WRITTEN QUESTION E-3484/01 by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Contracting awards.
Date: 2002-01-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, administration of the Institutions, administrative expenditure (EU), award of contract, commercial contract, office supplies

C 205 E/38

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

29.8.2002

A number of the 31 paid Special Advisors are academics who receive a daily honorarium of € 260, € 315
or € 375 for each day worked in the service of the Commission. The total amount paid to Special Advisors
was € 15 200 for 76 days in 1999, € 93 855 for 289 days in 2000 and € 96 415 for 295 days in 2001.

(1) OJ L 195, 19.7.2001.

(2002/C 205 E/040)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3484/01

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(8 January 2002)

Subject: Contracting awards

By what process does the Commission make purchases of equipment? Do the Commission staff have the
authority to make such purchases, or does the Commission use an external buyer? What percentage of
money has been recovered when the supplier does not uphold their end of the contract? Does the
Commission feel that this is an acceptable rate of recovery? If not, what steps are being taken to ensure
that taxpayers’ money is being spent efficiently?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(22 February 2002)

The Commission purchases equipment through external supply contracts.

Contracts are awarded in accordance with public tendering procedures set down in the Financial
Regulation. The specific administrative procedures applied depend upon the amount of the order or
contract to be awarded. Calls for tender are published in the Official Journal and followed by a technical
and financial evaluation process. Contracts above € 50 000 are finalised only after formal notification of
the Commission’s Advisory Committee on Procurements and Contracts which is presided over by the
Deputy Director-General of Directorate-General for Budget (DG BUDG) and consists of representatives of
nine other services including Directorate-general for Personnel and Administration (DG ADMIN), the Legal
Service and Financial Control.

Purchases are made by the administration and never by individual initiative.

If a supplier does not comply with his or her contractual obligations, up to 10 % of the total estimated
amount of the contract can be recovered (covered under the Letter of Guarantee) in accordance with the
specific provisions, and depending on the type of contract. The exact percentage is set before the tendering
procedure and adapted in function of the importance of the contract or order. Beyond this guarantee,
specific penalty clauses are included for each type of contract, depending on the use of the product being
purchased.

During the last five years, the central purchasing unit of DG ADMIN has had no case in which a supplier
did not comply with his contractual obligations to supply equipment.

In order to further increase the efficiency of operations, the Commission is at present developing a
framework e-commerce system. Such a system is currently used for office supplies and, in the near future,
should also be used for furniture and technical equipment.

Apart from the issue of supply contracts, the Honourable Member may be interested to know that the
establishment of a central contracts database proposed in Action 74 of the Reform Strategy White Paper
(March 2000) is now being undertaken in DG BUDG. It will bring together all contracting and financing
agreements concluded by the Commission,
including all supply contracts. This will allow a more
systematic and centralised monitoring than has hitherto been possible.