Absercon, for 3,267,698.08 euros, intended for adaptation and habitability works in reception spaces for minors after the mass entry of immigrants from Morocco on July 30 and 31, 2026. Still according to eldiario.es and the commercial registry cited in that publication, the owner and sole administrator of the company is Bartolomé Sánchez-París Contreras, brother of Javier Sánchez-París Contreras, adviser to the autonomous government and administrative secretary of the presidency.
The second award, for 2,483,175 euros, corresponded to an order for furniture, appliances and cleaning products for those reception spaces. According to eldiario.es, it went to Ferretería Doncel, run by Manuel Jesús Doncel de Luna, first cousin of Juan Manuel Doncel, president of the Port of Ceuta.
The Ceuta government acknowledged to eldiario.es that both contracts were processed without publicity and without the possibility of competition from other companies, although it rejected the claim that this was due to the family ties of the awardees with people in Vivas’s political circle.
As an explanation, the local administration said it acted under Article 120 of the Public Sector Contracts Law, which allows emergency contracting when an exceptional situation requires an immediate response. It also said the decision was backed by technical and legal reports, and that waiting for an ordinary tender would have been incompatible with the need to enable places, facilities and supplies for unaccompanied minors.
In that context, the central government approved an emergency injection of 65 million euros at the end of August and later announced a 309 million euro shock plan to address the migration crisis in Ceuta.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
