Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

medios propios

English translation:

in-house resources

Added to glossary by Jane Martin
Nov 26, 2016 13:04
7 yrs ago
26 viewers *
Spanish term

medios propios

Spanish to English Law/Patents Law (general)
This occurs several times in a report from a meeting on whether Spanish authorities have complied with the legal requirements of 'Encomienda de Gestión'. It refers to contracting certain companies to undertake public works.

Here are a couple of examples:

Muchas de las deficiencias observadas en el presente informe derivan sin duda de la inexistencia de una regulación básica, codificada en un cuerpo legal único, claramente delimitadora del objeto, requisitos, procedimientos, controles y responsabilidades de las encomiendas a ***medios propios***

Si las autoridades españolas alegan el principio de autoprovisión para la normativa aplicable en la Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia aplicándolo al Punto 2 de este escrito, no resulta aceptable que los ***medios propios*** utilizados en virtud de esta autoprovisión tenga que recurrir a la subcontratación de la mayor parte de la obra encargada para cumplir la Encomienda de Gestión; con esta subcontratación están desmintiendo la correcta aplicación del propio principio de autoprovisión.

And here is a definition of sorts from a different document: "Los medios propios pueden ser definidos como
todos aquellos entes instrumentales, vinculados o dependientes de entidades públicas como poderes adjudicadores, a los que, cumpliendo los requisitos normativos establecidos al efecto, se puede encargar por parte de éstas la realización de encomiendas de gestión..."

I have taken this translation on half-completed and the previous translator has used 'instrumental mediums" which I am not happy with. I have considered "in-house" "own resources" but would appreciate advice. TIA
Proposed translations (English)
5 +3 in-house resources
4 own means

Discussion

Sandro Tomasi Nov 26, 2016:
Back to Jane’s suggestion: own resources.

If we go this route, how about self-sufficient, self-reliant, self-supporting or autonomous resources?
Charles Davis Nov 26, 2016:
But what puzzles me... is the idea that there can be government property for something other than public service. You can't have local authority funds for private use, surely. Unless, for example, "service" means recurrent expenditure as opposed to capital projects.

Maybe something neutral like "own resources" would be best after all.
Sandro Tomasi Nov 26, 2016:
Oh, no, Charles! You must pardon my ignorance for not “researching municipal spending in seventeenth-century Spain.” I’m only scratching the surface here.

How about if instead of “public service” she had put “public use”?
Charles Davis Nov 26, 2016:
Pardon my ignorance, but What does "not dedicated to public service" actually mean? Does it mean not devoted to current expenditure on providing services?
Sandro Tomasi Nov 26, 2016:
Out of 45 Spanish>English Law Dictionaries ... I checked about a dozen, first the most trusted, then the lesser trusted. None of them had “medios propios” as an entry. However, Eleanor Hoague (from the Cabanellas de las Cuevas and Hoague Law Dictionary, commonly know as Butterworth’s), provides two other senses for bienes propios that go beyond what she and others relate the term to separate marital property, which are the following:

... 2. private unencumbered property, private property owned free and clear; 3. (Mex.) government property which is not dedicated to public service.

I’m not sure if “bienes propios” is the same as “medios propios,” but the third sense of the former, allegedly pertaining to Mexico, seems to go in line with the DRAE. If the former is equal to the latter term, then Hoague's translations might give us something to work with.
Charles Davis Nov 26, 2016:
But thinking about it now, maybe we would call them "reserves"? I'm not sure.
Charles Davis Nov 26, 2016:
Alas no I never wrote about it in English, only in Spanish :(
Jane Martin (asker) Nov 26, 2016:
So I hope you came up with a short, snappy translation for it....
Charles Davis Nov 26, 2016:
@Sandro That reminds me of when I was researching municipal spending in seventeenth-century Spain, in an earlier life, and they kept referring to "los propios" of the municipality, which meant (to quote the first RAE dictionary) "las heredades, dehesas, casas u otro qualquier género de hacienda que tiene alguna Ciudad, Villa, o Lugar, para los gastos públicos".
Jane Martin (asker) Nov 26, 2016:
Thanks Sandro, well they are companies owned or with links to the regional authorities so similar but I am not sure if there is an accepted translation for this phrase.
Sandro Tomasi Nov 26, 2016:
Does this have anything to do with it? DRAE:
bienes propios
1. m. pl. Der. bienes de un municipio o entidad local menor no afectos al uso común de los vecinos sino a producir rentas patrimoniales.
Jane Martin (asker) Nov 26, 2016:
Would make public procurement much more interesting...
Charles Davis Nov 26, 2016:
I love "which I am not happy with". Classic understatement.
Charles Davis Nov 26, 2016:
Instrumental mediums Musical seances?

Proposed translations

+3
8 hrs
Selected

in-house resources

I translated a document on the same subject last month and went for 'in-house resources'. My decision was based on the fact that the source document explictly stated that the English equivalent for Encomiendas de Gestión was 'In-House Providing'. While I think this is one of those occasions where an English term is imported slightly incorrectly (should be 'In-House Provision' surely), I still took my cue from that contextual information in my translation of 'medios propios' as 'in-house resources'. The document isn't public so I can't cite it, but see the reference below as one of a number of sources making the connection between Encomiendas de Gestión and 'In-House Providing'.
Note from asker:
Thanks Rod, this is exactly the kind of help I needed. I had to send the translation off yesterday and did go with 'in-house provision' after finding the article you have given a link to.
Peer comment(s):

agree cathyhabas
4 hrs
agree Iseult Harrington
1 day 1 hr
agree Nedra Rivera Huntington : Yes.
1126 days
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
2 hrs

own means

Yes, I would use own resources or preferably own means, which would includes processes and not just assets (whether material or human)

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Note added at 2 hrs (2016-11-26 15:14:40 GMT)
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http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/medios propios

The fourth example from the top is one I could find...I hadn't looked for examples but that is what I would use in this case. I'll carry on looking! There is also, but it doesn't fit in this context, the term "medios propios" which refers to "owned media" in the marketing context.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2016-11-26 15:24:17 GMT)
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I would use own means then myself, or something that includes means. It is generic enough and at the same time "formal" enough to fit.
Note from asker:
Any evidence to support this suggestion?
Thanks Heidi, this term is specifically used in relation to public procurement procedures in Spain.
Something went wrong...
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