WRITTEN QUESTION E-2143/03 by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Commission contracts with the Planistat Group.
Date: 2003-06-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Eurostat, award of contract, contract, dissemination of EU information, dissemination of information, invitation to tender, marketing, payment, services company, statistics

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/397

The Commission financed studies of solid waste management in Mauritius which led to a National Solid
Waste Management Plan (NSWMP) with clear strategies in the short, medium and long term. Whilst the
short term strategy maintained the usage of dump sites, for the long term strategy the Community-
financed study has indeed proposed the construction of a large incinerator (≈ 220 000 tonne/annum) in the
western part of the island and a medium one (≈ 74 000 tonne/annum) in the northern part. The study
finance and operate basis (DBFO)
recommended that
considering on potential revenues from sales of electricity generated by the incinerator plant (estimate of
106 Gigawatt hours (GWh)/year). The World Bank is currently supporting the solid waste sector in
Mauritius and additional funding,
(via a public expenditure reform loan), may be provided allowing
installation of a solid waste incinerator. Within the 9th EDF, the Commission is concentrating its support
to the implementation of the Mauritius National Sewerage Programme.

the incinerators be built on a design, build,

The European Investment Bank (EIB) assigns a high priority to the expansion of its lending for renewable
energy projects and other projects supporting an environmentally sustainable development, both inside the
Union and in Partner Countries. In the framework of the Cotonou Agreement under which the Bank
operates in Mauritius (cid:2) as under its predecessor the Lomé Convention (cid:2) the EIB is mandated to support
economically, financially, technically and environmentally viable projects in all key sectors of the economy,
including renewable energy and waste incineration.

the EIB has contributed significantly to the diversification of

In Mauritius,
the country’s electricity
production away from oil-fired generation and towards the use of bagasse (cid:2) a source of renewable energy
the country abounds in (cid:2) by part-financing the construction of a base-load coal/bagasse fired power
station situated in the north of the island. The project was completed on schedule and has started
commercial operations in 2000. The Bank would be prepared to look at other viable renewable energy
propositions in the future.

(2004/C 78 E/0420)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2143/03

by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 June 2003)

Subject: Commission contracts with the Planistat Group

According to the information provided on its own website (www.planistat.fr), Planistat Europe SA has
contracts with the Commission for a ‘value added statistical information service’ (service d’information
statistique à valeur ajoutée) dating back to 1996 and due to run until the end of 2003. Can the
Commission say how many contracts have been concluded in this connection and supply me with copies
of the texts?

Can the Commission specify for each individual contract what award procedure was used, whether there
were tenders from other tenderers, what procedures were used to assess the tenders, and why Planistat
won the contracts? Can it supply copies of the supporting documents that provided the justification for the
appropriate Eurostat authorising officers to sign the contracts?

Can the Commission produce a complete detailed list of the payments that it has made in connection with
these contracts? Can it supply me with copies of Planistat records indicating what income the firm has
earned by marketing and selling Eurostat data?

When and how has the Commission examined the truth of the firm’s statements on the above subject?
Have contracts also been concluded with other firms for the purpose of marketing Eurostat data, and, if
applicable, can the Commission send me copies of those contracts?

C 78 E/398

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

27.3.2004

Does the Commission still think it proper and necessary that the statistics which it compiles as a public
institution can be marketed by private firms for profit?

When answering my question, can the Commission pay full heed to Article 197, third paragraph, and
Article 287 of the EC Treaty?

Answer given by Mr Solbes Mira on behalf of the Commission

(5 September 2003)

The Honourable Member’s request
to access the documents to which she refers will be treated in
accordance with European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001
regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (1).

Since the contracts in question were concluded with Planistat as part of a ‘value added statistical
information service’, it is important to emphasise that they have been or are still the subject of various
audits and controls conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the Commission’s Internal Audit
Service and Eurostat’s internal auditing capacity. This answer is based therefore on current knowledge of
the situation and is given without prejudice to any new facts that the investigations in progress might
reveal or to future developments to which they could give rise.

As part of the ‘value added statistical information service’, six contracts were concluded with Planistat
between 1996 and 1999 and four framework contracts between 1999 and 2003. In each case, the
contract was awarded through competitive tendering.

With regard to the tender issued in 1995, ten bids were submitted for lot 1 (services supplied in
connection with the management of Data Shop Luxembourg) and seven for lot 2 (services supplied in
connection with the management of Data Shop Brussels and information about the Data Shop network).
The contract was awarded to the bid judged to be the economically most advantageous in terms of
technical merit and price. In both cases, Planistat’s bid had the most technical merit and was also the
lowest. The bid received a favourable opinion from the Advisory Committee on Procurements and
Contracts (ACPC). In accordance with the tender specifications, the contract was renewed twice for each of
the two lots and thus covered a total period of three years.

In 1999 a new tender was issued. Two bids were submitted for lot 1 (services supplied in connection with
the management of Data Shop Luxembourg), two for lot 2 (services supplied in connection with the
management of Data Shop Brussels), one for lot 3 (services supplied in connection with the management
of Data Shop Madrid), and one for lot 4 (support for the Data Shop network). The company accepted for
the four lots was Planistat, which had submitted the bid considered to be the most economically
advantageous. Since this decision had received an unfavourable opinion from the ACPC, inasmuch as the
category of service and the description of the subject of the contract did not correspond to the exact
nature of the services and hence made it impossible to attract the interest of bidders who could meet the
requirements, a second tender was published in 1999. The new tender notice and the specifications were
submitted for the prior approval of the ACPC. The first three lots (Data Shops in Luxembourg, Brussels
and Madrid) were amalgamated, and the second lot concerned support. For each lot there was a single bid,
which came from Planistat. The bids were accepted on the basis of the quality of services offered and
because they were considered economically advantageous. The ACPC delivered a favourable opinion
concerning the award of the contract.

With regard to the tender in 2002, a single bid was submitted for each lot (lot 1: services supplied in
connection with Data Shop management; lot 2: network support). Although there was only a single bid,
the technical and financial analysis and the market assessment indicated that it was acceptable. The main
reasons are as follows: appropriate specifications and advertising (a survey conducted prior to the ACPC
decision among the companies which had requested the specifications but had not put in a bid showed
that the reasons for not replying did not concern the specifications); good-quality technical offers; and an
acceptable financial offer compared with the previous contract. The ACPC delivered a favourable opinion
concerning the award of the contract.

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/399

Concerning the sale of publications (paper and CD-ROM), each publication ordered by the contractor from
the Publications Office was systematically invoiced to it. As regards the database extraction service or the
sales of files in PDF format, Planistat provided Eurostat, every month from 2000, with the extracts from
the sales journal together with the invoices arranged in sequence. The list of payments made in connection
with these contracts and the details of the revenue amounts as described in the monthly reports on the
contract are being sent direct to the Honourable Member and Parliament’s Secretariat.

Lastly, with regard to the dissemination of statistical information and, in particular, possible participation
in it by commercial firms, it should be emphasised that, since dissemination is an integral part of the
production of Community statistics as defined in Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of
17 February 1997 on Community Statistics (2), it falls within a strategy worked out in close coordination
with the Member States and especially with national statistical institutes.

The Data Shops thus contribute directly to Eurostat’s fulfilment of its public distribution service remit,
within the framework of the agreement for the distribution of statistics. They have to supply a suitable
answer to any requests submitted to them and are required to provide all Eurostat information on an
impartial basis. Agreements on the distribution of statistics have been signed with national statistical
institutes in many European countries, and an agreement has been drawn up entrusting a company with
the management of the Data Shop in New York.

Licences for the redissemination of data for commercial purposes have been signed with a series of firms
specialising in the information market. The distribution of certain data for commercial purposes in
connection with the supply of value-added information products is designed to satisfy other considerations:
its aim is to serve certain groups of special users who require Eurostat data with added value. These
specialised, professional information services are clearly not part of Eurostat’s general statistical distribution
remit. This approach is consistent with that set out in the Commission’s communication ‘eEurope 2002:
Creating an EU framework for the exploitation of public sector information’ (3) and with the proposal for a
European Parliament and Council Directive on the re-use and commercial exploitation of public sector
documents (4).

(1) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001.
(2) OJ L 52, 22.2.1997.
(3) COM(2001) 607 final.
(4) COM(2002) 207 final.

(2004/C 78 E/0421)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2173/03

by Paulo Casaca (PSE) to the Commission

(30 June 2003)

Subject: Compliance with EU legislation on asbestos

In its reply to Written Question E-1551/03 (1) the Commission stated that it intended to contact the
Portuguese authorities with a view to ensuring that appropriate action is taken in order to enforce
Community legislation on asbestos (cid:2) thereby justifying the concern felt by the author of this question.

Would the Commission say when it intends to ‘ensure that the Portuguese authorities] take the necessary
measures to enforce the Directive in question’?

(1) See page 37.