Procurement
In this section:
If the implementation of an Action requires procurement by the partner, the contract must be awarded to the most economically advantageous tender (i.e., the tender offering the best price-quality ratio), in accordance with the principles of transparency and fair competition for potential contractors and taking care to avoid any conflicts of interest.
Partner organisations have to guarantee the compliance with some fundamental principles and best practices in procurement when awarding contracts in the framework of the European Commission funded projects. To this end they shall establish standard procedures on procurement and guidelines for tender documents.
The internal procurement guidelines should address questions such as internal control and supervision of the tendering process, the preparation of the tender, its publication, the standard bidding documents, the verification procedure for the tenderers, the award procedure, the standard purchase contract, payment procedures, etc.
The basic principle governing the award of contracts is competitive tendering. The purpose is twofold:
- to ensure the transparency of operations; and
- to obtain the desired quality of services, supplies or works at the best possible price.
Procedures to award sub-contracts for goods/services/work may have been initiated but contracts may not be concluded by the beneficiary organisation or its partners before the start of the implementation period of the Action, provided the provisions of Annex IV of the Grant Contract were respected.
There are several different procurement procedures, each allowing for a different degree of competition. Annex IV establishes the rules and procedures to be followed in each case. To this end, the partner and its implementing partners must comply with the rules set out in this annex for the procurement of services, supplies and works.
In the event of failure to comply with the rules referred to above, expenditure on the operations in question is not eligible for Union financing.
The Commission will carry out ex post checks on partners' compliance with the rules (see section on audit).
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