----

(2004/C 78 E/0694)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3830/03

by Juan Ferrández Lezaun (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(8 December 2003)

Subject:   Spanish NHP infrastructure tendering

The Spanish Government has begun tendering for the infrastructure of the river Ebro water transfer, and specifically, two sections thereof, in the provinces of Almeria (section 46/subsection 1) and Murcia (section 41/subsection 1).

As both Commissioner Bolkestein himself and the Spanish Ministry have acknowledged, the Spanish Government failed to comply with Directive 92/50/EEC (1) on the awarding of public service contracts, by failing to respect the rules on openness to competition in awarding a service contract.

In this case, the Commission decided, despite the Spanish Government's repeated infringements in this area, not to open infringement proceedings against it, nor oblige it to re-run the tendering process.

Has the Commission been following the tendering process for the two aforementioned water transfer infrastructure sections? If so, can it confirm that Directive 92/50/EEC on coordinating the awarding of public service contracts has been respected?

Can the Commission confirm that these two water transfer sections respect Community environmental legislation? If not, which provisions does it infringe, and why? What measures is the Commission going to take in this connection?

Can the Commission confirm that these two water-transfer building operations have been preceded by a cost-benefit, project-viability and socio-economic impact assessment, as required by Regulation (EC) 1260/1999 (2)?

Can the Commission confirm whether as of now, it has guaranteed Community co-funding for the building of these two sections of the water transfer? If so, what are the figures for each section?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(30 January 2004)

The Commission would first of all like to clarify that the service contracts for environmental studies referred to in its reply to the questions by the Honourable Members De Roo (H-0563/03) during question time at Parliament's Plenary session of October 2003 (3) and Dührkop (H-688/03) during question time at Parliament's Plenary session of November 2003 (4) were awarded by Trasagua some time ago. The Commission decided not to bring infringement proceedings regarding these specific contracts, for the reasons stated in its answer to these questions. The contracts which the Honourable Member now enquires about are part of new calls for tender recently issued by Trasagua. In fact, Trasagua has published separate tenders for works contracts, relating to the construction of the infrastructure for the transfer of waters from the river Ebro, and for service contracts, relating to consultancy on various aspects of the works on the infrastructure. To the extent that their value goes beyond the Union thresholds, such works contracts must comply with Directive 93/37/EEC of 14 June 1993 on the co-ordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts (5), whereas service contracts are subject to Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992 on the co-ordination of procedures for the award of public service contracts (6). The Commission understands that the Honourable Member refers in particular to compliance of the service contracts at stake with the requirements of Directive 92/50/EEC. Indeed, those contracts involve consultancy and assistance services to the management of the works, environmental direction and health and safety coordination for the construction of the two sections of the infrastructure. According to the information available to the Commission, tender notices concerning those contracts were published in the Official Journal S 229 of 27 November 2003, and S 230 of 28 November 2003. Furthermore, the Commission would like to point out that the Spanish authorities undertook to ensure that Trasagua applies in full the Community public procurement rules when awarding public contracts. The Commission does not dispose at this stage of any information allowing it to believe that this undertaking is not being honoured.

The Commission does not have specific information on the water transfer infrastructures at stake to allow it to conclude that they do not comply with Community environmental legislation. In fact, the Commission does not receive this type of information automatically, except for projects which are financed by the Cohesion Fund or for which the Community financing through the Structural Funds exceeds EUR 50 million.

Thirdly, as far as the need for a cost-benefit analysis, an analysis of the economic viability and the socioeconomic impact of the projects is concerned, in line with the requirements of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds (7) they will only be required if there is a request for Community co-financing and the projects are considered major ones.

Indeed, up to now the Commission has not received any request for the financing of the two infrastructures which are the subject matter of the tendering.

----

(1)OJ L 209, 24.7.1992, p. 1.

(2)OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1.

(3)  Oral reply, 21.10.2003.

(4)  Written reply, 18.11.2003.

(5)OJ L 199, 9.8.1993.

(6)OJ L 209, 24.7.1992.

(7)OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.

----