WRITTEN QUESTION E-2637/97 by Ursula Schleicher (PPE) to the Commission (1 September 1997)

Subject: Service contracts awarded by the Commission

Service contracts are contracts awarded by the various directorates-general of the Commission to outside firms or organizations and mainly involving administrative activities. These contracts are concerned with the technical monitoring, coordination and organization of projects forming part of programmes financed with aid from the EU. The aim is to take the pressure of administrative activities off the Commission.

Is there a list of firms tendering for Commission service contracts?

What is the percentage breakdown by Member State of firms tendering for service contracts from the services of the Commission?

What is the percentage breakdown of involvement by the Member States in the award of tenders by the Commission?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission (28 October 1997)

While many service contracts do provide administrative assistance in the monitoring, coordination and technical organisation of projects financed by the Community, they also provide technical expertise in areas where Commission staff do not have specialised knowledge. This is evident in service contracts concluded under both Title IV of the financial regulation which is applicable to the general budget, and Title IX which governs the procedures followed by the departments responsible for external policies. Technical expertise is particularly vital in technical and scientific fields, and in aid and development for ensuring the success of the Commission's projects and programmes.

According to Title IV of the Financial Regulation, there is no centralised comprehensive list of all the firms likely to tender for contracts to provide services for the Commission as a whole. Each Directorate-General is responsible for its own public service tendering procedures.

The Commission has scrupulously to apply the relevant provisions of the Treaties and the Financial Regulation as well as the Council directives governing public procurement.

It should be noted that a large part of the services required by the Commission come under Annex 1A of Directive 92/50/EEC relating to the coordination of procedures for the award of public services contracts ((OJ L 209, 24.7.1992. )), under which invitations to tender over the relevant threshold must be published in the Official Journal.

Since the Commission is one of the contracting authorities subject to the World Trade Organisation agreement on public service contracts, authorising departments have been required to apply the agreement since it came into force on 1 January 1996. Public service contracts concluded by the Commission are naturally open to businesses in the Member States and also in non-member countries which have agreed to open their own markets for services of this category to service providers in the Community.

In the case of service contracts for which publication is not required, the Commission authorising departments can use the procedure of a call for expressions of interest. The authorising department publishes a call in the Official Journal. Applications are examined on the basis of selection criteria. Applications which are accepted are placed on a list valid for up to three years. In the case of a specific tender, the authorising department may request all or some of the applicants on the list or those in a sub-category to submit a tender, which will be examined on the basis of the award criteria. During its period of validity, the list remains open so that any firm filling the selection criteria may be placed on it.

The following data relates to all the tenders for services under Title VI of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget for 1993-97. Services provided under Title IX of the Financial Regulation (special provisions applicable to external aid) are not included.

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NB: The above data were prepared on the basis of the contractor's address. For example, a contract for services concluded with the Belgian subsidiary of a German firm would be included in the data for Belgium.