WRITTEN QUESTION E-2893/02

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(14 October 2002)

Subject: Contract awarded to an external company which is having the EU website rebuilt by a Commission official

1. Is the Commission aware of the report in the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad (AD) of 1 October 2002 that a Commission spokesman who has taken a year's leave of absence from his post has been working for the Belgian media agency G-Plus, where other present or former Commission staff are also employed?

2. Can the Commission confirm that in June 2002 G-Plus was awarded part of the contract to rebuild the EU website for EUR 23 million?

3. Does the Commission agree with the head of information, Mr Jonathan Faull, who is quoted as saying that in his opinion there was nothing wrong with the award of this contract because everything had been done in accordance with the rules and that it would even have been unlawful to award the contract to a different company on the grounds that members of his staff were employed at G-Plus? What would the relevant rules be?

4. Can the Commission confirm the statement in the AD that the President of the Commission personally intervened at the end of September to suspend the contract? On what grounds was it decided at this point to depart from the approach originally adopted in June?

5. Does the Commission agree that the facts quoted in the newspaper article give the impression of an unacceptable conflict of interests? How was it possible for this situation to arise?

6. What measures will the Commission take to terminate this contract definitively? What will it do to prevent any recurrence?

7. Will the Commission propose a compulsory registration system to make such an unacceptable conflict of interests impossible, along the lines of that provided for by the General Civil Service Regulations (ARAR) in the Netherlands?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(25 November 2002)

The Commission is aware of the report in Algemeen Dagblad referred to by the Honourable Member.

On 17 June 2002 the Commission signed a framework contract, for a maximum of five years, for the provision of various services relating to the maintenance, management and promotion of Europa, the website of the European Institutions. The contract was awarded to the company ASCII that, as part of the framework contract, signed nine separate agreements totalling EUR 4 450 000 per annum. One of the agreements concerned the drafting and updating of documents and some of the tasks to be undertaken were subcontracted by ASCII to G-Plus for an annual fee of EUR 165 000. This represented slightly less than 3,6 % of the total annual amount that will be received by ASCII.

The Commission confirms that the contract was awarded following a rigorous tendering procedure which was carried out in strict 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), as the Spokesman and Director General for Press and Communication has affirmed.

The presence of an official on leave for personal grounds within G-Plus, the company subcontracted by ASCII, led to the suspension of the Europa contract on 27 September 2002 so that an examination could take place in the light of the problems of perception that had arisen.

The Honourable Member may wish to note that on 9 October 2002 G-Plus informed the Commission of its decision to withdraw from the consortium established by ASCII for the implementation of the framework contract. The Commission subsequently re-established its contract with ASCII.

The Commission is currently examining the rules implementing the principle of incompatibility, especially those concerning the relationship between civil servants and private companies that respond to calls for tender by the Commission.

(1) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992.