EN 11 12 2019 Official Journal of the European Union C 417/107 Payments Opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts 3 18 6 In our opinion, payments underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 are legal and regular in all material respects 3 18 7 The observations which follow do not call the CourtŐs opinion into question OBSERVATIONS ON INTERNAL CONTROLS 3 18 8 In 2014 the Commission, on behalf of more than 50 EU Institutions and bodies (including EFCA), signed a framework contract with one contractor for the acquisition of software, licences and the provision of related IT maintenance and consultancy Due to the volatility of the software market the contract contains no pricelist The framework contractor acts as an intermediary between the Agency and suppliers that can address the AgencyŐs needs For these intermediary services, the framework contractor is entitled to uplifts of two to nine percent of the suppliersŐ prices In 2018, total payments to the framework contractor amounted to 192 112 euros The ex-ante controls performed by EFCA were not effective, as they did not check that the prices and uplifts charged by the framework contractor were correct The framework contract itself may restrict competition as there is no evidence that the framework contractor chooses suppliers on a competitive basis The Agency should adapt ex-ante controls on payments under such contracts and ensure there is a competitive procedure for all procurements (139) INFORMATION ON INTERNAL AUDIT SERVICE REPORTS 3 18 9 In 2018, the CommissionŐs Internal Audit Service issued an audit report on ÔPlanning, Budgeting and Monitoring in the European Fisheries Control AgencyŐ (140) The Agency and the IAS agreed on a plan for potential areas of improvement (139) The 2014 framework contract has expired in the meantime and the design of the succeeding framework provides for greater promotion of fair competition (140) We did not verify the audit work EN C 417/108 Official Journal of the European Union 11 12 2019 THE AGENCYŐS REPLY 3 18 8 EFCA welcomes the comments of the ECA and will take them into consideration Concerning the interinstitutional framework contract signed between DIGIT and Comparex, EFCA was not directly concerned with its definition and had no possibility to change the conditions and provisions of the FWC EFCA has joined the new framework contract signed by DIGIT for the purchase of the same type of products The issues raised concerning the old contract would seem to have been addressed, and EFCA will implement this new framework contract accordingly In respect of the prices, EFCA had the practice of checking the quotes received against the RRP (Recommended Retail Prices) published by vendors, prices previously paid, and known prices for alternative products EFCA consistently found the quotes to be below the RRP In this manner it was ensured that EFCA received good value for money Any discrepancy in the quoted price or a sudden or significant increase in price would be noticed and investigated further before signing the order 
SV C 417/108 Europeiska unionens officiella tidning 11 12 2019 BYRNS SVAR 3 18 8 Vi vlkomnar revisionsrttens kommentarer och kommer att beakta dem EFCA var inte direkt inblandad i faststllandet av det interinstitutionella ramavtal som undertecknades mellan GD Informationsteknik och Comparex och hade ingen mjlighet att ndra villkoren och bestmmelserna i ramavtalet EFCA har anslutit sig till det nya ramavtal som GD Informationsteknik undertecknat fr inkp av samma typ av produkter De frgor som tagits upp i samband med det gamla avtalet tycks ha lsts och EFCA kommer sledes att genomfra detta nya ramavtal Nr det gller priserna har EFCA haft som praxis att kontrollera de mottagna offerterna mot rekommenderade konsumentpriser som frsljarna har offentliggjort, priser som tidigare betalats och knda priser p alternativa produkter EFCA konstaterade att offerterna genomgende lg under de rekommenderade konsumentpriserna P detta stt har det skerstllts att EFCA ftt god valuta fr pengarna Eventuella avvikelser i det angivna priset eller en pltslig eller betydande prishjning kommer att upptckas och utredas ytterligare innan bestllningen undertecknas