The agreement was reached in an extraordinary plenary session held on Thursday evening and received broad support from 18 out of 19 representatives, including the governing team (Junts) and the opposition (Compromís-CP, ERC-AM, and CUP). The termination of the contract with the public company Sumar, which has provided the service in recent years and will cease operations on February 15, was also approved unanimously.
“"We have made a risky and brave decision, at a time when the easiest option would surely have been the tender process."
The President of the entity, Josefina Lladós, emphasized that this new stage, after completing all mandatory procedures, should serve to “consolidate the team and the service and provide the best response” to users. The service was previously managed directly until 2011, before going through various external management stages, including a negative experience with a private company from Lleida that entered creditor proceedings.
Lladós justified the assumption of the service by IAUSA, which already manages school canteens and adapted transport, arguing that the tender option had been ruled out due to previous bad experiences and because other alternatives “made the service much more expensive.”
During the session, a fairer funding model for the Home Care Service (SAD) was again demanded from the Department of Social Rights of the Generalitat, denouncing “blatant underfunding” that forces local councils to assume higher costs, especially in geographically dispersed mountain regions.
