The Municipality of Spata–Artemida has awarded the ‘Maintenance of green spaces’ contract for one year to GEOFOS A.T.E.B.E., a company based in Mandra, Attica, for €486,501.91 including VAT. Only one bid was submitted in the tender, namely that of this company. The Municipal Committee unanimously awarded the contract on 30 June (Decision 436/2026), but the decision was only published on the ‘Diafania’ transparency portal on Thursday 24 September, almost three months later.
This is the second major tender organised by the Municipality this year to be awarded to the same company without any competition. Including this one, GEOFOS’s contracts with the Municipality this year total 1.17 million euros.
One competition, one offer
The tender was open and ‘above the thresholds’, i.e. large enough to be advertised throughout the European Union, with a budget of €493,997.40 including VAT. The tender notice was published on 11 May and the tenders were opened on 28 May. GEOFOS submitted a bid of €392,340.25 excluding VAT, representing a discount of approximately 1.5 per cent on the budget.
The contract runs for 12 months from the date of signing and covers lawn mowing, tree pruning and felling, clearing, fertilisation, plant protection, cleaning of green spaces, maintenance of the irrigation system and removal of prunings. Of this sum, 166,000 euros comes from state funding (CAP) for fire protection.
The department’s report (57/2026) explains why the work is being awarded to a contractor: the city’s green spaces are expanding, whilst the council’s staff numbers are dwindling and there is a shortage of equipment. It also states that the 12-month period was chosen to allow for preventative work ‘in preparation for the start of the 2026 fire season’. However, the fire season began on 1 May, before the tender notice was even published, and ends on 31 October.
Which Artemida venues are on the list?
The study lists 71 sites, 37 of which are in Artemida. The list is indicative; the council may send the work crew elsewhere.
- Roads and pedestrian walkways: Vravrona Avenue at the basketball court, the flower beds on Artemida Avenue from the ‘Archontiko’ to ‘Medusa’, the D. Fragou pedestrian walkway to Nereides, the Agia Kyriaki roundabout.
- Parks and squares: the harbour, G. Altiparmakis Square, the Seaside Park, Sotiros Park.
- The cemetery and the Artemida sports ground.
- Seven church compounds: Panagitsa, Saints Constantine and Helen, Panagia Giatrissa, Agia Paraskevi, Saint Kosmas of Aetolia, Saint Marina (square), and Ypapanti.
- Six children’s playgrounds: Artemida Avenue and Athinas Street, Artemida Avenue and Fragkou Street, Sotiros (Block 391), Artemida Avenue at Limni, Vravrona Avenue, Fokidos Street and Ypapanti.
- Fourteen schools: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th (and its branch on Spetson Street) and 6th Nursery School; 2nd–6th, 3rd, 5th and 7th Primary Schools; 1st Lower Secondary School–1st Upper Secondary School, 2nd Lower Secondary School, 2nd Upper Secondary School.
Twelve contracts this year for the same company
We searched the ‘Diafania’ transparency portal for the Municipality’s contract award decisions using GEOFOS’s tax identification number. From January to the present day, we have found twelve contracts with a total value of €1,173,766.75 including VAT. These are contract values, not payments.
Both are open tenders, and in both cases GEOFOS was the only company to submit a bid:
- Maintenance of green spaces: €486,501.91, final award on 30 June.
- Collection and removal of branches, rubble, etc. 2026: €334,465.20 out of a budget of €339,698; final award on 29 May. The contract was signed on 20 July and runs until 19 July 2027; the first payment, €59,346.40, was issued on 27 August.
The other ten are direct awards, without a tender process, totalling 352,799.64 euros:
- 30 March: maintenance and repairs to Spata Cemetery, 24,999.64 euros
- 17 April: hire of building skips, one contract for Spata and one for Artemida, €34,100 each
- 11 May: beach clean-up 2026, €37,200
- 15 June: maintenance of playgrounds, one for each municipal district, €37,000 each
- 16 and 17 June: digital mapping and siting of recycling and waste bins, one for each district, €37,200 each
- 13 August and 24 September: safety surfacing and playground equipment, first for Spata and then for Artemida, 37,000 euros each
Seven out of ten are exactly at the upper limit for direct award – 30,000 euros excluding VAT – or 161.29 euros below it. In four cases, the same service was awarded twice, once for each municipal district. In its decisions regarding the playgrounds, the Council refers to Municipal Council Decision 97/2026, which designates Spata and Artemida as separate expenditure groups, as we reported on Friday.
In 2025, the council awarded seven direct contracts to the same company, totalling 250,167.46 euros: control of the seaweed bloom, beach cleaning, two contracts for the felling of hazardous trees, maintenance of the skate park, urgent landscaping work and the collection of branches.
Awarding the contract to a sole tenderer is lawful, provided that the tender meets the terms of the invitation to tender and the tender committees have determined that it does so. None of the documents explains why no other company expressed an interest.
What is not yet known
No payment for the landscaping contract has yet appeared on the ‘Diafania’ portal, nor has the date on which it was signed, from which the 12-month period is calculated. If it was signed during the summer, the team will be out on the streets until next summer.
For residents, this means there is a contracted contractor responsible for the council’s green spaces. A flowerbed overgrown with weeds, a branch hanging over a children’s playground or a broken sprinkler in any of the areas on the list should be reported to Artemida Town Hall (22944 40862). Ask for a reference number so that the request can be traced later.
Source: Municipality of Spata–Artemida — Municipal Committee Decision No. 436/2026 of 30 June 2026 (ADA RX8EO1X-SLA, published on 24 September 2026); notice 286/30266/11 May 2026 with study 57/2026 (ADA EPRYΩ1X-RH6); Municipal Committee Decision No. 330/2026 of 29 May 2026 (ADA RE53Ω1X-PTY); payment order dated 27 August 2026 (ADA 9AFXΩ1X-T0Z); direct award decisions 2025–2026, Diafgeia, search using the contractor’s tax identification number.
