Status: 30.11.2023, 18:50 PM
By: Stefan Aigner
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Brücke boss Joachim Wolbergs wants to limit external awards by the city of Regensburg. © Michael Bothner
Is the city of Regensburg spending too much money on external consultants? The mayor considers a list for the city council on the topic to be too time-consuming.
Regensburg - Does the city of Regensburg rely too little on its own administrative competence? Are too many contracts being awarded to external companies, especially in the area of citizen participation? At least that's what the Brücke faction in the city council around Regensburg's ex-mayor Joachim Wolbergs suspects.
At the meeting of the Administration and Finance Committee, the bridge requested that "expert opinions, feasibility studies and outsourcing be outsourced only in exceptional cases". Instead, one should rely on one's own know-how.
Too many external consultants? Actually, there is a service instruction for this
Mayor Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer (SPD) considers such a decision to be unnecessary. After all, there is already a "Service Instruction on Procurement", according to which priority should be given to urban resources and competences. That's exactly what the bridge demands, according to the mayor.
And: "The fact that this reservation of the award has been taken into account is confirmed in writing by the specialist office when registering each individual award procedure by means of a form from the procurement manual." The bridge should declare its application settled. What is being demanded "is already happening".
Service instruction against too many outsourcing contracts: "It obviously leads nowhere"
Brücke boss Wolbergs counters: "Even if this instruction exists, it obviously leads nowhere." The issue of outsourcing is getting out of hand – and there must now be "a stop to it".
There are certainly examples of expensive awards in terms of citizen participation. The participation process for traffic calming in Regensburg's old town – cost 177,000 euros. The public participation on the (rejected) Culture and Congress Centre at Ernst-Reuter-Platz, including the survey, cost 350,000 euros. The externally awarded development of a cycle route concept including citizen participation: 150,000 euros.
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A lot of money for external citizen participation: "You get the impression that this is a bit for nothing"
The Greens also consider the bridge proposal to be sensible. In recent years, "the impression has certainly arisen that we are awarding more in the area of participation than we have to and should," says their parliamentary group leader Daniel Gaittet.
In addition, "relatively much is involved and relatively little is implemented," according to Gaittet. The people who take part in these formats get the impression that this is "a bit for nothing".
In order to make an informed decision, it is important to know exactly how much has been outsourced in recent years, Gaittet warns. A detailed breakdown of the costs, including the reasons why this was necessary.
Report on external procurements rejected: "ABM measure for administration"
In fact, the Brücke Group had already tabled such a motion. A little more than two years ago, in June 2021, they had requested that the city council be presented with a list of all externally purchased services since 2014.
But this was rejected at the time – with the votes of the coalition and the AfD. At the time, Mayor Ludwig Artinger (Free Voters) spoke of an "ABM measure" for the city administration, which was already working at full capacity.
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SPD: Bridge proposal is "pointless"
Klaus Rappert, deputy parliamentary group leader of the SPD, now argues similarly with regard to the current Brücke application. This request is "pointless". This should be discussed on the basis of specific individual cases instead of demanding reports and motions on something that is already being done.
The mayor adds that it is an enormous effort to prepare such a report for several years. You have to say what you want to know exactly. And: "I don't know what will improve if this motion is passed."
Brücke boss rails against "sinfully expensive public relations"
Joachim Wolbergs, however, does not let it go well. He mentions the "outrageously expensive public relations work" (70,000 euros for an external agency) that was ordered (but ultimately not awarded) in connection with the redesign of the Obere Bachgasse. "Your instructions don't work," Wolbergs said.
The fact that the specialist office says in case of doubt that you can't do it yourself "is obvious", the Brücke boss adds. "They would have to do some work."
The mayor is now outraged by this. This is "an outrage". As a rule, the specialist office works "sufficiently and sufficiently". Then the mayor will put it to the vote – with a known result.
Coalition and AfD reject application
The city councillors of the CSU, which has repeatedly criticised in the past that too much is outsourced, say nothing. And so the motion is rejected – again with the votes of the coalition (SPD, CSU, Free Voters, FDP, CSB) and AfD against the rest of the opposition.
Incidentally, the government coalition's contract states: "We are prioritizing internal administrative competence and reducing the commissioning of external agencies and consultants."
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