WRITTEN QUESTION P-2927/02

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(10 October 2002)

Subject: Conflicts of interest in Community contracts

According to the European Voice on 26 September and 3 October the Commission has concluded a contract worth EUR 23 million with a Franco-Belgian company called ASCII in the IT sphere.

According to the same newspaper the company has subcontracted a firm called GPlus for a period of 6 years, the contract being worth a total of EUR 625 000. It would appear that a number of former Commission officials in the area of communications are working for this firm, including the former spokesman for Commissioner Monti, who left the Commission only recently.

The European Voice also claims that the publication of these facts by the newspaper Le Monde prompted the Commission to suspend the contract with GPlus.

Can the Commission confirm these reports? Can it say whether it is possible, in the context of the Commission's process of reform with regard to conflicts of interest, for an official to leave the Commission to work under contract to the Commission?

Can the Commission forward to the European Parliament, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001(1), all the relevant documentation relating to this contract, as well as the terms of reference of the call to tender, its duration, the rival bids and the assessment of the tender?

(1) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(27 November 2002)

On 17 June 2002, the Commission signed a framework contract for various input, management and promotion services for the European institutions' website, Europa, for a period not exceeding five years.

The contract was signed on completion of an open invitation to tender procedure carried out strictly in accordance with Council Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992 relating to the coordination of procedures for the award of public service contracts(1). The contract was awarded to the ASCII Company, which offered the best value for money.

The work to be carried out under the general framework contract is covered by nine specific agreements representing an annual amount of approximately EUR 4 450 000, all signed with ASCII. One of them, for drafting and updating documents at an annual cost of EUR 435 000, made provision for sub-contracting part of the work to GPlus at an annual cost of EUR 165 000, or 3,6 % of the total amount of the work entrusted to ASCII.

When it learned that, at the time of the invitation to tender, an official on leave on personal grounds was present in GPlus, the Commission suspended the Europa contract on 27 September last (i.e. before publication of the article in Le Monde to which the Honourable Member refers) in order to clarify the position in the light of the problem of perception.

On 9 October 2002, GPlus informed the Commission that it had decided to withdraw from the specific agreement in question, with the result that the contract with ASCII was restored in its entirety.

The Commission has undertaken a study of the rules governing incompatibility and, in particular, relations between its officials and private-sector companies taking part in Commission invitations to tender.

The request for the documentation relating to the invitation to tender will be dealt with in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents(2).

(1) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992.

(2) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001.