Practical Guide To Contract Procedures For EC External Actions

Practical Guide
to
Contract procedures for EC external actions
2008 Page 1 of 137

2008new_prag_final_en.doc
Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................8
2. BASIC RULES ........................................................................................................10
2.1. Overview ............................................................................................................... 10
2.2. Management modes ............................................................................................... 10
2.3. Eligibility criteria and other essentials .................................................................. 12
2.3.1. The rule on nationality and origin ..............................................................................12
2.3.2. Exceptions to the rule on nationality and origin.........................................................14
2.3.3. Grounds for exclusion ................................................................................................15
2.3.4. Administrative and financial penalties .......................................................................18
2.3.5. Visibility .....................................................................................................................18
2.3.6. Other essential points .................................................................................................19
2.4. Procurement procedures ........................................................................................ 19
2.4.1. Which procurement procedure to apply ?...................................................................20
2.4.2. Open procedure ..........................................................................................................20
2.4.3. Restricted procedure...................................................................................................21
2.4.4. Competitive negotiated procedure..............................................................................21
2.4.5. Framework contracts ..................................................................................................21
2.4.6. Dynamic purchasing system.......................................................................................22
2.4.7. Competitive dialogue..................................................................................................22
2.4.8. Negotiated procedure..................................................................................................23
2.4.9. Fair and transparent competition ................................................................................23
2.4.10. Preferences (EDF only) ..............................................................................................23
2.4.11. Selection and award criteria .......................................................................................24
2.4.11.1. Selection criteria.................................................................................................24
2.4.11.2. Award criteria.....................................................................................................27
2.4.12. Procedure with “suspensive clause” ...........................................................................27
2.4.13. Cancellation of procurement procedures....................................................................28
2.4.14. Ethics clauses..............................................................................................................28
2.4.15. Appeals .......................................................................................................................30
2.5. Contract size .......................................................................................................... 30
2.6. Terms of reference and technical specifications.................................................... 30
2.7. Procedural rules on conciliation and arbitration.................................................... 32
2.8. The Evaluation Committee .................................................................................... 32
2.8.1. Composition ...............................................................................................................32
2.8.2. Impartiality and confidentiality ..................................................................................33
2.8.3. Responsibilities of the Evaluation Committee members............................................33
2.8.4. Timetable....................................................................................................................34
2.8.5. Period of validity ........................................................................................................34
2.9. Award of the contract ............................................................................................ 34
2.9.1. Notifying the successful tenderer ...............................................................................34
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2.9.2. Contract preparation and signature.............................................................................35
2.9.3. Publicising the award of the contract .........................................................................36
2.10. Modifying contracts............................................................................................... 36
2.10.1. General principles.......................................................................................................37
2.10.2. Preparing an addendum ..............................................................................................37
3. SERVICE CONTRACTS...........................................................................................39
3.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 39
3.2.1. Contracts of € 200,000 or more ................................................................................39
3.2.1.1. Restricted procedure...........................................................................................39
3.2.2. Contracts under € 200,000.......................................................................................39
3.2.3. Other procedures ........................................................................................................40
3.2.3.1. Negotiated procedure .........................................................................................40
3.2.3.2. Competitive dialogue .........................................................................................41
3.3. Restricted tenders (for contracts of € 200,000 or more)....................................... 41
3.3.1. Publicity......................................................................................................................41
3.3.1.1. Publication of individual contract forecasts .......................................................41
3.3.1.2. Publication of procurement notices....................................................................42
3.3.2. Establishment of shortlists..........................................................................................43
3.3.3. Drafting and contents of the tender dossier ................................................................44
3.3.4. Award criteria.............................................................................................................45
3.3.5. Additional information during the procedure.............................................................46
3.3.6. Deadline for submission of tenders ............................................................................46
3.3.8. Submission of tenders.................................................................................................46
3.3.9. The Evaluation Committee.........................................................................................46
3.3.10. Stages in the evaluation process .................................................................................47
3.3.10.1. Receipt and registration of tenders.....................................................................47
3.3.10.2. Tender opening session ......................................................................................47
3.3.10.3. Evaluation of offers............................................................................................47
3.3.10.4. Evaluation of financial offers .............................................................................49
3.3.10.5. Conclusions of the Evaluation Committee.........................................................50
3.3.11. Cancelling the tender procedure .................................................................................52
3.3.12. Award of the contract .................................................................................................52
3.3.12.1. Notifying the successful tenderer .......................................................................52
3.3.12.2. Contract preparation and signature ....................................................................52
3.3.12.3. Publicising the award of the contract .................................................................52
3.3.13. Approval of key experts .............................................................................................53
3.3.14. Provision and replacement of experts.........................................................................53
3.4. Procedures for the award of contracts under € 200,000 ........................................ 54
3.4.1. Framework contracts ..................................................................................................54
3.4.1.1. Scope of the Framework contract.......................................................................55
3.4.1.2. Request for services ...........................................................................................55
3.4.1.3. Awarding of Specific contracts ..........................................................................56
3.4.2. Competitive negotiated procedure..............................................................................58
3.5. Modifying service contracts .................................................................................. 58
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4. SUPPLY CONTRACTS ............................................................................................59
4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 59
4.2.1. Contracts of € 150,000 or more ..................................................................................59
4.2.1.1. International open procedure..............................................................................59
4.2.2. Contracts between € 60,000 and € 150,000................................................................59
4.2.2.1. Local open procedure .........................................................................................59
4.2.3. Contracts under € 60,000 – competitive negotiated procedure ..................................59
4.2.4.2. Dynamic purchasing system...............................................................................60
4.3. International open tender for contracts of € 150,000 or more ............................... 61
4.3.1. Publicity......................................................................................................................61
4.3.3.1. Supply contracts not including ancillary services ..............................................64
4.3.3.2. Supply contracts including ancillary services ....................................................64
4.3.3.3. Particularly complex supplies ............................................................................65
4.3.5. Deadline for the submission of tenders ......................................................................65
4.3.9.2. Preparatory meeting ...........................................................................................66
4.3.9.4. Evaluation of technical offers ............................................................................67
4.3.9.6. Choice of contractor ...........................................................................................69
4.3.11.2. Contract preparation and signature ....................................................................71
4.4. Local open tender for contracts between € 60,000 and € 150,000 ....................... 71
4.5. Competitive negotiated procedure for contracts under € 60,000........................... 71
4.6. Modifying supply contracts ................................................................................... 72
5. WORKS CONTRACTS ............................................................................................73
5.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 73
5.2.1. Contracts of € 5,000,000 or more ...............................................................................73
5.2.1.1. Open procedure ..................................................................................................73
5.2.1.2. Restricted procedure...........................................................................................73
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5.2.2. Contracts of between € 300,000 and € 5,000,000 ......................................................73
5.2.2.1. Local open procedure .........................................................................................73
5.2.3. Contracts under € 300,000 – competitive negotiated procedure ................................73
5.3. International open tender (for contracts of € 5,000,000 or more........................... 75
5.3.1. Publicity......................................................................................................................75
5.3.5. Deadline for the submission of tenders ......................................................................79
5.3.9.2. Preparatory meeting ...........................................................................................80
5.3.9.4. Evaluation of offers............................................................................................80
5.3.9.6. Choice of contractor ...........................................................................................82
5.3.11.2. Contract signature ..............................................................................................83
5.4. Restricted tender for contracts of € 5,000,000 or more ......................................... 84
5.5. Local open tender (for contracts of at least € 300,000 and under
€ 5,000,000) ........................................................................................................... 84
5.6. Competitive negotiated procedure......................................................................... 85
5.7. Modifying works contracts.................................................................................... 85
6. GRANTS ................................................................................................................87
6.1. Basic rules for grants contracts.............................................................................. 87
6.1.1. Definition....................................................................................................................87
6.2. Overview ............................................................................................................... 88
6.2.1. Management modes....................................................................................................89
6.2.2. Management Tools .....................................................................................................90
6.2.3. Eligibility criteria........................................................................................................90
6.2.3.1. Nationality rule...................................................................................................90
6.2.3.2. Exceptions to the nationality rule.......................................................................90
6.2.3.3. Grounds for exclusion ........................................................................................91
6.2.4. Programming ..............................................................................................................91
6.2.5. Transparency ..............................................................................................................91
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6.2.6. Equal treatment...........................................................................................................91
6.2.7. Non-cumulation..........................................................................................................91
6.2.8. Non-retroactivity ........................................................................................................92
6.2.9. Co-financing ...............................................................................................................92
6.2.10. Non-profit...................................................................................................................93
6.2.11. Other essential points .................................................................................................93
6.3. Award procedures.................................................................................................. 94
6.3.1. Call for proposals .......................................................................................................94
6.3.1.1. Publication..........................................................................................................94
6.3.1.2. Open or restricted call for proposals ..................................................................94
6.3.1.3. Partnerships ........................................................................................................94
6.3.2. Grants awarded without calls for proposals (“Direct award”)....................................94
6.4. Call for proposals................................................................................................... 95
6.4.1. Publicity......................................................................................................................95
6.4.2. Drafting and contents of the guidelines for applicants ...............................................96
6.4.3. Eligibility and evaluation (selection and award) criteria............................................96
6.4.3.1. Eligibility criteria ...............................................................................................96
6.4.3.2. Evaluation criteria: selection and award ............................................................97
6.4.4. Additional information before the deadline for submission of proposals ..................97
6.4.5. Deadline for submission of proposals ........................................................................97
6.4.6. Submission of proposals.............................................................................................98
6.4.7.1. Composition .......................................................................................................99
6.4.7.2. Use of assessors..................................................................................................99
6.4.7.3. Impartiality and confidentiality ........................................................................100
6.4.7.4. Responsibilities of the Evaluation Committee .................................................100
6.4.8. Stages in the evaluation process ...............................................................................100
6.4.8.1. Receipt and registration of proposals ...............................................................100
6.4.8.2. Opening session and administrative check.......................................................101
6.4.8.3. Evaluation of the concept note .........................................................................102
6.4.8.4. Evaluation of the application form...................................................................102
6.4.8.5. Verification of eligibility..................................................................................103
6.4.8.6. Conclusions of the Evaluation Committee.......................................................103
6.4.9. Cancelling the call for proposals procedure .............................................................105
6.4.10. Awarding grants .......................................................................................................105
6.4.10.1. Notification of applicants .................................................................................105
6.4.10.2. Contract preparation and signature ..................................................................105
6.4.10.3. Characteristics of the standard grant contract ..................................................106
6.4.10.4. Publicising the award of grants ........................................................................107
6.5. Grants of a low amount in decentralised management........................................ 107
6.6. Restricted call for proposals ................................................................................ 107
6.7. Modifying grant contracts ................................................................................... 108
6.7.1. General principles.....................................................................................................108
6.7.2. Preparing an addendum ............................................................................................108
6.8. Procurement by grant beneficiaries ..................................................................... 108
6.8.1. General principles.....................................................................................................108
6.9. Grants to international organisations ................................................................... 109
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7. RELATIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS, MEMBER STATES,
BENEFICIARY COUNTRIES AND OTHER DONORS: DELEGATED COOPERATION
AND CO-FINANCING ............................................................................................111
7.1. Relations with international organisations : Joint management .......................... 114
7.1.1. Basic rules: Method of implementation....................................................................115
7.1.2. Contractual arrangements and implementation ........................................................116
7.2. Delegation of budget implementation tasks to national bodies : Indirect
centralised management ...................................................................................... 118
7.2.1. Basic rules: Method of implementation....................................................................118
7.2.2. Contractual arrangement and implementation..........................................................121
7.3. Relations with beneficiary countries : Decentralised management ................................121
7.4. Implementation by the Commission of external actions co-financed by other
donors ..............................................................................................................................125
7.5. Joint procurement with a Member State (BUDGET only) ..............................................126
8. LEGAL TEXTS .....................................................................................................127
8.1. Legal framework for the procurement procedures ..........................................................127
8.1.1. BUDGET..................................................................................................................127
8.1.2. EDF ..........................................................................................................................127
8.2. Legal framework for grant procedures ............................................................................128
8.2.1. BUDGET..................................................................................................................128
8.2.2. EDF ..........................................................................................................................128
9. LIST OF ANNEXES ..............................................................................................130
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1. Introduction
This Practical Guide is the first sole working tool, which explains the contracting procedures
applying to all EU external aid contracts financed from the general budget (Budget) and the 10th
European Development Fund (EDF).
Please note that as from the entry into force of the 10th EDF, participation in procedures for
awarding of procurement contracts or grants financed by the 9th and the 10th EDF shall be open to
all natural and legal persons from the 27 Member States.
As from the adoption of the revision of the Annex IV of the Cotonou Agreement, procurement
contracts and grants financed under 10th EDF shall be awarded and implemented in accordance
with the EU rules and, except in the cases foreseen by the same rules, in accordance with the
procedures and standard documents laid down and published by the Commission for the
implementation of cooperation operations with third countries, in force at the time of the launch of
the procedure in question.
For procedures financed under the 9th EDF, please refer to the previous version of the present
Practical Guide, except where the relevant Financing Agreements have been amended to apply the
revised version of Annex IV of the Cotonou Agreement.
Since it incorporates the relevant provisions of the legal texts respectively ruling the Budget and
the EDF, the purpose of this instrument is to provide all users, in an encompassing manner, with all
the information necessary to undertake procurement or a grant procedure from the very first steps
to the award of contracts. The annexes cover both the procurement phase and the execution of
contracts. The Guide provides the procedures to be used in centralised systems (centralised and
indirect centralised1) and decentralised systems with ex-ante approval or with ex-post controls by
the European Commission. The Guide only applies to the contracting part of the implementation of
projects. Following the terminology of Financial Regulations, the different degrees of
decentralisation can also apply to other aspects, which are not covered by the Guide.
Notwithstanding the fact that the procurement procedures applicable to the Budget and to the EDF
are quite similar, certain specificities will be flagged throughout this Guide. Chapter 8 lists the
legal texts and chapter 9 lists all the annexes to the Guide. Annex A1 contains a glossary of the
terms used in the Guide.
What does the Practical Guide not cover?

It does not apply to contracts for which the Commission acts as Contracting Authority on its own
account. These come under Title V, Chapters 1 and 2, of the Financial Regulation and Commission
services should use in-house public procurement procedures and models (Vade-mecum on Public
Procurement) to deal with them.
This Guide does not apply to operations implemented in the context of Humanitarian aid or
emergency operations carried out by ECHO.
Nor does it apply to the Contracting Authorities where the Commission has authorised them to use
their own procurement procedures or procurement procedures agreed among donors according to
the relevant regulation.
Direct labour operations are contracts executed by public or public-private agencies or services of
the beneficiary country, where that country's administration possesses qualified managers. The
programme estimate is a document laying down the human and material resources required, the
budget and the detailed technical and administrative implementing arrangements for execution of a
project over a specified period by direct labour and, possibly, by means of public procurement and
1
Centralised indirect approach refers to cases, in which the Commission delegates its prerogatives to entities
such as Member States executive agencies.
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the award of specific grants. The procedures for direct labour contracts and programme estimates
are set out in a separate guide (Practical guide to procedures for programme estimates – project
approach).
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2. Basic rules
2.1. Overview
There are strict rules governing the way in which contracts are awarded. These help to ensure that
suitably qualified contractors are chosen without bias and that the best value for money is obtained,
with the full transparency appropriate to the use of public funds.
Procedures established by the European Commission for procurement under the relevant EU
external aid programmes are consolidated in this Practical Guide.
Before initiating any tender procedure, the service, supply or works to be contracted must have
been approved first by a Financing Decision and, where appropriate, by a subsequent Financing
Agreement and the funds must be available, except in the case of procedures with "suspension
clause".
2.2. Management modes

There are several possible approaches to managing the procurement procedures for projects
financed under the external aid programmes of the EU (referred to as "management modes" or
"methods of implementation"):
• Centralised: the European Commission is the Contracting Authority and takes decisions for the
beneficiary country. In this case, actions to be performed by the Contracting Authority
throughout this Practical Guide should be interpreted as being carried out by the European
Commission, acting for the beneficiary country.
Indirect Centralised: the centralised approach applies. In this case, the Contracting Authority
will thus be the entity to which the Commission will delegate its prerogatives.
• Decentralised:
- Ex-ante: decisions concerning the procurement and award of contracts are taken by the
Contracting Authority and referred for approval to the European Commission.
- Ex-post: decisions foreseen in the Financing Agreement are taken by the Contracting
Authority without prior reference to the European Commission (apart from exceptions to the
standard procedures given in this Practical Guide).
Details of the ex-ante and ex-post approval procedures are specified throughout the Guide.
• Joint management: In this management mode certain implementation tasks shall be delegated
to international organisations.
• Shared management: Where the Commission implements the budget by shared management,
implementation tasks shall be delegated to Member States in accordance with article 53b of the
Financial Regulation. That method shall apply, in principle, for joint operational programmes
for cross-border cooperation implemented by a joint managing authority under the regulation
establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument2. In such a case, the
procurement rules to be applied shall be those contemplated in the implementing rules laying
down specific provisions for the implementation of the cross-border cooperation. Similarly, the
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA)3 provides for this option under the conditions as
defined in the regulatory framework of IPA.
2
Regulation n° 1638/2006 of 24.10.2006.
3
Regulation n° 1085/2006 of 17.07.2006.
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BUDGET
The European Commission decides for each project which management approach will be used, in
conformity with its internal rules and procedures and the content of each basic act.
EDF
The legal texts ruling the EDF funded projects provide for instances where the financial resources
of the EDF are executed by the Commission in a decentralised manner or centrally (directly or
indirectly) or jointly with an international organisation.
The choice of the management mode shall be reflected in the corresponding financing decision
(e.g. action fiche of the relevant financing decision/(Annual) Action Programme). The method of
implementation is an essential element of the financing decision.
The implication of the Commission for the decentralised contracts consists simply on its
authorisation to the financing of the contracts. In case of non-respect of the procedures established
in the present Guide, the expenditure related to the operations involved are ineligible in terms of
EU financing.
The interventions of the Commissions’ representatives within the decentralised procedures for the
conclusion or implementation of the contracts financed in the context of external actions are only to
see whether or not the conditions for the EU financing are met.
They will not, in any case, have as an objective nor as a possible effect, the attempt against the
principle by which the decentralised contracts become national contracts that are only prepared,
elaborated and concluded by the decentralised Contracting Authority. The tenderers and candidates
for these contracts cannot be considered as beneficiaries of the acts carried out by the
Commissions’ representatives for the implementation and conclusion of the contracts. They must
only hold a legal bound with the decentralised Contracting Authority and the Commissions’
representatives acts may not cause the substitution of a Contracting Authority’s decision by a
decision taken by the EU. In all cases, the Contracting Authority assumes full responsibility for its
actions and will be accountable for these in any subsequent audit or other investigation.
This guide includes the procedures to be observed under the following headings:
CENTRALISED
Procedures to be followed under a direct centralised programme: Contracts are concluded directly
by the European Commission acting for the beneficiary country. It will draw up shortlists
(restricted procedures) and is responsible for issuing invitations to tender, receiving tenders,
chairing tender Evaluation Committees, deciding on the results of tender procedures and signing
the contracts.
Procedures to be followed under an indirect centralised programme: Contracts are concluded by a
delegate body which is entrusted to carry out implementation tasks. These tasks may include
preparation, implementation and finalisation of contract procedures, and management of
corresponding expenditure.
DECENTRALISED: EX-ANTE
Procedures to be followed under a decentralised programme with ex-ante controls: Contracts are
concluded by the Contracting Authority designated in a financing agreement, i.e. the government or
an entity of the beneficiary country with legal personality with which the European Commission
establishes the financing agreement.
The Contracting Authority will draw up shortlists (restricted procedures). Before the procedure is
launched, the Contracting Authority must submit tender dossiers to the European Commission for
approval. On the basis of decisions thus approved, the Contracting Authority is responsible for
issuing invitations to tender, receiving tenders, chairing tender Evaluation Committees and
deciding on the results of tender procedures.
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The Contracting Authority then submits the result of the evaluation for approval and at a second
step, after having notified the contractor, received and analysed the proofs regarding exclusion and
selection criteria (optional for Budget for contracts below international thresholds, see points 2.3.3
and 2.4.11.1.1) the contract award proposal to the European Commission for endorsement. No
endorsement by the Delegation is however required in certain cases contemplated in the Practical
Guide for Programme Estimates. Once it has received this endorsement, it signs and awards the
contracts. As a general rule, the European Commission will be represented when tenders are
opened and evaluated and must always be invited. The Contracting Authority must submit
procurement notices and award notices to the European Commission for publication.
Under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), a phased waiver of different types of ex-
ante control may apply.
DECENTRALISED: EX-POST
Procedures to be followed under a decentralised programme with ex-post controls: Contracts are
concluded directly by the Contracting Authority designated in a financing agreement, i.e. the
government or an entity of the beneficiary country with legal personality with which the European
Commission establishes the financing agreement. The Contracting Authority will draw up shortlists
(restricted procedures) and is responsible for issuing invitations to tender, receiving tenders,
chairing tender Evaluation Committees, deciding on the results of tender procedures and signing
the contracts without the prior approval of the European Commission. The Contracting Authority
must submit procurement notices and award notices to the European Commission for publication.
2.3. Eligibility criteria and other essentials
2.3.1. The rule on nationality and origin

BUDGET
Nationality
Access to EU external assistance is defined in the basic acts regulating such assistance, in
conjunction with the Financial Regulation. The corresponding rules on nationality and origin are
listed in Annex A2 to this Practical Guide per basic act.
Without prejudice to the specificity of each basic act which contains the eligibility provisions
applying to the instrument, participation in the procurement and grant procedures is normally open
on equal terms to all natural and legal persons from:
a) a Member State of the European Union;
b) a Member State of the European Economic Area;
c) an official candidate country/a country that is a beneficiary of the Instrument for Pre-Accession
Assistance;
d) a country that is directly beneficiary of the aid implemented through the corresponding basic
act;
e) in the case of procurement and grants financed under a thematic programme, a developing
country as specified by the OECD Development Assistance Committee annexed to the
instrument;
f) an international organisation;
g) those countries that are beneficiaries of a decision establishing reciprocal access to external aid;
h) as the case may be, another third country (see point 2.3.2).
2008 Page 12 of 137

Origin
All supplies and materials purchased under a contract financed under an EU instrument must
originate from the EU or from an eligible country (see above ‘nationality’ and below ‘exceptions to
the rule on nationality and origin’).
The term origin is defined in the relevant EU legislation on rules of origin for customs purposes.
EDF
Nationality
-1/ participation in procedures for the awarding of procurement contracts financed from the Fund
shall be open to all natural and legal persons from ACP States and all Member States of the
European Union;4
-2/ participation in procedures for the awarding of procurement contracts financed from the Fund
shall be open to international organisations;
-3/ whenever the Fund finances an operation implemented through an international organisation,
participation in procedures for the awarding of procurement contracts shall be open to all
natural and legal persons who are eligible under point 1, and to all natural and legal persons
who are eligible according to the rules of the organisation, care being taken to ensure equal
treatment of all donors. The same rules apply for supplies and materials;
-4/ whenever the Fund finances an operation implemented as part of a regional initiative,
participation in procedures for the awarding of procurement contracts shall be open to all
natural and legal persons who are eligible under point 1, and to all natural and legal persons
from a country participating in the relevant initiative. The same rules apply for supplies and
materials;
-5/ whenever the Fund finances an operation co-financed with a third State, participation in
procedures for the awarding of procurement contracts shall be open to all natural and legal
persons eligible under point 1, and to all persons eligible under the rules of the above
mentioned third State. The same rules apply for supplies and materials.
Origin
Supplies and materials purchased under a procurement contract financed from the EDF must
originate in a State that is eligible under point 1, Nationality. In this context, the definition of the
concept of "originating products" is assessed by reference to the relevant international agreements5
and supplies originating in the EU include supplies originating in the Overseas Countries and
Territories.
Nationality: For the purposes of verifying compliance with the nationality rule, the tender dossier
requires tenderers to state the country of which they are nationals by presenting the documents
usual under that country's law.
If the Contracting Authority suspects that a candidate/tenderer has only a registered office in an
eligible country or state and that the nationality of the candidate/tenderer is ineligible, the
candidate/tenderer is responsible for demonstrating effective and continuous links with that
country's economy. This is to avoid awarding contracts to firms whose nationalities are ineligible
but which have set up 'letter box' companies in an eligible country to circumvent the rules on
nationality.
Origin: A product can not originate in a country in which no production process has taken place.
On the other hand, the country of production is not necessarily the country of origin but only when
4
Natural persons, companies or firms or public or semi-public agencies of the ACP States and the Member
States; cooperative societies and other legal persons governed by public or private law, of the Member
States and/or the ACP States; joint ventures and groupings of companies or firms of ACP States and/or of a
Member State. See Annex A2 for the list of countries.
5
Especially Protocol 1 to Annex V to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement.
2008 Page 13 of 137
the relevant provisions of Council Regulation (EEC) 2913/92 and its implementing regulation are
fulfilled.
Furthermore, the country of origin is not necessarily the country from which the goods have been
shipped and supplied. Where there is only one country of production, the origin of the finished
product is easily established. However, in cases where more than one country is involved in the
production of goods it is necessary to determine which of those countries confers origin on the
finished goods. The country of origin is deemed to be the country in which the goods have
undergone their last, economically justified, substantial transformation and the provisions of
Article 24 of the Community Customs Code must therefore be applied on a case by case basis to
those goods. If the last substantial transformation has not taken place in a Member State of the
European Union or one of the eligible recipient countries, the goods cannot be tendered for the
project.
The supplier must certify that the goods tendered comply with the origin requirement specifying
the country or countries of origin. When tendering for systems comprising more than one item, the
origin of each item in the system must be specified. If requested to do so, the supplier must provide
any additional information and/or a certificate of origin in support of the origin claimed in the
tender.
The rule of origin applies to all items tendered and supplied. Therefore, it is insufficient that only a
certain percentage of the goods tendered and supplied or a certain percentage of the total tender and
contract value comply with this requirement.
Where the provision of a Certificate of Origin is not possible (in many countries these are only
issued against presentation to the Chamber of Commerce of commercial invoices), the tenderer can
in these cases submit its own declaration.
The official Certificates of Origin must then be submitted before provisional acceptance. Failing
this, the Contracting Authority cannot release any funds to the contractor.
Certificates of origin must be made out by the competent authorities of the supplies' or supplier's
country of origin and comply with the international agreements to which that country is a signatory.
It is up to the Contracting Authority to check that there is a certificate of origin. Where there are
serious doubts about the authenticity of a certificate of origin (e.g. because of incoherence in the
document, spelling errors etc), the Contracting Authority should contact the emitting Chamber of
Commerce and request confirmation of the authenticity of the submitted documents. Where the
Contracting Authority has identified a high level of risk, such ad hoc verifications should be
complemented by a verification of certificates on a sample basis.
Experts: Unless otherwise foreseen in the basic act and/or the Financing Agreements, experts
engaged by tenderers may be of any nationality.
2.3.2. Exceptions to the rule on nationality and origin

Exceptions to the rule on nationality and origin may be made in some cases. The award of such
derogation is decided on a case-by-case basis by the Commission before the procedure is launched.
If the award of contract is preceded by a tender procedure, the derogation must be mentioned in the
procurement notice.
BUDGET
Without prejudice to the specificity of each basic act which foresees, as the case may be,
exceptions to the rule on nationality and origin, the European Commission may, in duly
substantiated cases:
- extend eligibility to natural and legal persons from a country not eligible.
- allow the purchase of supplies and materials originating from a country not eligible.
2008 Page 14 of 137

Derogations may be justified on the basis of the unavailability of products and services in the
markets of the countries concerned, for reasons of extreme urgency, or if the eligibility rules would
make the realisation of a project, a programme or an action impossible or exceedingly difficult.
Note, however, that the argument that a product of ineligible origin is cheaper than the EU or local
product would not alone constitute grounds for awarding derogation.
Where an agreement on widening the market for procurement of goods, works or services to which
the EU is party applies, the contracts for procurement financed by the budget are also open to third-
country nationals other than those referred to in the previous two paragraphs, under the conditions
laid down in this agreement.
EDF
In exceptional duly substantiated circumstances, natural or legal persons from third countries not
eligible in accordance with the rule of origin may be authorised to participate in procedures for the
awarding of procurement contracts financed by the EU at the justified request of the ACP States
concerned. The ACP States concerned shall, on each occasion, provide the European Commission
with the information needed to decide on such derogation, with particular attention being given to:
(a) the geographical location of the ACP State concerned;
(b) the competitiveness of contractors, suppliers and consultants from the Member States and the
ACP States;
(c) the need to avoid excessive increases in the cost of performance of the contract;
(d) transport difficulties or delays due to delivery times or other similar problems;
(e) technology that is the most appropriate and best suited to local conditions;
(f) cases of extreme urgency;
(g) the availability of products and services in the relevant markets.
Moreover, during the execution of operations and subject to the requirement to inform the Head of
Delegation, the Contracting Authority may decide on:
- purchases of goods, irrespective of their origin, on the local market up to the superior threshold
of the competitive negotiated procedure, i.e. 60.000 € .
- use of construction equipment and machinery not originating in the Member States or ACP States
provided there is no production of comparable equipment and machinery in the EU and the ACP
States.
2.3.3. Grounds for exclusion

Candidates or tenderers will be excluded from participation in procurement procedures if:
a) they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have
entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are the subject
of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a
similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;
b) they have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment
which has the force of res judicata; (i.e. against which no appeal is possible);
c) they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the
Contracting Authority can justify;
d) they have not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the
payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are
established or with those of the country of the Contracting Authority or those of the country
where the contract is to be performed;
2008 Page 15 of 137

e) they have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud,
corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or any other illegal activity detrimental to
the EU's financial interests;
f) they are currently subject to an administrative penalty referred to in Article 96(1) of the
Financial Regulation (BUDGET)/ Article 99 of the Financial Regulation (10th EDF).
Points (a) to (d) shall not apply in the case of purchase of supplies on particularly advantageous
terms from either a supplier which is definitively winding up its business activities, or the receivers
or liquidators of a bankruptcy, through an arrangement with creditors, or through a similar
procedure under national law.
The cases referred to in point (e) applicable are the following:
1) cases of fraud as referred to in Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European
Communities' financial interests drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995;6
2) cases of corruption as referred to in Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption
involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European
Union, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997;7
3) cases of participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2(1) of Joint Action
98/733/JHA of the Council;8
4) cases of money laundering as defined in Article 1 of Council Directive 91/308/EEC.9
The Contracting Authority will accept, as satisfactory evidence that the candidate or tenderer is not
in one of the situations described in (a), (b) or (e) production of a recent extract from the judicial
record or, failing that, a recent equivalent document issued by a judicial or administrative authority
in the country of origin or provenance showing that those requirements are satisfied. The
Contracting Authority shall accept, as satisfactory evidence that the candidate or tenderer is not in
the situation described in (d), a recent certificate issued by the competent authority of the State
concerned. Where no such document or certificate is issued in the country concerned10 and for the
other cases of exclusion listed above, it may be replaced by a sworn/solemn statement made by the
interested party before a judicial or administrative authority, a notary or a qualified professional
body in its country of origin or provenance.
The Contracting Authority should take into account that, as a rule, the exclusion criteria are related
to the legal entity/ natural person who acts as a candidate or tenderer and not to its representatives
in case of legal entities. However, depending on the national legislation of the country in which the
tenderer or candidate is established and where considered necessary by the Contracting Authority
or where the Contracting Authority has doubts concerning the personal situation, the above
documents may also relate to the natural persons including company directors or any person with
powers of representation, decision-making or control in relation to the candidate or tenderer.
Whenever one candidate or tenderer, due to its nature (for instance, national public administrations
and international organisations), cannot fall into some of the categories above and/or cannot
provide the documents indicated above, a simple declaration explaining their situation will suffice.
6
OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p.48.
7 OJ C 195, 25.6.1997, p. 1.
8 OJ L 351, 29.12.1998, p. 1. Joint Action of 21 December 1998 making it a criminal offence to participate
in a criminal organisation in the Member States of the European Union.
9 OJ L 166, 28.6.1991, p. 77. Directive of 10 June 1991, as amended by Directive 2001/97/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 4 December 2001 (OJ L 344, 28.12.2001, p.76).
10Information on the certificates that the Member States have reported, regarding which types of proof
documents are issued/acceptable in each of the Member States, is available on the following website of DG
Internal Market: Certificates issued on the eligibility of tenderers and official lists of economic operators -
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/2004_18/index_en.htm. Please note that this list is
indicative.
2008 Page 16 of 137
Candidates and tenderers, except those in a second step of a restricted service tender or competitive
dialogue, must sign their applications including the declaration that they do not fall into any of the
categories cited above.
Depending on its risks assessment, the contracting authority may refrain from requiring the above-
mentioned declaration that the candidates or tenderers are not in one of the situations of exclusions
for contracts with a value equal to or less than € 10,000.
Depending on its risks assessment, the contracting authority may refrain from requiring the
abovementioned declaration that a grant applicant is not in one of the situations of exclusions for
contracts with a value equal to or less than € 5,000.
Tenderers who have been notified the award of a contract following an open procedure must supply
the proof usual under the law of the country in which they are established that they do not fall into
the categories listed above. In restricted procedures, the supporting documents must be sent
together with the tender. The date on the evidence or documents provided must be no earlier than 1
year before the date of submission of the tender. Tenderers must, in addition, provide a statement
that their situation has not altered in the period that has elapsed since the evidence in question was
drawn up. If the supporting documents are not written in one of the official languages of the
European Union, a translation into the language of the procedure must be attached. Where the
documents are in an official language of the European Union other than the one of the procedure
they have to be accepted. It is however strongly recommended to provide a translation into the
language of the procedure, in order to facilitate the evaluation of the documents.
The required proof documents shall be submitted by the tenderer and their consortium members.
The documents may be originals or copies. The original documents shall be available upon request
by the Contracting Authority.
If sub-contractors are used, they may not be in any of the exclusion situations either.
Whenever requested by the Contracting Authority, the successful tenderer/contractor shall submit a
declaration from the intended subcontractor that it is not in one of the exclusion situations. In case
of doubt on this declaration of honour, the Contracting Authority shall request the documentary
evidence as mentioned above.
For the shortlisted candidates in a restricted procedure and for the competitive dialogue the
evidence documents for the exclusion criteria are submitted by all the tenderers at the tender phase.
For contracts with a value less than the international thresholds (service < € 200.000, supply <
€ 150.000, works < € 5.000.000) the Contracting Authority may waive this obligation,
depending on its risk assessment. When this obligation has been waived, the Contracting Authority
may nevertheless, where it has doubts as to whether the tenderer to whom the contract is to be
awarded is in one of the situations of exclusion, require him/her to provide the evidence.
The contracting authority may also waive the obligation of any candidate or tenderer to submit the
documentary evidence referred to above if such evidence has already been submitted to it for the
purposes of another procurement procedure and provided that the issuing date of the documents
does not exceed one year and that they are still valid. In such a case, the candidate or tenderer shall
declare on his/her honour that the documentary evidence has already been provided in a previous
procurement procedure and confirm that no changes in his/her situation have occurred.
The decentralised Contracting Authorities can, if necessary, consult the relevant services of the
European Commission in order to appreciate the situation of the candidates or tenders.
Contracts may not be awarded to candidates, applicants or tenderers who, during the procurement
procedure:
a) are subject to a conflict of interest;
b) are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the Contracting
Authority as a condition of participation in the contract procedure or fail to supply this
information;
c) find themselves in one of the situations of exclusion for this procurement procedure.
2008 Page 17 of 137

At the latest before taking the award or grant decision, the Contracting Authority shall ensure that
there is not a detection of the third party (i.e. an applicant, candidate or tenderer, including
partners) concerned in the Early Warning System (W5)11. However, where the Contracting
Authority limits the number of candidates invited to submit a tender or full proposal, e.g. in a
restricted procedure, such checks shall be conducted before the selection of candidates has been
completed.
2.3.4. Administrative and financial penalties

Without prejudice to the application of penalties laid down in the contract, candidates or tenderers
and contractors who have made false declarations, have made substantial errors or committed
irregularities and fraud, or have been found in serious breach of their contractual obligations may
be excluded from all contracts and grants financed by the EU budget/EDF for a maximum of five
years from the date on which the infringement is established, as confirmed following an adversarial
procedure with the contractor. That period may be extended to 10 years in the event of a repeated
offence within five years of the above-mentioned date.
Tenderers or candidates who have made false declarations, have committed substantial errors or
irregularities and fraud, may also be subject to financial penalties representing 2% to 10% of the
total estimated value of the contract being awarded. Contractors who have been found in serious
breach of their contractual obligations may be subject to financial penalties representing 2% to 10%
of the total value of the contract in question. That rate may be increased to 4% to 20% in the event
of a repeat infringement within five years of the above-mentioned.
Where the award procedure proves to have been subject to substantial errors, irregularities or fraud,
the Contracting Authority shall suspend the procedure and may take whatever measures are
necessary, including the cancellation of the procedure. Where, after the award of the contract, the
award procedure or the performance of the contract prove to have been subject to substantial errors,
irregularities or fraud, the Contracting Authority may, depending on the stage reached in the
procedure, refrain from concluding the contract or suspend performance of the contract or, where
appropriate, terminate the contract. Where such errors, irregularities or fraud are attributable to the
contractor, the Commission may in addition refuse to make payments, may recover amounts
already paid or may terminate all the contracts concluded with this contractor, in proportion to the
seriousness of the errors, irregularities or fraud.
The purpose of suspending the contract is to verify whether presumed substantial errors and
irregularities or fraud have actually occurred. If they are not confirmed, performance of the contract
will resume as soon as possible. A substantial error or irregularity is any infringement of a
provision of a contract or regulation resulting from an act or an omission which causes or might
cause a loss to the EU budget/EDF.
2.3.5. Visibility
Unless otherwise requested or agreed by the European Commission, contractors for services,
supplies, works or grant beneficiaries, as well as entities managing funds on behalf of the
Commission (delegated cooperation), must take the necessary measures to ensure the visibility of
the EU financing or co-financing. Such measures must be in accordance with the applicable rules
on the visibility of external action laid down and published by the Commission. These rules are set
out in the Communication and Visibility Manual for EU External Actions available from the
EuropeAid website at: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/visibility/index_en.htm
11
C(2004) 193/3 of 03.02.2004, as last amended by the 2007 internal rules
(http://www.cc.cec/budg/i/earlywarn/imp-110-060_decision_en.html)
2008 Page 18 of 137
2.3.6. Other essential points
Conflict of interest12: Any firm or expert participating in the preparation of a project must be
excluded from participating in tenders based on this preparatory work, unless they can prove to the
Contracting Authority that the involvement in previous stages of the project does not constitute
unfair competition.
Awarding principles: All contract awards, partially or totally financed by the EU Budget and EDF,
must respect the principles of transparency, proportionality, equal treatment and non-
discrimination.
No retroactive awards: Contracts are considered to take effect from the date of signature of the last
signatory. Contracts or contract addenda cannot be awarded retroactively (i.e. after the end of the
execution period) under any circumstances. This means that no disbursements can be effected and
no goods and services provided prior to the signature of the contract and/or addendum.
All contracts must show the true dates of signature of the contracting parties.
Use of standard documents: Standard contracts and document formats must be used.
Record keeping: Subject to the Contracting Authority’s policy on access to documents, written
records of the entire tender/call for proposals procedure must be kept confidential and retained by
the Contracting Authority in accordance with the adopted policy on archiving.
Unsuccessful proposals have to be kept for three years from the submission deadline of the call,
while unsuccessful tenders have to be kept for five years from the submission deadline of the
tender. The contractual and financial documents have to be kept for a minimum period of seven
years from payment of the balance and up to the date of the prescription of any dispute action in
regard to the law which governed the contract. During and after this period, the Contracting
Authority will treat the personal data in conformity with its privacy policy. The documents to be
conserved must include all the preparatory documents as well as the corresponding financing
agreement, the originals of all applications/tenders/proposals submitted and any related
correspondence.
Availability of funds: before initiating any procedure, the funds must be available. Calls may
exceptionally be launched with a suspensive clause after prior approval of the relevant services.
The call is then launched before the financing decision or before the signature of the financing
agreement between the European Commission and the beneficiary country. The call shall be
cancelled if the Commission decision is not taken or if the financing agreement is not signed. The
signature of the contract is not possible until the funds are available (see point 2.4.12).
Any deviation from the procedures set out in this Guide requires the prior approval of the relevant
services in accordance with internal rules, and deviations need to be announced, where applicable
and relevant, in the procurement notice and tender documents (for procurement) and guidelines (for
grants).
Environmental aspects: without prejudice to the principles governing the award of contracts and
grants, environmental matters should where possible be duly considered. This could e.g. include
more environmental-friendly terms of reference/guidelines/specifications, increased use of
electronic means, reduction in paper consumption (recto/verso prints) etc.
2.4. Procurement procedures

The basic principle governing the award of contracts is competitive tendering. The purpose is
twofold:
• to ensure the transparency of operations; and
12
Conflict of interest is when the impartial and objective exercise of the functions is compromised for
reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other
shared interest with the beneficiary.
2008 Page 19 of 137
• to obtain the desired quality of services, supplies or works at the best possible price.
There are several different procurement procedures, each allowing for a different degree of
competition.
2.4.1. Which procurement procedure to apply?

The rules for applying the standard procurement procedures explained later in this point are
summarised in the table below. They are divided between those for services (e.g., technical
assistance, studies, provision of know-how and training), supplies (i.e., equipment and materials)
and works (i.e.infrastructure and other engineering works). Once approval for an activity has been
granted by the European Commission with the adoption of a financing decision and, where
appropriate, with the relevant a financing agreement, the Contracting Authority can proceed with
tendering and contracting following these standard procedures. The thresholds given in the table
are based on the maximum budget for the contract in question (including any co-financing). Where
contracts are subdivided in lots, the value of each lot shall be taken into account when calculating
the overall threshold.
Regardless of which procedure used, the Contracting Authority must ensure that all the basic
principles are respected (including eligibility, exclusion and selection criteria).
Note that projects must not be split artificially to circumvent the procurement thresholds. Other
procedures can be applied regardless the thresholds, for instance, negotiated procedures as long as
the relevant conditions are met (see points 2.4.6, 2.4.7 and 2.4.8)
≥ € 200,000 1. < € 200,000 but > € 10,000 Framework
International restricted contracts
SERVICES tender procedure 2.Competitive negotiated procedure
< € 150,000 but ≥

≥ € 150,000 < € 60,000 but >
€ 60,000
International open tender € 10,000 Competitive
SUPPLIES Local open tender
procedure negotiated procedure
procedure ≤ € 10,000
Single tender
1.≥
€ 5,000,000 International < € 5,000,000 but ≥ < € 300,000 but>
open tender procedure € 300,000 € 10,000
WORKS Local open tender Competitive
2.International restricted procedure negotiated procedure
tender procedure
2.4.2. Open procedure

Calls for tender are open where all interested economic operators may submit a tender. The
contract is given maximum publicity through the publication of a notice in the Official Journal (S-
series) of the European Union, the official journals of all the ACP States (EDF) on the EuropeAid
website and in any other appropriate media.
Under the open procedure, any natural or legal person wishing to tender receives upon request the
tender dossier (which may have to be paid for), in accordance with the procedures laid down in the
procurement notice. When the tenders received are examined, the contract is awarded by
conducting the selection procedure (i.e., verification of the eligibility and of the financial,
economic, technical and professional capacity of tenderers) and the procurement procedure (i.e.,
comparison of tenders), in accordance with point 2.4.11. No negotiation is allowed.
2008 Page 20 of 137

2.4.3. Restricted procedure
Calls for tender are restricted where all economic operators may ask to take part but only
candidates satisfying the selection criteria may submit a tender.
Under the restricted procedure, the Contracting Authority invites a limited number of candidates to
tender. Before launching a tender procedure, it will draw up a shortlist of candidates selected as a
result of their qualifications. The selection procedure, by which the long list (all candidates
responding to the published notice) is cut down to a shortlist, involves examining responses to a
procurement notice, in which the selection criteria and a general description of the tasks to be
undertaken are set out. At the stage of the short-listing and before the shortlist is approved by the
evaluation committee, the Contracting Authority shall also ensure that there is not a detection of the
third party (i.e. the candidate including partners) concerned in the Early Warning System (W5).
In the second stage of the procedure, the Contracting Authority invites the shortlisted candidates
and sends them the tender dossier. In order to ensure fair competition, tenders must be submitted by
the same service provider or consortium which has submitted the application form on the basis of
which it was short-listed and to which the letter of the invitation to tender is addressed. No change
whatsoever in the identity or composition of the tenderer is permitted unless the Contracting
Authority has given its prior approval in writing. A situation where such approval could be given is
e.g. where a merger has taken place between a shortlisted candidate/member of a consortium with
another company and where the new company is found to meet the eligibility and exclusion criteria
and does not give raise to any conflict of interest or unfair competition.
The successful tenderer is chosen by the procurement procedure once the tenders have been
analysed (see point 2.4.11). No negotiation is allowed.
2.4.4. Competitive negotiated procedure

Under the competitive negotiated procedure, the Contracting Authority invites candidates of its
choice to submit tenders. At the end of the procedure, it selects the technically compliant tender
which offers the best value for money in case of service tenders and the cheapest compliant offer in
case of supplies or works tenders. See points 3.4.2, 4.5 and 5.6 for further details.
2.4.5. Framework contracts

A framework contract is an agreement between one or more contracting authorities and one or
more economic operators the purpose of which is to establish the terms governing specific
contracts which may be awarded during a given period, particularly as regards the duration,
subject, price, implementation rules and the quantities envisaged.
The framework contracts established with several economic operators are called multiple
framework contracts, which take the form of separate contracts but concluded in identical terms.
The minimum as well as the maximum number of operators which the contracting authority intends
to conclude contracts with must be indicated in the specification. The minimum number of
economic operators may not be inferior to three.
The duration of such contracts may not exceed four years, save in exceptional cases justified in
particular by the subject of the framework contract. Contracting Authorities may not make undue
use of framework contracts or use them in such a way that the purpose or effect is to prevent,
restrict or distort competition.
Specific contracts based on framework contracts shall be awarded in accordance with the terms of
the framework contract and shall respect the principles of transparency, proportionality, equal
treatment, non-discrimination and of sound competition.
2008 Page 21 of 137

2.4.6. Dynamic purchasing system
A dynamic purchasing system is a completely electronic process for making commonly used
purchases which is limited in duration and open throughout its validity to any economic operator
who satisfies the selection criteria and has submitted an indicative tender that is found compliant.
No specific threshold applies.
For each individual contract, the Contracting Authority publishes a contract notice and invites all of
the contractors admitted to the system in accordance with the above paragraph. The contract shall
be awarded to the technically compliant tender being most economically advantageous. The sole
award criterion is the best value for money.
See point 4.2.4.2 for further details. The legal framework of this procedure is defined for future
use, but the IT tools (confidentiality, security) to make it possible are not yet available in the
Commission.
2.4.7. Competitive dialogue

In the case of particularly complex contracts, where the Contracting Authority considers that direct
use of the open procedure or the existing arrangements governing the restricted procedure will not
allow the contract to be awarded to the tender offering best value for money, it may make use of
the competitive dialogue referred to in Article 29 of Directive 2004/18/EC. A contract is
considered to be “particularly complex” where the Contracting Authority is not objectively able to
define the technical means capable of satisfying the needs or objectives or able to specify the legal
or financial makeup of the project. No specific threshold applies.
Contracting authorities shall publish a contract notice setting out their needs and requirements,
which they shall define in that notice and/or in a descriptive document. Contracting authorities
shall open a dialogue with the candidates satisfying the selection criteria announced in order to
identify and define the means best suited to satisfying their needs. The minimum number of
candidates invited to tender may not be less than 3, provided that a sufficient number of candidates
satisfy the selection criteria. Where the number of candidates meeting the selection criteria is less
than 3, the Contracting Authority may continue the procedure only with these. The Contracting
Authority may not include other economic operators who did not take part in the procedure or
candidates who do not have the required capacities since they do not meet the selection criteria.
During the dialogue, contracting authorities shall ensure the equality of treatment among all
tenderers and confidentiality of the solutions proposed or other information communicated by a
candidate participating in the dialogue unless it agrees to its disclosure. Contracting authorities may
provide for the procedure to take place in successive stages in order to reduce the number of
solutions to be discussed during the dialogue stage by applying the award criteria in the contract
notice or the descriptive document if provision is made for this possibility in the contract notice or
the descriptive document. The Contracting Authority must prepare a report justifying the manner in
which the dialogues were conducted.
After informing the participants that the dialogue is concluded, contracting authorities shall ask
them to submit their final tenders on the basis of the solution or solutions presented and specified
during the dialogue. These tenders shall contain all the elements required and necessary for the
performance of the project. At the request of the Contracting Authority, these tenders may be
clarified, specified and fine-tuned provided this does not have the effect of changing basic aspects
of the tender or of the invitation to tender, variations in which could distort competition or have a
discriminatory effect. At the request of the Contracting Authority, the tenderer identified as having
submitted the tender offering best value for money may be asked to clarify aspects of the tender or
confirm commitments contained in the tender provided this does not have the effect of modifying
substantial aspects of the tender or of the call for tenders and does not risk distorting competition or
causing discrimination.
The Contracting Authorities may specify prices or payments to the participants in the dialogue.
The contract shall be awarded to the technically compliant tender being most economically
advantageous. The sole award criterion is the best value for money.
2008 Page 22 of 137
CENTRALISED, DECENTRALISED: EX ANTE
The prior approval of the relevant services of the European Commission must be sought for the use
of the competitive dialogue.
No prior approval from the European Commission is required for the use of the competitive
dialogue.
2.4.8. Negotiated procedure

To be used in exceptional cases. See points 3.2.3.1, 4.2.4.1 and 5.2.4.1. No specific threshold
applies.
2.4.9. Fair and transparent competition

The arrangements for competitive tendering and publicising contracts for works, supplies and
services depend on the contract value. They are set out in point 2.4.1.
In the case of mixed contracts covering a combination of works, supplies or services, the
Contracting Authority determines the procurement procedure to be used (with the agreement of the
European Commission, in the case of decentralised ex-ante management). This will depend on
which of the components (works, supplies or services) prevails, an assessment which must be made
on the basis of the value and strategic importance of each component relative to the contract as a
whole.
No contract may be split simply to evade compliance with the rules set out in this Guide. If there is
any doubt about how to estimate the value of the contract, the Contracting Authority must consult
the European Commission on the matter before embarking on the procurement procedure.
Whatever the procedure used, the Contracting Authority must ensure that conditions are such as to
allow fair competition. Wherever there is an obvious and significant disparity between the prices
proposed and the services offered by a tenderer, or a significant disparity in the prices proposed by
the various tenderers (especially in cases in which publicly-owned companies, non-profit
associations or non-governmental organisations are taking part in a tender procedure alongside
private companies), the Contracting Authority must carry out checks and request any additional
information necessary. The Contracting Authority must keep such additional information
confidential.
2.4.10. Preferences (EDF only)

EDF
Measures must be taken to encourage the widest participation of the natural and legal persons of
ACP States in the performance of contracts financed by the EDF in order to permit the optimisation
of the physical and human resources of those States. To this end:
1.(a) for works contracts of a value of less than € 5 000 000, tenderers from the ACP States,
provided that at least one quarter of the capital stock and management staff originates from
one or more ACP States, shall be accorded a 10% price preference where tenders of an
equivalent economic, technical and administrative quality are compared;
(b) for supply contracts, irrespective of the value of the supplies, tenderers from the ACP States
who offer supplies of at least 50% in contract value of ACP origin, shall be accorded a 15%
price preference where tenders of equivalent economic, technical and administrative quality
are compared;
(c) in respect of service contracts, where tenders of equivalent economic and technical quality
are compared, preference shall be given to:
(i) experts, institutions or consultancy companies or firms from ACP States with the
required competence;
2008 Page 23 of 137

(ii) offers submitted by ACP firms, either individually or in a consortium with European
partners; and
(iii) offers presented by European tenderers with ACP sub-contractors or experts;
(d) where subcontracting is envisaged, preference shall be given by the successful tenderer to
natural persons, companies and firms of ACP States capable of performing the contract
required on similar terms; and
(e) the ACP State may, in the invitation to tender, offer prospective tenderers assistance from
other ACP States' companies or firms or national experts or consultants selected by mutual
agreement. This cooperation may take the form either of a joint venture, or of a subcontract
or of on-the-job training of trainees.
2. Where two tenders are acknowledged to be equivalent on the basis of the criteria stated above,
preference shall be given:
(a) to the tenderer of an ACP State; or
(b) if no such tender is forthcoming, to the tenderer who:
(i) allows for the best possible use of the physical and human resources of the ACP States;
(ii) offers the greatest subcontracting possibilities for ACP companies, firms or natural
persons; or
(iii) is a consortium of natural persons, companies and firms from ACP States and the
European Union.
NB: South African bodies cannot benefit from the preference system.
2.4.11. Selection and award criteria

Regardless of type of procedure used, the following operations are always performed:
2.4.11.1. Selection criteria
2.4.11.1.1. General principles

The Contracting Authorities will draw up clear and non-discriminatory selection criteria in every
procurement procedure for the purposes of assessing the financial, economic, technical and
professional capacity of the tenderer. Before deciding on the appropriate criteria the Contracting
Authorities have to consider which proof documents should be requested for the relevant criteria.
The Contracting Authority may lay down minimum capacity levels below which it cannot select
candidates. Any tenderer or candidate may be asked to prove that it is authorised to perform the
contract under national law, as evidenced by inclusion in a trade or professional register, or a sworn
declaration or certificate, membership of a specific organisation, express authorisation, or entry in
the VAT register.
The Contracting Authorities shall specify in the procurement notice or in the call for expressions of
interest or the invitation to submit a tender, the references chosen to test the status and the legal
capacity of tenderers or candidates. The information requested by the Contracting Authority as
proof of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of the candidate or tenderer
and the minimum capacity levels required fixed by the selection criteria may not go beyond the
subject of the contract and shall take account of the legitimate interests of the economic operators
as regards in particular the protection of the firm's technical and business secrets.
The applicants/tenderers will in the application/tender submission form be requested to submit
information in response to their economic, financial, professional and technical capacity according
to the selection criteria specified in the tender documents.
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For service and supply procedures, only successful tenderers have to supply proof documents to
support the information submitted in the application/tender submission form before the award of
the contract.
For works procedures the mentioned proofs have to be submitted in accordance with the tender
dossier.
An economic operator may, where appropriate and for a particular contract, rely on the capacities
of other entities, regardless of the legal nature of the links which it has with them. It must in that
case prove to the Contracting Authority that it will have at its disposal the resources necessary for
performance of the contract, for example by producing an undertaking on the part of those entities
to place those resources at its disposal. Such entities, for instance the parent company of the
economic operator, must respect the same rules of eligibility and notably that of nationality, as the
economic operator.
For contracts with a value less than the international thresholds (service < € 200.000, supply <
€ 150.000 and works < € 5.000.000), the Contracting Authority may, depending on its assessment
of the risks, decide not to require these proofs, but then no pre-financing shall be made unless a
financial guarantee of an equivalent amount is provided. (However, where the Contractor is a
public body, the requirement of a pre-financing guarantee in general may be waived.)
2.4.11.1.2. Verification of the eligibility of tenderers or candidates

This is done as laid down in section 2.3, "Eligibility criteria and other essentials".
2.4.11.1.3. Verification of the financial and economic capacities of tenderers or

candidates
Proof of economic and financial capacity may in particular be furnished by one or more of the
following documents:
(a) appropriate statements from banks or evidence of professional risk indemnity insurance;
(b) the presentation of balance sheets or extracts from balance sheets for at least the last two
years for which accounts have been closed, where publication of the balance sheet is
required under the company law of the country in which the economic operator is
established;
(c) a statement of overall turnover and turnover concerning the works, supplies or services
covered by the contract during a period which may be no more than the last three financial
years.
2.4.11.1.4. Verification of the technical and professional capacities of tenderers,

candidates and their managerial staff
The technical and professional capacity of economic operators must be evaluated and verified in
accordance with the following paragraph. In procurement procedures for supplies requiring
installation operations, services and/or works etc, such capacity must be assessed with particular
reference to their know-how, efficiency, experience and reliability.
Evidence of such capacity may, depending on the nature, quantity or scale and purpose of the
supplies, services or works to be provided, be furnished on the basis of one or more of the
following documents:
(a) the educational and professional qualifications of the service provider or contractor and/or
those of the firm's managerial staff and, in particular, those of the person or persons
responsible for providing the services or carrying out the works;
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(b) a list:
- of the principal services provided and supplies delivered in the past three years, with
the sums, dates and recipients, public or private. In the case of framework contracts
(without contractual value), only specific contracts corresponding to assignments
implemented under such framework contracts shall be considered. Where the services
or supplies were provided to Contracting Authorities, evidence of performance must
take the form of certificates issued or countersigned by the competent authority;
- of the works carried out in the last five years, with the sums, dates and place. The list
of the most important works must be accompanied by certificates of satisfactory
execution, specifying whether they have been carried out in a professional manner and
have been fully completed;
(c) a description of the technical equipment, tools and plant to be employed by the firm for
performing a service or works contract;
(d) a description of the technical equipment and measures employed to ensure the quality of
supplies and services, and a description of the firm's study and research facilities;
(e) an indication of the technicians or technical bodies involved, whether or not belonging
directly to the firm, especially those responsible for quality control;
(f) in respect of supplies: samples, descriptions and/or authentic photographs and/or certificates
drawn up by official quality control institutes or agencies of recognised competence attesting
the conformity of the products with the specifications or standards in force;
(g) a statement of the average annual manpower and the number of managerial staff of the
service provider or contractor in the last three years;
(h) an indication of the proportion of the contract which the service provider may intend to
subcontract. The contracting authority may also require the candidate or tenderer to submit
any information on the financial, economic, technical and professional capacities of the
envisaged subcontractor, in particular when subcontracting represents a significant part of
the contract;
(i) for public works contracts and public service contracts, and only in appropriate cases, an
indication of the environmental management measures that the economic operator will be
able to apply when performing the contract.
Where the services or products to be supplied are complex or, exceptionally, are required for a
special purpose, evidence of technical and professional capacity may be secured by means of a
check carried out by the Contracting Authority or on its behalf by a competent official body of the
country in which the service provider or supplier is established, subject to that body's agreement.
Such checks will concern the supplier's technical capacity and production capacity and, if
necessary, its study and research facilities and quality control measures. Where Contracting
Authorities require the production of certificates drawn up by independent bodies attesting the
compliance of the economic operator with certain quality assurance standards, they shall refer to
quality assurance systems based on the relevant European standards series concerning certification.
Where Contracting Authorities require the production of certificates drawn up by independent
bodies attesting the compliance of the economic operator with certain environmental management
standards, they shall refer to the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) provided for in
Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council or to environmental
management standards based on the relevant European or international standards certified by
bodies conforming to EU law or the relevant European or international standards concerning
certification. They shall recognise equivalent certificates from bodies established in other Member
States. They shall also accept other evidence of equivalent environmental management measures
from economic operators. The Contracting Authority may control the authenticity of certificates
provided by an operator.
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If the documentary evidence submitted is not written in one of the official languages of the
European Union, a translation into the language of the procedure must be attached. Where the
documents are in an official language of the European Union other than the one of the procedure, it
is however strongly recommended to provide a translation into the language of the procedure, in
order to facilitate the evaluation of the documents.
2.4.11.2. Award criteria

Contracts are awarded on the basis of award criteria established for the call for tender in one of the
following two ways:
a) under the automatic procurement procedure, in which case the contract is awarded to the
tender which, while being in order and satisfying the conditions laid down, quotes the
lowest price;
b) under the best-value-for-money procedure (i.e. the most economically advantageous
tender).
The criteria should be precise, non-discriminatory and not prejudicial to fair competition.
2.4.12. Procedure with “suspensive clause”

In duly justified cases, tender procedures may be published with a suspensive clause (i) before a
financing decision is adopted or (ii) before a financing agreement between the European
Commission and the beneficiary country is signed.
BUDGET
The use of a suspensive clause is exceptional due to the fact that the logic of the system of EU
financial rules requires the adoption of a decision by the Commission (or, where relevant,
conclusion of a financing agreement) before a call for tenders or proposals is launched. Exceptional
circumstances could arise where deviation from the normal decision-making process might be
justified. As a rule, these circumstances justifying the use of a suspensive clause are outside the
Commission's control. Note that:
- the use of the suspensive clause after the adoption of the financing decision but before the
signature of the financing agreement in most cases may be considered as being outside the
Commission's control, as the entry into force of such agreement depends of the will of a third
party (i.e. the beneficiary country);
- the use of the suspensive clause before the adoption of a financing decision requires an adequate
level of reasoning/motivation of the objective circumstances leading to the use of such clause and
the impossibility to wait for the adoption of such decision. This reasoning should be duly
reflected in the request for prior approval and/or in the relevant financing decision.
The actual award and signature of contracts following the call launched under suspensive clause is
therefore conditional to the adoption of the financing decision and/or, where applicable, the
conclusion of the financing agreement.
Because of its implications, the existence of a suspensive clause must be explicitly mentioned in
the procurement notice or the guidelines to grant applicants.
The procedure will invariably be cancelled if the European Commission's decision-making
procedure is not completed or the financing agreement is not signed.
EDF
It is reminded that the use of this clause before the adoption of the financing decision is expressly
authorised under EDF (see article 19b of Annex IV of the Cotonou Agreement) in all duly
substantiated cases in order to ensure early project start-up.
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2.4.13. Cancellation of procurement procedures
The Contracting Authority may, before the contract is signed, abandon the procurement and cancel
the procurement procedure without the candidates or tenderers being entitled to claim any
compensation. If the procedure is divided into lots, a single lot may be cancelled. Cancellation may
occur where:
- the tender procedure has been unsuccessful, i.e. no qualitatively or financially worthwhile tender
has been received or there is no response at all;
- the economic or technical data of the project have been fundamentally altered;
- exceptional circumstances or force majeure render normal performance of the contract
impossible;
- all technically compliant tenders exceed the financial resources available;
- there have been irregularities in the procedure, in particular where these have prevented fair
competition.
If a procurement procedure is cancelled, all tenderers must be notified in writing and as soon as
possible of the reasons for the cancellation. A cancellation notice must be published in the event
that a tender is cancelled. See template in Annex A5.
After cancelling a tender procedure, the Contracting Authority may decide:
- to launch a new tender procedure;
- to open negotiations with one or more tenderers who participated in the tender
procedure, provided that the original terms of the contract have not been substantially
altered (this option is not available if the reason for cancellation is that there have been
irregularities in the tender procedure which may have prevented fair competition);
- not to award the contract.
Whatever the case, the final decision is taken by the Contracting Authority (with the prior
agreement of the European Commission in the case of contracts awarded by the Contracting
Authority under the ex-ante system). In no event will the Contracting Authority be liable for any
damages whatsoever including, without limitation, damages for loss of profits, in any way
connected with the cancellation of a tender even if the Contracting Authority has been advised of
the possibility of damages. The publication of a procurement notice does not commit the
Contracting Authority to implement the programme or project announced.
CENTRALISED
The responsibility for cancelling a tender procedure lies with the relevant services of the European
Commission.
The responsibility for cancelling a tender procedure lies with the Contracting Authority, with the
prior approval of the European Commission.
The responsibility for cancelling a tender lies with the Contracting Authority. No prior approval
from the European Commission is required.
2.4.14. Ethics clauses

Any attempt by a candidate, applicant or tenderer to obtain confidential information, enter into
unlawful agreements with competitors or influence the committee or the Contracting Authority
during the process of examining, clarifying, evaluating and comparing tenders and applications will
lead to the rejection of its candidacy, proposal or tender.
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Without the Contracting Authority's written authorisation, a contractor and its staff or any other
company with which the contractor is associated or linked may not, even on an ancillary or
subcontracting basis, supply other services, carry out works or supply equipment for the project.
This prohibition also applies to any other programmes or projects that could, owing to the nature of
the contract, give rise to a conflict of interest on the part of the contractor or grant beneficiary.
When putting forward a candidacy or tender, the candidate or tenderer must declare that it is
affected by no potential conflict of interest and that it has no equivalent relation in that respect with
other tenderers or parties involved in the project. Should such a situation arise during performance
of the contract, the contractor must immediately inform the Contracting Authority.
Civil servants or other officials of the public administration of the beneficiary country, regardless
of their administrative situation, must not be engaged as experts by tenderers unless the prior
approval of the European Commission has been obtained.
The contractor must at all time act impartially and as a faithful adviser in accordance with the code
of conduct of its profession. It must refrain from making public statements about the project or
services without the Contracting Authority's prior approval. It may not commit the Contracting
Authority in any way without its prior written consent.
For the duration of the contract, the contractor and its staff must respect human rights and
undertake not to offend the political, cultural and religious mores of the beneficiary state. In
particular and in accordance with the legal basic act concerned, tenderers who have been awarded
contracts shall respect core labour standards as defined in the relevant International Labour
Organisation conventions (such as the Conventions on freedom of association and collective
bargaining; Elimination of forced and compulsory labour; Elimination of forced and compulsory
labour; Abolition of child labour).
The contractor may accept no payment connected with the contract other than that provided for
therein. The contractor and its staff must not exercise any activity or receive any advantage
inconsistent with their obligations to the Contracting Authority.
The contractor and its staff are bound to maintain professional secrecy for the entire duration of the
contract and after its completion. All reports and documents drawn up or received by the contractor
during the performance of the contract are confidential.
The contract governs the contracting parties' use of all reports and documents drawn up, received
or presented by them during the performance of the contract.
The contractor must refrain from any relationship likely to compromise its independence or that of
its staff. If the contractor ceases to be independent, the Contracting Authority may, regardless of
injury, terminate the contract without further notice and without the contractor having any claim to
compensation.
The Commission reserves the right to suspend or cancel project financing if corrupt practices of
any kind are discovered at any stage of the award process and if the Contracting Authority fails to
take all appropriate measures to remedy the situation. For the purposes of this provision, "corrupt
practices" are the offer of a bribe, gift, gratuity or commission to any person as an inducement or
reward for performing or refraining from any act relating to the award of a contract or
implementation of a contract already concluded with the Contracting Authority.
More specifically, all tender dossiers and contracts for works, supplies and services must include a
clause stipulating that tenders will be rejected or contracts terminated if it emerges that the award
or execution of a contract has given rise to unusual commercial expenses.
Such unusual commercial expenses are commissions not mentioned in the main contract or not
stemming from a properly concluded contract referring to the main contract, commissions not paid
in return for any actual and legitimate service, commissions remitted to a tax haven, commissions
paid to a recipient who is not clearly identified or commissions paid to a company which has every
appearance of being a front company.
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The contractor undertakes to supply the Commission on request with all supporting documents
relating to the conditions of the contract's execution. The Commission may carry out whatever
documentary or on-the-spot checks it deems necessary to find evidence in cases of suspected
unusual commercial expenses.
Contractors found to have paid unusual commercial expenses on projects funded by the EU are
liable, depending on the seriousness of the facts observed, to have their contracts terminated or to
be permanently excluded from receiving EU funds.
Failure to comply with one or more of the ethics clauses may result in the exclusion of the
candidate, applicant, tenderer or contractor from other EU contracts and in penalties. The
individual or company/entity in question must be informed of the fact in writing.
It is the obligation of the Contracting Authority to ensure that the procurement procedure is
concluded in a transparent manner, based on objective criteria and disregarding any possible
external influences.
2.4.15. Appeals
Tenderers believing that they have been harmed by an error or irregularity during the award
process may petition the Contracting Authority directly. The Contracting Authority must reply
within 90 days of receipt of the complaint.
Where the European Commission is not the Contracting Authority and where informed of such a
complaint, it must communicate its opinion to the Contracting Authority and do all it can to
facilitate an amicable solution between the complainant (tenderer) and the Contracting Authority.
Should a Contracting Authority fail to adhere to the procurement procedures provided for in this
Practical Guide, the European Commission reserves the right to refuse to finance the contract or to
suspend, withhold or recover funding for the contracts concerned.
Where the European Commission is the Contracting Authority, the tenderer may have recourse to
procedures established under EU legislation. It is reminded the principle of administrative law by
which any interested party (the harmed tenderers in this case) may appeal an administrative
decision to the hierarchical superior of the body having adopted that decision13.
European citizens or residents, including legal entities with a registered office in the European
Union, also have the right to complain to the European Ombudsman, who investigates complaints
of maladministration by the European Union institutions.
2.5. Contract size

If appropriate, in order to achieve economies of scale, to ensure maximum co-ordination between
related activities and to keep programme administration as simple as possible, care must be taken to
design projects to allow for maximum contract size and consequently to avoid the unnecessary
fragmentation of programmes into a series of small contracts.
2.6. Terms of reference and technical specifications

The purpose of Terms of Reference (for service contracts) and Technical Specifications (for supply
and works contracts) is to give instructions and guidance to contractors at the tendering stage about
the nature of the tender they will need to submit and to serve as the contractor's mandate during
project implementation. The Terms of Reference or Technical Specifications will be included in the
Tender Dossier and will become an annex of the eventual contract awarded as a result of the tender.
13
For the EuropeAid Cooperation Office, the body superior to the Head of Delegation for contractual
decisions is the relevant geographic Director in Headquarters; for decisions adopted by a Director, the
superior is the Director-General.
2008 Page 30 of 137
The thorough preparation of the Terms of Reference or Technical Specifications is extremely
important for the ultimate success of the project. It is important to ensure that the project has been
properly conceived, that the work is carried out on schedule and that resources will not be wasted.
Therefore greater effort during project preparation will save time and money in the later stages of
the project cycle.
In particular, the budget for the standard service contract incorporates a fixed provision for
incidental expenditure (for all, actual expenses not related to fees) as well as a provision for
expenditure verification to be both determined in the tender dossier. Those provisions must
correspond to the requirements of the Terms of Reference and must be carefully estimated.
Terms of Reference, Technical specifications and budget must afford equal access for candidates
and tenderers and not have the effect of creating unjustified obstacles to competitive tendering.
They define the characteristics required of a product, service or material or work with regard to the
purpose for which they are intended by the Contracting Authority. Those characteristics include:
a) the quality levels;
b) environmental performance (e.g attention should be given that specifications, where
possible, take into consideration the latest developments on the matter);
c) design for all requirements (including accessibility for disabled people, environmental
aspects in accordance with the latest developments on the matter);
d) the levels and procedures of conformity assessment, including environmental aspects;
e) fitness for use;
f) safety or dimensions, including, for supplies, the sales name and user instructions, and, for
all contracts, terminology, symbols, testing and test methods, packaging, marking and
labelling (including environmental labelling, e.g. on energy consumption), production
procedures and methods.
It is important to ensure clarity and conciseness in drafting the Terms of Reference and Technical
Specifications. In regard to the Technical Specifications, this may not point to particular brands and
types. Furthermore it may not be too specific and therefore limiting competition.
The Terms of Reference or Technical Specifications are prepared by the Contracting Authority.
Where the Commission is the Contracting Authority, the standard practice is to consult and obtain
the approval of the beneficiary country and where appropriate of other parties involved, on the
Terms of Reference or Technical Specifications, in order to strengthen both ownership and quality.
Given the technical complexity of many contracts, the preparation of the tender dossier -
particularly the Technical Specifications/Terms of Reference - may require the assistance of one or
more external technical specialist(s). Each such specialist must sign a Declaration of Objectivity
and Confidentiality (see Annex A3).
Once the Tender Dossiers have been finalised the tender procedure should be launched as soon as
possible. The Terms of Reference or Technical Specifications contained in a tender dossier - the
basis for the project work-plan - must reflect the situation at the time of project start-up so as to
avoid considerable effort having to be spent re-designing the project during the inception period.
The general structure of Terms of Reference for services has been drawn up in accordance with the
principles of project cycle management. The aim is to ensure that all issues are covered
systematically and that key factors related to clarity of objectives and sustainability are thoroughly
examined.
Annex B8 contains a skeleton Terms of Reference which indicates the minimum details to be
provided within each of these section headings.
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2.7. Procedural rules on conciliation and arbitration
EDF
Disputes relating to a contract financed by the EDF which, pursuant to the provisions of the
General Conditions and the Special Conditions governing the contract, may be settled by
conciliation or by arbitration, are to be settled in accordance with the procedural rules for the said
contracts set out in Annex V to Decision No 3/90 of the ACP-EEC Council of Ministers of
29 March 1990 adopting the general regulations, the general conditions and the rules governing the
conciliation and arbitration procedure for works, supply and service contracts financed under the
EDF. These rules can be found in Annex A12.
BUDGET
The rules on dispute settlements are provided for in the General Conditions of the relevant
contractual models (Articles 40 of the General Conditions of service and supply contracts and 65 of
work contracts)
2.8. The Evaluation Committee
2.8.1. Composition
Tenders are opened and evaluated by an Evaluation Committee appointed timely and formally by
the Contracting Authority comprising a non-voting Chairperson, a non-voting Secretary and an odd
number of voting members (minimum of three for service and supply tenders and minimum of five
for works tenders). Every member must have a reasonable command of the language in which the
tenders are submitted. The voting members must possess the technical and administrative
capacities necessary to give an informed opinion on the tenders. The identity of the evaluators
should be kept confidential.
CENTRALISED
The Evaluation Committee (i.e., the Chairperson, the Secretary and the voting members) must be
nominated on a personal basis by the relevant services and participation of eventual observers
approved. For the evaluation of call for tenders the standard practice is that at least one of the
voting members should be a representative of the beneficiary country.
The Evaluation Committee (i.e., the Chairperson, the Secretary and the other voting members)
must be nominated on a personal basis by the Contracting Authority. The composition of the
Evaluation Committee must be submitted for approval to the European Commission. The
composition of the committee is deemed approved if after 5 working days from the receipt of the
nomination, the European Commission did not formulate any objection. The European
Commission may nominate an observer to follow all or part of the proceedings of the Evaluation
Committee. The observer may be an independent expert. Prior approval must be sought from the
European Commission for the participation of other observers.
nominated on a personal basis by the relevant services and participation of eventual observers
approved.
The Evaluation Committee members should attend all meetings. Any absence must be recorded and
explained in the Evaluation Report.
All voting members of the Evaluation Committee have equal voting rights.
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2.8.2. Impartiality and confidentiality
All members of the Evaluation Committee and any observers must sign a Declaration of
Impartiality and Confidentiality (see Annex A4). Any Evaluation Committee member or observer
who has a potential conflict of interest with any tenderer or applicant must declare it and
immediately withdraw from the Evaluation Committee. He/she will be excluded from participating
further in any capacity in the evaluation meetings.
The Chairperson of the Evaluation Committee determines to what extent the evaluation process
must be restarted. Such decision must be recorded and justified in the Evaluation Report.
While the procurement procedure is under way, all contacts between the contracting authority and
candidates or tenderers must satisfy conditions ensuring transparency and equal treatment; they
may not lead to amendment of the conditions of the contract or the terms of the original tender. No
information about the examination, clarification, evaluation or decisions about the contract award
can be disclosed before the signature of the contract(s). Any attempt by a tenderer or applicant to
influence the process in any way (whether by initiating contact with members of the Evaluation
Committee or otherwise) may result in the immediate exclusion of its tender or proposal from
further consideration.
Apart from the tender opening session, the proceedings of the Evaluation Committee are conducted
in camera and are confidential for supplies and works tenders, subject to the Contracting
Authority’s policy on access to documents. For service tenders and call for proposals, the
proceedings of the Evaluation Committee, from the opening of tenders/proposals to the conclusion
of the work of the Evaluation Committee, are conducted in camera and are confidential, subject to
the Contracting Authority’s policy on access to documents.
In order to maintain the confidentiality of the proceedings, participation in the Evaluation
Committee meetings is strictly limited to the members of the Evaluation Committee designated by
the Contracting Authority and any authorised observers (including designated assessors in the case
of call for proposals).
Apart from the copies given to any assessors(s) in call for proposals, the tenders or proposals
should not leave the room/building in which the committee meetings take place before the
conclusion of the work of the Evaluation Committee. They should be kept in a safe place when not
in use.
2.8.3. Responsibilities of the Evaluation Committee members

The Chairperson is responsible for co-ordinating the evaluation process in accordance with the
procedures of the Practical Guide and for ensuring its impartiality and transparency. The voting
members of the Evaluation Committee have collective responsibility for decisions taken by the
Committee.
The Secretary to the Committee is responsible for carrying out all administrative tasks connected
with the evaluation procedure. These will include:
- circulating and collecting the Declarations of Impartiality and Confidentiality;
- keeping the minutes of all meetings of the Evaluation Committee and the relevant
records and documents;
- registering attendance at meetings and compiling the Evaluation Report and its
supporting annexes.
Any request for clarification requiring communication with the tenderers or applicants during the
evaluation process must be conducted in writing. Copies of any such communication must be
annexed to the Evaluation Report.
If a tender or proposal infringes the formal requirements, the Evaluation Committee may use its
discretion to decide whether or not it should still be considered during the rest of the evaluation
process, while ensuring the equal treatment of tenders and applicants and in accordance with the
2008 Page 33 of 137

principle of proportionality. Whatever the Evaluation Committee decides, this must be fully
recorded and justified in the Evaluation Report.
Tenders or proposals falling e.g. in the following situations should not be rejected:
- submitted in fewer number of copies than required;
- submitted with the wrong presentation (but the correct templates used);
- tenders or proposals which have not been signed or contains a scanned signature (the
signature can be requested subsequently - if not obtained, the tender must be rejected).
2.8.4. Timetable
The Evaluation Committee should be formed early enough, to ensure the availability of the
designated members (and any observer nominated by the European Commission, in the case of
decentralised ex-ante control) during the period necessary to prepare and conduct the evaluation
process. The tender evaluation should be completed as soon as possible to allow the successful
tenderer to be notified by the Contracting Authority (after all necessary approvals) within the
tender validity period specified in the tender dossier.
Authorising officers should explicitly and timely approve the Evaluation Report as soon as possible
after receiving it.
2.8.5. Period of validity

Tenderers are bound by their tenders for the period specified in the letter of invitation to tender
and/or in the tender dossier. This period should be sufficient to allow the Contracting Authority to
examine tenders, approve the contract award proposal, notify the successful tenderer and conclude
the contract. The period of validity of tenders is fixed at 90 days from the deadline for the
submission of tenders.
In exceptional cases, before the period of validity expires, the Contracting Authority may ask the
tenderers to extend the period for a specific number of days, which may not exceed 40 days.
The successful tenderer must maintain the validity of the tender for a further 60 days. The further
period of 60 days is added to the validity period irrespective of the date of notification.
2.9. Award of the contract
2.9.1. Notifying the successful tenderer

CENTRALISED, DECENTRALISED: EX-POST
Before the period of validity of tenders expires, and on the basis of the approved evaluation report,
the Contracting Authority notifies the successful tenderer in writing that its tender has been
accepted (see format of letter in Annex A8) and draws attention to any arithmetical errors which
were corrected during the evaluation process.
At the latest before taking the award or grant decision, the Contracting Authority / delegate body
has ensured that there is not a detection of the third party (i.e. applicant or tenderer including
partners) concerned in the Early Warning System (W5).
In addition to the above, the European Commission must give its formal approval of award prior to
the submission of the notification letter.
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This notification to the successful tenderer implies that the validity of the successful tender is
automatically extended for a period of 60 days. At the same time, the Contracting Authority
requests the successful tenderer i.e. to submit the evidence required by the tender dossier to
confirm the declarations made in the tender submission form within 15 days of the date of the
notification letter. The Contracting Authority must examine the evidence submitted by the
successful tenderer before sending the contract to the tenderer for signature. Where a contract is
awarded under a financing agreement which had not been concluded at the time the tender
procedure was launched, the Contracting Authority must not notify the successful tenderer before
the financing agreement has been concluded.
For the restricted procedure and the competitive dialogue, evidence documents for the exclusion
criteria are submitted by all the tenderers at the tender phase (see point 2.3.3).
For contracts with a value of less than the international thresholds (service < € 200.000, supply <
€ 150.000, works < € 5.000.000) there is no obligation to submit the above mentioned documents
(see points 2.3.3 and 2.4.11.1.1).
2.9.2. Contract preparation and signature

In preparing the contract for signature, the Contracting Authority must proceed as follows:
Prepare a contract dossier (if possible printed recto/verso) using the following structure:
a) Explanatory note using the format in Annex A6
b) Copy of the financing agreement authorising the project
c) Copy of the call announcements (contract forecast, procurement notice and shortlist),
Shortlist Report, Tender Opening Report, Evaluation Report, the Annual Work
Programme, Guidelines for Applicants, Proposal Opening and Administrative Check
Report, Evaluation Reports, the list of grants to be awarded and any other relevant
information)
d) Three originals of the proposed contract, which is based on the standard contract template
The standard contract annexes for the General conditions and Forms and other relevant documents
must be reproduced without modification in every contract. Only the Special Conditions (and
budget in the case of grants) should need to be completed by the Contracting Authority.
In the DECENTRALISED: EX-ANTE approach the Contracting Authority sends the contract
dossier to the Delegation of the European Union for endorsement. The Delegation signs all
originals of the contract for endorsement (and initials all pages of the Special Conditions) to
confirm the EU financing and sends them back to the Contracting Authority. No endorsement by
the Delegation is required in certain cases contemplated in the Practical Guide for Programme
Estimates.
- Sign and date all originals of the contract and initial all pages of the Special Conditions.
- Send the three signed originals of the contract to the successful tenderer/applicant, who must
countersign them within 30 days of receipt and
- Return two originals to the Contracting Authority together with the eventual financial
guarantee(s) required in the contract. If the successful tenderer/applicant fails to do this within
the specified deadline or indicates at any stage that it is not willing or able to sign the contract,
the tenderer/applicant cannot be awarded the contract. The contract preparation process must be
restarted from step 1 with a new contract dossier prepared using the tender which has achieved
the next highest score (provided that that tender passed the technical threshold and is within the
maximum budget available for the contract). In the case of grants, the contract will, if possible,
be offered to the highest ranking applicant on the reserve list.
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On receipt of the two signed originals from the successful tenderer/applicant, check that they
correspond strictly to those sent originally, and send one original to the financial service in
charge of payments and the other to the Project Manager.
On receipt of the two signed originals from the successful tenderer/applicant, the Contracting
Authority sends one to the Delegation of the European Union.
The Contracting authority shall verify the power of representation of the natural person who signs
the contract for the legal entity to which the contract has been awarded.
The contract takes effect on the date of the later signature. The contract cannot cover earlier
services or enter into force before this date, unless in duly substantiated exceptional cases (see
point 6.2.8).
Contracting Authorities must retain all documentation relating to the award and execution of
contract for a minimum period of seven years after payment of the balance and up to the date of the
prescription of any dispute in regard to the law which governed the contract.
During and after this period, the Contracting Authorities will treat the personal data in conformity
with their privacy policy. These documents must be made available for inspection by the European
Commission, OLAF and the Court of Auditors.
2.9.3. Publicising the award of the contract

Regardless of the type of procedure, the Contracting Authority informs candidates and tenderers of
decisions reached concerning the award of the contract as soon as possible, including the grounds
for any decision not to award a contract.
Once the contract has been signed, the Contracting Authority must prepare contract award notice
and send it to the European Commission, which publishes the results of the tender procedure in the
Official Journal, where applicable, and on the EuropeAid website and in any other appropriate
media.
The award notice shall be published for procedures where a publication of the procurement notice
has taken place or if the value of the contract is above international thresholds (service > € 200.000,
supply > € 150.000, works > € 5.000.000), unless the contract was declared secret of where the
performance of the contract must be accompanied by special security measures, or when the
protection of the essential interests of the European Union, or the beneficiary country so requires,
and where the publication of the award notice is deemed not to be appropriate.
In addition, regardless of the type of procedure, the Contracting Authority must:
- send the other tenderers a standard letter (Annexes B13, C8, and D8) within not more than 15
days from receipt of the countersigned contract;
- record all statistical information concerning the procurement procedure including the contract
value, the names of the other tenderers and the successful tenderer.
The Contracting Authority is responsible for preparing the contract award notice using the template
in Annexes B14, C9, and D9 and for submitting it for publication to the European Commission in
electronic form without delay after having received the countersigned contract from the successful
tenderer.
2.10. Modifying contracts

Contracts may need to be modified during their duration if the circumstances affecting project
implementation have changed since the initial contract was signed. Contract modifications must be
formalised through an administrative order (not applicable to grants) or an addendum to the
contract in accordance with the provisions of the General Conditions of the contract. Substantial
2008 Page 36 of 137

modifications to the contract must be made by means of an addendum. Such an addendum must be
signed by the contracting parties (and, under a decentralised ex-ante system, approved and
endorsed by the European Commission). Changes of address, changes of bank account, and
changes of auditor (in the case of grants and service contracts) may simply be notified in writing by
the contractor to the Contracting Authority, although this does not affect the right of the
Contracting Authority to oppose the contractor's/beneficiary's choice of bank account or auditor.
2.10.1. General principles

The following general principles must always be respected:
No modification to the contract may alter the award conditions prevailing at the time the contract
was awarded.
Following this logic, major changes, such as a fundamental alteration of the Terms of
Reference/Technical Specifications, cannot be made by means of an addendum or an
administrative order.
A request for contract modifications should not automatically be accepted by the Contracting
Authority. There must be justified reasons for modifying a contract. The Contracting Authority
must examine the reasons given and reject requests which have little or no substantiation.
Contracts can only be modified within the execution period of the contract. The purpose of the
addendum or administrative order must be closely connected with the nature of the project covered
by the initial contract.
Requests for contract modifications must be made (by one contracting party to the other) well in
advance to allow for the addendum to be signed by both parties before the expiry of the execution
period of the contract.
Where the modification of the contract extends activities already under way such cases are
considered as negotiated procedures (see points 3.2.3.1, 4.2.4.1, 5.2.4.1 for contract-specific details
concerning negotiated procedures and sections 3.5, 4.6, 5.7 for contract-specific details as regards
modifications of contracts).
To the extent that EU or EDF financing is sought, any modification extending the period of
implementation must be such that implementation and final payments can be completed before the
expiry of the Financing agreement under which the initial contract was financed.
2.10.2. Preparing an addendum

In preparing an addendum, the Contracting Authority must proceed as follows:
1) Use the template for an addendum (Annex B16, C12, D11, and E10):
All references in the proposed addendum to article numbers and/or annexes to be modified
must correspond to those in the initial contract.
Any addendum modifying the budget must include a replacement budget showing how the full
budget breakdown of the initial contract has been modified by this addendum (and any
previous addenda) (see Annex B17, C13, D12, and E3c).
If the budget is modified by the proposed addendum, the payment schedule must also be
modified accordingly, taking into account any payments already made in the course of the
contract.
The payment schedule must not be modified unless either the budget is being modified or the
contract is being extended.
2) Prepare a dossier comprising the following items:
a) Explanatory note (see template in Annex A6) providing a technical and financial
justification for making the modifications in the proposed addendum;
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b) Copy of the request for (or agreement to) the proposed modifications;
c) Three originals of the proposed addendum, which is based on the standard addendum
template and includes any revised annexes.
3) Sign and date all the originals of the addendum and initial all pages of the Special Conditions.
3) The Contracting Authority sends the addendum dossier to the Delegation of the European
Union for endorsement (and initials all pages of the Special Conditions) to confirm the EU
financing. No endorsement by the Delegation is required in certain cases contemplated in the
Practical Guide for Programme Estimates
4) Send the three signed originals of the addendum to the contractor, who must countersign them
within 30 days of receipt and return two originals to the Contracting Authority together with
the eventual financial guarantee required in the addendum.
5) On receipt of the two signed originals from the contractor, send one original to the financial
service in charge of payments and the other to the Project Manager.
5) On receipt of the two signed originals from the contractor, the Contracting Authority sends one
to the Delegation of the European Union.
The addendum takes effect on the date of the later signature.
2008 Page 38 of 137

3. Service contracts
3.1. Introduction
Technical and economic support in the course of cooperation policy involves recourse to outside
know-how on the basis of service contracts, most of them for studies or technical assistance.
Study contracts include studies for the identification and preparation of projects, feasibility studies,
economic and market studies, technical studies, evaluations and audits.
Study contracts generally specify an outcome, i.e., the contractor must provide a given product: the
technical and operational means by which it achieves the specified outcome are irrelevant. These
are, therefore, lump-sum (global-price) contracts and the contractor will be paid only if the
specified outcome is achieved.
Technical assistance contracts (fee-based) are used where a service provider is called on to play an
advisory role, to manage or supervise a project, or to provide the experts specified in the contract.
Technical assistance contracts are usually concluded by the beneficiary country, with which the
Commission draws up a financing agreement (decentralised management).
Technical assistance contracts often only specify the means, i.e., the contractor is responsible for
performing the tasks entrusted to it in the Terms of Reference and ensuring the quality of the
services provided. Payment for these contracts is dictated by the resources and services actually
provided. The contractor does, however, have a duty of care under the contract: it must warn the
Contracting Authority in good time of anything that might affect the proper execution of the
project.
Some service contracts may, however, combine both types, specifying both the means and the
outcome.
3.2.1. Contracts of € 200,000 or more

3.2.1.1. Restricted procedure
All service contracts worth € 200,000 or more must be awarded by restricted tender procedure
following the international publication of a contract forecast and a procurement notice as laid down
in point 3.3.1.
3.2.2. Contracts under € 200,000

Contracts of a value of under € 200,000 may be awarded either under the Framework Contract
procedure (see point 3.4.1) or, if the use of an existing framework contract is impossible or has
been unsuccessful, under a competitive negotiated procedure (see point 3.4.2) involving at least
three candidates. This does not apply to cases in which point 3.2.3.1 provides for the negotiated
procedure.
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3.2.3. Other procedures
3.2.3.1. Negotiated procedure
of the negotiated procedure.
No prior approval from the European Commission is required for the use of the negotiated
procedure.
For service contracts, Contracting Authorities may use the negotiated procedure on the basis of one
or several tenders in the following cases:
a) where, for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events which the Contracting
Authorities could not have foreseen and which can in no way be attributed to them, the time
limits for the competitive procedures (referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 91(1) of
the Financial Regulation applicable to the General Budget) cannot be met. The circumstances
invoked to justify extreme urgency must in no way be attributable to the Contracting Authority
Operations carried out in crisis situations as referred to in Article 168(2) of the implementing
rules are considered to satisfy the test of extreme urgency (see annex A11a) 14..
b) where the services are entrusted to public-sector bodies or to non-profit institutions or
associations and relate to activities of an institutional nature or designed to provide assistance
to peoples in the social field;
c) where contracts extend activities already under way; there are two scenarios for this:
complementary services not included in the main contract but which, due to unforeseen
circumstances, have become necessary to perform the contract, provided that the
complementary services are technically and economically inseparable from the main contract
without serious inconvenience for the Contracting Authority and the aggregate amount of
additional services does not exceed 50% of the value of the principal contract;
additional services consisting of the repetition of similar services entrusted to the contractor
providing these services under the initial contract, provided that a procurement notice was
published for the initial contract and that the possibility of using the negotiated procedure for
further services for the project as well as the estimated cost were clearly indicated in the
procurement notice published for the initial contract. The contract can be extended only once,
such that the value and duration of the extension do not exceed the value and duration of the
initial contract.
d) where the tender procedure has been unsuccessful, that is where no qualitatively and/or
financially worthwhile tender has been received. In such cases, after cancelling the tender
procedure, the Contracting Authority may negotiate with one or more tenderers of its choice,
from among those that took part in the tender procedure, provided that the initial conditions of
the tender procedure are not substantially altered and that the principle of fair competition is
observed;
e) where the contract concerned follows a contest and must, under the applicable rules, be
awarded to the winner of the contest or to one of the winners, in which case, all winners must
be invited to participate in the negotiations;
f) where, for technical reasons, or for reasons connected with the protection of exclusive rights,
the contract can be awarded only to a particular service provider;
14
Emergency assistance” is an additional case of negotiated procedure specific to EDF, distinct from the
extreme urgency mentioned in a), mainly for actions which are not governed by new article 19c of Annex
IV of the Cotonou Agremeent. The emergency assistance is linked to the application of article 72 and/or 73
of the Cotonou Agreement (see annex A11a).
2008 Page 40 of 137
g) where one attempt for the use of the competitive negotiated procedure has failed following the
unsuccessful use of a framework contract /unavailability of a suitable lot of the framework
contract. In this case, after cancelling the competitive negotiated procedure , the contracting
authority may negotiate with one or more tenderers of its choice, from among those that took
part in the invitation to tender, provided that the original terms of the contract are not
substantially altered;
h) for contracts declared to be secret, or for contracts whose performance must be accompanied
by special security measures or when the protection of the essential interests of the European
Union or the beneficiary country so requires.
The Contracting Authority must prepare a Negotiation Report (see template in Annex A10)
justifying the manner in which the negotiations were conducted and the basis for the contract award
decision resulting from these negotiations. The procedures given in point 3.3.12.1 and 3.3.12.2
must be followed by analogy, with the Negotiation Report being included in the contract dossier.
3.2.3.2. Competitive dialogue

In the case of particularly complex contracts where the Contracting Authority is not objectively
able to define the technical means capable of satisfying the needs or objectives or able to specify
the legal or financial make-up of the project and where it considers that direct use of a restricted
tender procedure will not allow the contract to be awarded to the tender offering best value for
money, it may make use of this procedure. The procedure should however be used with precaution,
in view of its exceptional nature.
The Contracting Authority publishes a contract notice setting out the needs and requirements. It
opens a dialogue with a minimum of 3 candidates which meet the published selection criteria. All
aspects of the tender can be discussed during the dialogue; however, the dialogue is conducted with
each tenderer individually on the basis of their proposed solutions and ideas. The Contracting
Authority has to ensure the equal treatment of tenderers as well as the confidentiality of tenders,
which means that “cherry-picking” is not allowed. See point 2.4.7 for further details.
The contract shall be awarded to the tenderer with the technically compliant tender being most
economically advantageous and the sole award criterion is the best value for money.
Considering that this is a new procedure, for the time being the standard templates should be used
and modified as required.
3.3. Restricted tenders (for contracts of € 200,000 or more)
3.3.1. Publicity
In order to ensure the widest possible participation in competitive tendering and the requisite
transparency, the Contracting Authority must publish contract forecasts and procurement notices
for all service contracts of € 200,000 or more.
3.3.1.1. Publication of individual contract forecasts

An individual contract forecast, setting out the specific characteristics of the planned tender
procedure, must be published, save in exceptional circumstances, at least 30 days before the
publication of the procurement notice.
The individual contract forecasts must give a brief indication of the subject, content and value of
the contracts concerned. (See template in Annex B1). Given that they are forecasts, the publication
of the forecasts do not bind the Contracting Authority to finance the contracts proposed, and
service providers are not expected to submit application forms at this stage.
The contract forecasts are published in the Official Journal of the European Union, on the
EuropeAid website and in any other appropriate media.
2008 Page 41 of 137

CENTRALISED, DECENTRALISED: EX-ANTE, DECENTRALISED: EX-POST
Individual contract forecasts must be submitted for publication to the relevant services of the
European Commission in electronic form using the template in Annex B1 at least 15 days before
the intended date of publication, to allow time for translation.
3.3.1.2. Publication of procurement notices

In addition to forecasts, all service contracts of € 200,000 or more must also be the subject of a
restricted procedure procurement notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union,
on the EuropeAid website (at https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-
services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome) and in any other appropriate media. A minimum of 30 days
must be allowed to elapse between the publication of the contract forecast and the procurement
notice.
The European Commission (acting on behalf of the Contracting Authority) is responsible for
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and on the EuropeAid website, while, if
the procurement notice is published locally, the Contracting Authority must arrange local
publication directly.
Procurement notices must be submitted for publication to the relevant services of the European
Commission in electronic form, using the template in Annex B2, at least 15 days before the
intended date of publication, to allow time for translation.
In addition to the above, the finalised Terms of Reference (see section 2.6) must also be submitted
to the European Commission either at this time or in advance to demonstrate that the proposed
procurement notice corresponds to the objectives of the contract.
The procurement notice must provide would-be service providers with the information they need to
determine their capacity to fulfil the contract in question.
The selection criteria identified in the procurement notice must be:
• clearly formulated, without any ambiguity
• easy to verify on the basis of the information submitted using the standard application form
(see Annex B3)
• devised to allow a clear YES/NO assessment to be made as to whether or not the candidate
satisfies a particular selection criterion
• possible to prove by the tenderer.
The criteria specified in the annexes to this guide are given by way of illustration and should be
adapted to the nature, cost and complexity of the contract.
The time allowed for candidates to submit their applications must be sufficient to permit proper
competition. The minimum deadline for submitting applications is 30 days from the date of the
notice's publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and on the EuropeAid website.
The actual deadline will be determined by the contract's size and complexity.
If the procurement notice is also published locally by the Contracting Authority, it must be
identical to the procurement notice published by the European Commission in the Official Journal
and on the EuropeAid website and must appear at the same time.
2008 Page 42 of 137

The procurement notice should be clear enough to avoid candidates from having to request
additional information during the procedure. If the Contracting Authority, either on its own
initiative or in response to the request of a candidate amends information in the procurement notice,
a corrigendum setting out eventual changes must be published as explained above, taking into
account that international notices must be submitted for publication to the relevant service of the
European Commission at least 15 days before the intended date of publication. The deadline for the
submission of applications may be extended to allow candidates to take into account the changes.
If information in the procurement notice needs to be clarified, this can also be published on the
EuropeAid Webpage.
3.3.2. Establishment of shortlists

The short-listing of candidates must be carried out by an Evaluation Committee appointed by the
Contracting Authority comprising a non-voting Chairperson, a non-voting Secretary and an odd
number of voting members (minimum of three) possessing the technical and administrative
capacities necessary to give an informed opinion on the applications. Each member must have a
reasonable command of the language in which the applications are submitted. All members of the
Evaluation Committee are obliged to sign a Declaration of Impartiality and Confidentiality (see
Annex A4). For responsibilities of the Evaluation Committee members, see 2.8.3.
CENTRALISED
nominated on a personal basis by the relevant services of the European Commission. The standard
practice is that at least one of the voting members should be a representative of the beneficiary
country.
nominated on a personal basis by the Contracting Authority. The composition of theEvaluation
Committee must be submitted for approval to the European Commission. The composition of the
committee is deemed approved if after 5 working days; the European Commission did not
formulate any objection. As a general rule, the European Commission nominates an observer to
follow all or part of the proceedings of the Evaluation Committee. Prior approval must be sought
from the European Commission for the participation of other observers.
nominated on a personal basis by the Contracting Authority.
The selection procedure involves:
- establishing a long list (see template in Annex B4) summarising all the applications received;
- eliminating candidates who are ineligible (see point 2.3.1) or fall into one of the situations
described in points 2.3.3 and 2.3.5;
- applying the published selection criteria without modification
For the supply of supporting documents for exclusion and selection criteria, see point 2.3.3 and
2.4.11.1.1.
After examination of the responses to the procurement notice, the service providers offering the
best guarantees for the satisfactory performance of the contract will be short-listed.
The shortlist shall contain between four and eight candidates. If the number of eligible candidates
meeting the selection criteria is greater than eight, the additional criteria published in the
procurement notice will be applied in order to reduce the number of eligible candidates to eight.
If the number of eligible candidates meeting the selection criteria is less than the minimum of four,
the Contracting Authority may invite to submit a tender only those candidates who satisfy the
criteria to submit a tender.
2008 Page 43 of 137

The prior approval of the relevant services of the European Commission must be sought before
inviting less than four candidates.
No prior approval from the European Commission is required.
The short-listing process and the final shortlist itself must be fully documented in a Shortlist Report
(see template in Annex B5).
At the stage of the short-listing and before the shortlist is approved by the Evaluation Committee,
the Contracting Authority shall also ensure that there is not a detection of the third party (i.e. a
candidate including partners) concerned in the Early Warning System (W5).
The shortlist report is signed by the Chairperson, the Secretary and all voting members of the
Evaluation Committee
CENTRALISED
The shortlist report must be submitted for approval to the relevant services of the European
Commission, which must decide whether or not to accept its recommendations.
The shortlist report must be submitted for approval to the relevant services of the Contracting
Authority, which must decide whether or not to accept its recommendations. The Contracting
Authority must then submit the Shortlist Report together with its recommendation to the European
Commission for approval.
If the European Commission does not accept the recommendation of the Contracting Authority, it
must write to the Contracting Authority stating the reasons for its decision.
No prior approval from the European Commission is required before the Contracting Authority acts
on the recommendations of the Evaluation Committee.
Candidates not selected will be informed of that fact by the Contracting Authority by means of a
standard letter, the format of which is given in Annex B7. Candidates who are selected will receive
a letter of invitation to tender and the tender dossier (see template in Annex B8). At the same time,
the final shortlist must be published on the EuropeAid website.
The Contracting Authority is responsible for preparing the shortlist notice using the template in
Annex B6 and for submitting it in electronic form to the European Commission for publication on
the EuropeAid website at the time of tender launch.
3.3.3. Drafting and contents of the tender dossier

It is vital that tender documents be carefully drafted not only for the proper execution of the
contract but also for the sound functioning of the procurement procedure.
These documents must contain all the provisions and information that candidates invited to tender
need to present their tenders: the procedures to follow, the documents to provide, cases of non-
compliance, award criteria and their weightings, stipulations regarding subcontracting, etc. It may
be desirable for representatives of the final beneficiaries to participate in the tender preparation at
an early stage. See section 2.6 for guidelines for preparing Terms of Reference. Given the technical
complexity of many contracts, the preparation of the tender dossier may require the assistance of
one or more external technical specialist(s). Each such specialist must sign a Declaration of
Objectivity and Confidentiality (see Annex A3).
The Contracting Authority is responsible for drawing up these documents.
2008 Page 44 of 137

CENTRALISED
The tender dossier must be approved by the relevant services of the European Commission prior to
issue. The standard practice is to consult and obtain the approval of the beneficiary country, and
where appropriate of other parties involved, on the tender dossier.
The Contracting Authority must submit the tender dossier to the Delegation of the European Union
for approval prior to issue.
No prior approval of the tender dossier by the European Commission is required.
TENDER DOSSIER CONTENT
In accordance with Annex B8
A. Instructions to tenderers
B. Draft Contract Agreement and Special Conditions with annexes
C. Other information (Shortlist notice, Administrative compliance grid, Evaluation grid)
D. Tender submission form
The tender dossier must clearly state whether or not the tender must be made with firm, non-
revisable prices. The prices should normally be fixed and not subject to revision, but in specific
cases a price revision clause might be justified. If that is the case, the tender dossier must lay down
the conditions and/or formulae for revision of prices in the course of the contract. The Contracting
Authority must then take particular account of:
a) the nature of the contract and the economic situation in which it is taking place;
b) the nature and duration of the tasks and of the contract;
c) its financial interests.
A guarantee will be required to cover any pre-financing payment exceeding € 150,000. However,
where the contractor is a public body, the responsible authorising officer may, depending on his/her
risk assessment, waive that obligation. The guarantee will be released in one go at the very latest by
the time 80% of the amount of the contract have been paid for fee-based contracts. For global price
contracts, the financial guarantee must remain in force until the final payment has been made
3.3.4. Award criteria

The contract award criteria serve to identify the best value for money. These criteria cover both the
technical quality and price of the tender.
The technical criteria allow the quality of technical offers to be assessed. The two main types of
technical criteria are the methodology and the curriculum vitae (CV) of the key experts proposed.
The technical criteria may be divided into sub criteria. The methodology, for example, may be
examined in the light of the Terms of Reference, the optimum use of the technical and professional
resources available in the beneficiary country, the work schedule, the appropriateness of the
resources to the tasks, the support proposed for experts in the field etc. CVs may be awarded points
for such criteria as qualifications, professional experience, geographical experience, language
skills, etc.
Each criterion is allotted a number of points out of 100 distributed between the different sub-
criteria. Their respective weightings depend on the nature of the services required and are
determined on a case-by-case basis in the tender dossier.
The points must be related as closely as possible to the Terms of Reference describing the services
to be provided and refer to parameters that are easy to identify in the tenders and, if possible,
quantifiable.
The tender dossier must contain full details of the technical evaluation grid, with its criteria and
sub-criteria and their weightings.
2008 Page 45 of 137
There must be no overlap between the selection criteria, which have been used to establish the
shortlist and the award criteria which will be used to determine the best tender.
3.3.5. Additional information during the procedure

The tender dossier should be clear enough to avoid candidates invited to tender from having to
request additional information during the procedure. If the Contracting Authority, either on its own
initiative or in response to the request of a short-listed candidate, provides additional information
on the tender dossier, it must send such information in writing to all other short-listed candidates at
the same time.
Tenderers may submit questions in writing up to 21 days before the deadline for submission of
tenders. The Contracting Authority must reply (sending a copy to the European Commission, in the
case of decentralised ex-ante management) to all tenderers' questions at least 11 days before the
deadline for receipt of tenders.
3.3.6. Deadline for submission of tenders

Tenders must reach the Contracting Authority at the address and by no later than the date and time
shown in the invitation to tender. The period for submission must be sufficient to guarantee the
quality of tenders and so permit truly competitive tendering. Experience shows that too short a
period prevents candidates from tendering or causes them to submit incomplete or ill-prepared
tenders.
The minimum period between the dispatch of the letter of invitation to tender by the Contracting
Authority and the deadline for receipt of tenders is 50 days. However, in exceptional cases, (in case
of centralised and decentralised ex-ante: with prior authorisation from the relevant services of the
European Commission), this period may be shorter.

See point 2.8.5.
3.3.8. Submission of tenders

Tenders must be submitted in accordance with the double envelope system, i.e., in an outer parcel
or envelope containing two separate, sealed envelopes, one bearing the words "Envelope A -
technical offer" and the other "Envelope B - financial offer". All parts of the tender other than the
financial offer must be submitted in Envelope A.
Any infringement of these rules (e.g., unsealed envelopes or references to price in the technical
offer) is to be considered a breach of the rules, and will lead to rejection of the tender.
This system enables the technical offer and the financial offer to be evaluated successively and
separately: it ensures that the technical quality of a tender is considered independently of the price.
The tender must be submitted in accordance with the instructions to tenderers.
3.3.9. The Evaluation Committee

For composition, impartiality and confidentiality, responsibilities and timetable during the entire
evaluation, see section 2.8.
CENTRALISED
The standard practice is that at least one of the voting members should be a representative of the
beneficiary country.
2008 Page 46 of 137

3.3.10. Stages in the evaluation process
3.3.10.1. Receipt and registration of tenders
On receiving tenders, the Contracting Authority must register them mentioning the date and time of
reception and provide a receipt for those delivered by hand. The envelopes containing the tenders
must remain sealed and be kept in a safe place until they are opened. The outer envelopes of
tenders must be numbered in order of receipt (whether or not they are received before the deadline
for submission of tenders).
3.3.10.2. Tender opening session

Part 1: Preparatory phase
First meeting of Evaluation Committee, that is held before starting the actual evaluation. The tender
dossier should have been circulated in advance to the members of the Evaluation Committee. The
Chairperson presents the purpose of the tender and explains the procedures to be followed by the
Evaluation Committee, including the evaluation grid, award criteria and weightings specified in the
tender dossier.
Part 2: Compliance with formal submission requirements
See tender opening checklist in Annex B9.
The Committee must decide whether or not tenders comply with the formal submission
requirements at this stage (i.e. following the opening of the outer envelope and the opening of the
technical offer). The Summary of tenders received, which is attached to the Tender Opening Report
(see Annex B10) must be used to record the compliance of each of the tenders with the formal
submission requirements.
The Chairperson must check that no member of the Evaluation Committee has a potential conflict
of interest with any of the tenderers (on the basis of the shortlist, the tenders received, consortium
members and any identified subcontractor). See also point 2.8.2 and 2.8.3.
3.3.10.3. Evaluation of offers

With the agreement of the other Evaluation Committee members, the Chairperson may
communicate in writing with tenderers whose submissions require clarification, offering them the
possibility to respond within a reasonable time limit to be fixed by the Committee.
Part 1: Administrative compliance
The Committee checks the compliance of tenders with the instructions given in the tender dossier
and in particular the administrative compliance grid (see Annex B8). Any major formal errors or
major restrictions affecting performance of the contract or distorting competition result in the
rejection of the tender concerned.
Nationality of subcontractors: the Evaluation Committee must check at this stage that the
nationalities of any subcontractors identified in the technical offers satisfy the nationality rule in
point 2.3.1. If the service provider is required by the terms of reference to provide supplies in
accordance with detailed technical specifications laid down in the terms of reference, the
Evaluation Committee must verify that the proposed supplies satisfy the rule of origin in point
2.3.1.
The tenderers must provide proof documents for the key experts proposed. This includes copies of
the diplomas mentioned in the CV and employers' certificates or references proving the
professional experience indicated in the CV. If missing proofs are requested it should only be for
the relevant experience and diplomas which are among the requirements in the Terms of Reference.
The administrative compliance grid included in the Tender Dossier must be used to record the
administrative compliance of each of the tenders.
Part 2: Technical compliance
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The Committee then examines the technical offers, the financial offers remaining sealed. When
evaluating technical offers, each member awards each offer a score out of a maximum 100 points
in accordance with the technical evaluation grid (setting out the technical criteria, sub-criteria and
weightings) laid down in the tender dossier (see point 3.3.4). Under no circumstances may the
Committee or its members change the technical evaluation grid communicated to the tenderers in
the tender dossier.
In practice, it is recommended that tenders be scored for a given criterion one after another, rather
than scoring each tender for all criteria before moving on to the next. Where the content of a tender
is incomplete or deviates substantially from one or more of the technical award criteria laid down
in the tender dossier (e.g. the required profile of a certain expert), the tender should be
automatically rejected, without being given a score, but this should be justified in the evaluation
report.
For an expert the scores should be given in comparison to the requirements stated in the Terms of
Reference. Only diplomas and experience with documented proofs will be taken into account.
If the tender dossier expressly permits variants, such variants are scored separately. Where variants
are allowed, the Contracting Authority may take them into account when:
- they are submitted by the tenderer submitting the offer which gives best value for money in the
evaluation; and
- they meet the requirements specified by the tender dossier, attaining at least the minimum
quality and performance required.
Each voting member of the Committee completes an evaluation grid (see Annex B12) to record
his/her assessment of each technical offer in order to establish a general appreciation of strengths
and weaknesses of the individual technical offers.
On completion of the technical evaluation, the points awarded by each member are compared at the
Committee's session. Besides the numerical score, a member must explain the reasons for his/her
choice and defend his/her scores before the Committee.
The Committee discusses each technical offer and each member awards it a final score. The
Committee members may modify their individual evaluation grids as a result of the general
discussion on the merits of each offer.
Once discussed, each Evaluation Committee member finalises his/her evaluation grid on each of
the technical offers and signs it before handing it over to the Secretary of the Evaluation
Committee. The Secretary must then compile a summary of the comments of the Committee
members as part of the Evaluation Report.
In the case of major discrepancies, a full justification has to be provided by dissenting members
during a meeting of the Evaluation Committee.
The Secretary calculates the aggregate final score, which is the arithmetical average of the
individual final scores.
Interviews should be standard practice whenever the expert proposed has no relevant experience on
EU projects in the same language area, as evidenced by the CV. In other cases verification/checks
within EC are more appropriate (centralised procedures). They shall therefore be provided for in
the tender dossier and must be well prepared if conducted.
The preferred method of conducting the interviews shall be by telephone (or equivalent).
Exceptionally and only if duly justified, as it entails considerable costs both for tenderers and the
Contracting Authority, the method may be an interview in person.
The Evaluation Committee may, after writing up its provisional conclusions and before definitively
concluding its evaluation of the technical offers, decide to interview the key experts proposed in
technically compliant tenders (i.e. those which have achieved an average score of 80 points or more
in the technical evaluation). It is recommended that tenderers which have scored close to the
technical threshold also be invited for the interview. In the case of interviews, the experts are
interviewed by the Committee, at intervals close enough to permit comparison. Interviews must
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follow a standard format agreed beforehand by the Committee with questions formulated and
applied to all experts or teams called to interview. Tenderers must be given at least 10 days'
advance notice of the date and time of the interview. If a tenderer is prevented from participating in
an interview by force majeure, a mutually convenient alternative date/time is arranged with the
tenderer. If the tenderer is unable to participate on this second occasion, its tender will be
eliminated from the evaluation process.
On completion of these interviews, the Evaluation Committee, without modifying either the
composition or the weighting of the criteria laid down in the technical evaluation grid, decides
whether it is necessary to adjust the scores of the experts who have been interviewed. Any
adjustments must be substantiated. The procedure must be recorded in the Evaluation Report. The
indicative timetable for these interviews must be given in the tender dossier.
Once the Committee has established each technical offer's average score (the mathematical average
of the final scores awarded by each voting member), any tender falling short of the 80-point
threshold is automatically rejected. If no tender achieves 80 points or more, the tender procedure
will be cancelled.
Out of the tenders reaching the 80-point threshold, the best technical offer is awarded 100 points.
The others receive points calculated using the following formula:
Technical score = (final score of the technical offer in question/final score of the best technical
offer) x 100.
Specimen Tender Evaluation Summary:
Part1: Technical Evaluation
Maximum
Tenderer 1 Tenderer 2 Tenderer 3
possible
Evaluator A 100 55 88 84
Evaluator B 100 60 84 82
Evaluator C 100 59 82 90
Total 300 174 254 256
Average score
174/3 = 58.00 254/3 = 84.67 256/3 = 85.33
(mathematical average)
Technical score (actual
84.67/85.33 x 100
final score/highest final Eliminated* 100.00
= 99.22
score)
* Only tenderers with average score of at least 80 points qualify for the financial evaluation.
3.3.10.4. Evaluation of financial offers

Upon completion of the technical evaluation, the envelopes containing the financial offers for
tenders who were not eliminated during the technical evaluation (i.e., those which have achieved an
average score of 80 points or more) are opened and all originals of these financial offers are
initialled by the Chairperson and the Secretary of the Evaluation Committee.
The Evaluation Committee has to ensure that the financial offer satisfies all formal requirements.
A financial offer not meeting these requirements may be rejected. Any rejection on these grounds
will have to be fully justified in the Evaluation Report.
The Evaluation Committee checks that the financial offers contain no arithmetical errors. Any
arithmetical errors are corrected without penalty to the tenderer.
The envelopes containing the financial offers of rejected tenderers following the technical
evaluation must remain unopened and retained. They must be archived by the Contracting
Authority together with the other tender procedure documents.
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The total contract value comprises the fees (including employment-related overheads), the
incidental expenditure and the provision for expenditure verification15, which are specified in the
tender dossier. This total contract value is compared with the maximum budget available for the
contract. Tenders exceeding the maximum budget allocated for the contract are eliminated.
The Evaluation Committee then proceeds with the financial comparison of the fees between the
different financial offers. The provision for incidental expenditure, as well as the provision for
expenditure verification is excluded from the comparison of the financial offers as it was specified
in the tender dossier.
The tender with the lowest total fees receives 100 points. The others are awarded points by means
of the following formula:
Financial score = (lowest total fees / total fees of the tender being considered) x 100.
When evaluating financial offers, the Evaluation Committee compares only the total fees.
Specimen Tender Evaluation Summary:
Part 2: Financial Evaluation *
Maximum
possible Tenderer 1 Tenderer 2 Tenderer 3
score
Total fees € 951 322 € 1 060 452
Eliminated
Financial score following
(lowest total technical 951 322/1 060 452 x100
100
fees/actual total fees evaluation = 89.71
x 100)
* Only tenderers with average scores of at least 80 points in the technical evaluation qualify for the
financial evaluation.
3.3.10.5. Conclusions of the Evaluation Committee

The best value for money is established by weighing technical quality against price on an 80/20
basis. This is done by multiplying:
- the scores awarded to the technical offers by 0,80
- the scores awarded to the financial offers by 0,20.
15
In the exceptional cases where the expenditure verification is to be made by the services of the
Commission themselves, the tender documents, including the proposed contractual template, must be duly
adapted. A derogation is thus required.
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Specimen Tender Evaluation Summary :
Part 3: Composite Evaluation
Maximum
Tenderer 1 Tenderer 2 Tenderer 3
possible
Technical score 99,22 x 0.80 = 100.00 x 0.80 =
x 0.80 79.38 80.00
Eliminated
Financial score 100.00 x 0.20= 89.71 x 0.20=
following
x 0.20 20.00 17.94
technical
79.38 + 20.00= 80.00 + 17.94=
Overall score evaluation
99.38 97.94
Final ranking 1 2
The resulting, weighted technical and financial scores are then added together and the contract is
awarded to the tender achieving the highest overall score. It is essential to make the calculations
strictly according to the above instructions.
EDF
Where two tenders are acknowledged to be equivalent, preference is given:
(a) to the tenderer of an ACP State; or
(b) if there is no such tender , to the tenderer who:
- offers the best possible use of the physical and human resources of the ACP States;
- offers the greatest subcontracting possibilities to ACP companies, firms or natural persons; or
-is a consortium of natural persons, companies and firms from ACP States and the European
Union.
As a result of its deliberations, the Evaluation Committee may make any of the following
recommendations:
• Award the contract to the tenderer which has submitted a tender:
o which complies with the formal requirements and the eligibility rules;
o whose total budget is within the maximum budget available for the project;
o which meets the minimum technical requirements specified in the tender dossier;
and
o which is the best value for money (satisfying all of the above conditions).
• Cancel the tender procedure in exceptional circumstances, such as:
o none of the tenders satisfies the selection/award criteria of the tender procedure;
o no tenders achieved the minimum threshold during the technical evaluation;
o the total price (comprising both the fees, the incidental expenditure and the
provision for expenditure verification ) of all tenders received exceed the
maximum amount available for the contract.
The Evaluation Report is drawn up. The Contracting Authority will then take its decision.
CENTRALISED
The entire procedure (technical and financial evaluation) is recorded in an Evaluation Report (see
template in Annex B11) to be signed by the Chairperson, the Secretary and all voting members of
the Evaluation Committee. This must be submitted for approval to the relevant services of the
European Commission, which must decide whether or not to accept its recommendations.
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template in Annex B11) to be signed by the Chairperson, the Secretary and all voting members of
Contracting Authority, which must decide whether or not to accept its recommendations. The
Contracting Authority must then submit the Evaluation Report together with its proposed decision
to the European Commission for approval. If there is an award proposal and the European
Commission has not already received a copy of the tenders, these must be submitted.
If the European Commission does not accept the proposed decision, it must write to the Contracting
Authority stating the reasons for its decision. The European Commission may also suggest how the
Contracting Authority should proceed and give the conditions under which the European
Commission might endorse the proposed contract on the basis of the tender procedure.
If the European Commission approves the proposed decision, the Contracting Authority will either
commence awarding the contract (see point 3.3.12) or cancel the tender, as decided.
The entire evaluation procedure, including notification of the successful tenderer, must be
completed while the tenders are still valid. It is important to bear in mind that the successful
tenderer might be unable to maintain its tender (for example, because one or more of the key
experts are no longer available) if the evaluation procedure takes too long.
Subject to the Contracting Authority’s policy on access to documents, the entire tender procedure is
confidential until the signature of the contract by both parties. The Evaluation Committee's
decisions are collective and its deliberations must remain secret. The Committee members and any
observers are bound to secrecy.
The Evaluation Report, in particular, is for official use only and may be divulged neither to
tenderers nor to any party outside the authorised services of the Contracting Authority, the
European Commission and the supervisory authorities (e.g., the European Court of Auditors).
3.3.11. Cancelling the tender procedure

See point 2.4.13.
3.3.12. Award of the contract

3.3.12.1. Notifying the successful tenderer
See section 2.9 and point 2.4.14 (in the case of suspension clause).
3.3.12.2. Contract preparation and signature

See section 2.9.
The proposed contract must follow Annex B8.
3.3.12.3. Publicising the award of the contract

See section 2.9.
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3.3.13. Approval of key experts
Where the European Commission is the Contracting Authority, where the beneficiary country has
not been invited to the Evaluation Committee as evaluator, and where appropriate, a notification
should be sent to the beneficiary country, through the Delegation of the European Union accredited
to the country concerned, of the name of the successful tenderer and obtain its approval of the key
experts proposed before the contract signature.
The beneficiary country has to submit duly substantiated and justified objections to reject an expert
which the authorising officer has to appreciate (e.g. persona non grata, public order issues,
disclosure of elements unknown to the evaluation committee which could have affected the
outcome of the evaluation). In case the authorising officer accepts the rejection, it may go to the
second best offer if any. If this is the case the beneficiary country again gets the right to approve
the experts. If there is no second best offer or in case of a second rejection the tender is cancelled.
The described request for approval of the key experts is however not a request for approval of the
European Commission's evaluation.
The approval shall also be obtained for any replacement key expert proposed by the contractor. The
beneficiary country may not withhold its approval unless it submits duly substantiated and justified
objections to the proposed experts in writing to the Delegation of the European Commission. If the
beneficiary country fails to issue or to reject its approval within 15 days of the date of the request
for approval for the key experts, the expert is deemed to be approved.
A replacement of experts may only be requested by the beneficiary country if duly substantiated
and justified objections are given in writing.
3.3.14. Provision and replacement of experts

Where the tender procedure involves the provision of experts, the contractor is bound to provide
the experts specified in the tender. This specification may take various forms.
Whatever the form, the key experts to be provided by the contractor must be identified and named
in the contract.
Should a company and/or proposed experts deliberately conceal the fact that all or some of the
team proposed in their tender are unavailable from the date specified in the tender dossier for the
start of the assignment, the Committee may recommend that the tenderer be excluded from the
tender procedure.
Should the Contracting Authority learn that such facts have been concealed after the contract has
been awarded, it may decide to cancel the award of the contract and either recommence the tender
procedure or award the contract to the tender ranked second by the Evaluation Committee
(provided that that tender achieved the threshold of 80 points in the technical evaluation and is
within the maximum budget available for the contract). Such behaviour may lead to a tenderer's
exclusion from other contracts funded by the European Union.
In addition to the above, the prior approval of the European Commission is required before
cancelling the contract.
However, the contract must not only identify the key staff to be provided but specify the
qualifications and experience required of them. This is important if the contractor has to replace
staff after the contract has been signed and concluded. This situation may arise before performance
of the contract has even begun or while it is in progress.
In both cases, the contractor must first obtain the Contracting Authority’s written approval by
substantiating its request for replacement. The Contracting Authority has 30 days from the date of
receipt of the request to reply.
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In addition to the above, the prior approval of the European Commission is required.
The contractor must, on its own initiative, propose a replacement where:
- a member of staff dies, falls seriously ill or suffers an accident;
- it becomes necessary to replace a member of staff for any other reasons beyond
the contractor's control (e.g., resignation etc.).
CENTRALISED, DECENTRALISED: EX POST

In the course of performance, the Contracting Authority may also submit a substantiated written
request for a replacement where it considers a member of staff incompetent or unsuitable for the
purposes of the contract.
In addition to the above, the prior approval of the European Commission is required before
submitting the request for replacement.
Where a member of staff has to be replaced, the replacement must possess at least equivalent
qualifications and experience and his fee-rate may in no circumstances exceed that of the expert
replaced. Where the contractor is unable to provide a replacement possessing equivalent
qualifications and/or experience, the Contracting Authority may either terminate the contract, if it
feels that its performance is jeopardised, or, if it feels that this is not the case, accept the
replacement, in which case the latter's fees are to be negotiated downwards to reflect the proper
level of remuneration. Any additional expenses resulting from the replacement of staff are borne by
the contractor except in the case of replacement resulting from death or where the Contracting
Authority requests a replacement not provided for by the contract. Where an expert is not replaced
immediately and some time elapses before the new expert takes up his functions, the Contracting
Authority may ask the contractor to assign a temporary expert to the project pending the new
expert's arrival or to take other steps to bridge the gap. Whatever the case may be, the Contracting
Authority will make no payment for the period of absence of the expert or his replacement
(whether temporary or permanent).
3.4. Procedures for the award of contracts under € 200,000
3.4.1. Framework contracts

The service contracts for EU external actions with a value of more than € 10,000, but less than
€ 200,000, must be concluded by framework contract which takes precedence over other
contracting procedures "(for negotiated procedures, see point 3.2.3.1)
For short-term technical assistance contracts or studies of value less than € 200,000 with a
performance period (i.e. duration of actual services to be provided) of less than 12 months, a
Framework contract was established using a restricted international tender procedure on behalf of
countries benefiting of the external aid. Its use is compulsory and detailed information about its
implementation rules is given in the chapter 4.
For sectors which are not covered by the Framework Contract or where such a procedure has been
unsuccessful or is impossible, the competitive negotiated procedure must be used.
The present section aims at explaining conditions and implementation rules for the use of the
Framework contract as a contracting procedure. The information regarding particular Framework
contracts is available on the EuropeAid website.
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3.4.1.1. Scope of the Framework contract
For the actions with a value of more than € 10,000, but less than € 200,000, the framework contract
must be used as it takes precedence over competitive negotiated procedure which can be used only
where the use of the Framework Contract is impossible or has been unsuccessful.
The Framework Contract may be used only when all the following conditions are fulfilled:
- the funds are aimed for external aid, even if implemented by a Commission Directorate
General other than EuropeAid;
- the action is carried out in the exclusive interest of an authority benefiting of external
aid;
- the total budget is less than € 200 000, addenda included, without undue splitting;
- the number of days worked by the expert does not exceed 260 days per action;
- the implementation period of the operation does not exceed 2 years (730 calendar
days), addenda included.
When implementing the Framework contract, it is essential to comply with the terms and
conditions specific to the Framework contract contained in the Framework contract contractual
documents published on the EuropeAid website.
The framework contract has been concluded with a contract amount of € 0: no specific amount is
tied to the framework contract. The contracting authority for a specific contract must therefore have
the funds to cover the services contracted under the Framework contract.
The Framework contract is an instrument for fast and transparent recruiting of experts for all
activities within the project cycle. It contains several thematic lots. Several contractors have been
selected for each lot. Most of these are consortia, represented by a lead firm. The lead firm has
been designated by the other partners to act on their behalf for the purposes of the contract and is
the only one authorised to commit the consortium. The only valid contacts for contractual purposes
are contacts with the lead firm.
3.4.1.2. Request for services

As it is a multiple Framework contract, the Specific contract award is based on a competition. A
request must be sent to 3 Framework contractors of the same lot. This request can only be issued
during the period of validity of the framework contract. However, the resulting contract can be
concluded and implemented (addenda included) after the Framework contract has expired.
The competition between the 3 Framework contractors shall respect the principles of transparency,
proportionality, equal treatment, non-discrimination and of sound competition. However, the
derogation rules applied to tendering procedures are not applicable. For example, the instructions
on shortening the offer submission deadline for tendering procedures do not apply to a Framework
contract request.
In contrast to a tendering procedure, where a suspension clause may be added, no request may be
issued under the Framework Contract if no funds are available to cover the operation. It is
suggested not to use budget lines for which the deadline for payments is set too close to the end of
a specific contract implementation.
a) Specific ToRs
The specific ToRs must contain all the information needed by a framework contractor for
submitting an offer and for checking that the outputs obtained match the requested outputs. The
quality, in particular the clarity, of the specific ToRs is critical for the quality of the offer and the
success of the assignment. They must contain all the information specified in the model published
on the website.
Familiarity with the global ToRs (contract part) is essential before drawing up the specific ToRs.
The specific ToRs must comply with the global ToRs.
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The expected outputs must be accurately described. This description can then be used to determine
whether the framework contractor has performed the requested services in accordance with the
specific ToRs.
Methodology
If justified by the complexity of the assignment, the offer may be accompanied by a methodology.
Key experts
There is no distinction between key and non-key experts for the purposes of the Framework
contract. All the experts must be identified (profile or expertise) in the specific ToRs and must be
proposed, evaluated and form part of the initial contract.
Duration of the assignment
The length of time required to carry out an assignment may not exceed 730 calendar days. It begins
on the date the experts are made available (e.g. for the preparatory work/desk study, headquarters
briefing etc.) and ends when the contracting authority formally accepts or rejects the final report
(i.e. the report taking account of the comments on the draft report).
Conflict of interest
The project manager has to specify, when relevant, which previous actions present a conflict of
interest with the mission described in the ToRs. Indeed the framework contractor is responsible for
declaring a conflict of interest and it will consequently better understand whether it is or not in the
situation of a conflict of interest.
b) Drawing up the request
Choosing the lot
The lot is chosen by the project manager according to the sector to be covered. The same request
cannot be issued to framework contractors of different lots. For multidisciplinary assignments, the
choice of lot must correspond to the predominant sector.
Time-limit for submitting offers
The contractual deadline for framework contractors to prepare their offers is at least 14 days from
the sending of the request. It is advisable to extend this period to ensure a better quality of offers.
The deadline may also be shortened, but only subject to two conditions as this is a change to the
terms of contract: 1) EuropeAid's Framework contract team has given its prior approval and 2)
none of the three framework contractors consulted objects. If one of them refuses the shortened
deadline, the 14-day minimum rule applies and the project manager notifies all three framework
contractors of the submission deadline complying with the 14-day rule.
Modifying the request
When one or more substantial changes to the request or to the specific ToRs are required, the
request is re-launched with the same framework contractors. The submission date must take
account of the nature of the modification.
3.4.1.3. Awarding of Specific contracts

a) Submission of offers
Clarification
When drawing up their offers, framework contractors may ask the project manager to clarify the
specific ToRs. Answers are sent to all three framework contractors at the same time. If a request for
clarification leads to a change in the specific ToRs, the project manager should amend them and
inform the framework contractors. In the event of amendments to either the specific ToRs or the
budget that affect the identification of experts, the date for submission of offers must be adapted
accordingly.
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Conflicts of interest
Framework contractors are required to inform the project manager of any (risk of) conflict of
interest as soon as possible.
In the event of a confirmed conflict of interest, the project manager has the choice of:
- continuing with the two remaining framework contractors
- preparing a new version of the request for the two remaining framework contractors
plus a new framework contractor
Content of the offer
The offer comprises:
- a financial offer in accordance with the standard model. The financial offer should be
set out in a uniform way and in the same degree of detail for both global and fee-based
contracts
- a methodology, if requested in the specific ToRs
- the CVs of all the experts together with their statements of exclusivity and availability
Validity of offers
Offers are valid for 14 calendar days after the deadline for submission.
Number of offers
It is not necessary to receive three offers. Even if only one offer is received, it must be evaluated
and the specific contract can be concluded.
b) Evaluation procedure
There is no specific requirement for the designation of the evaluators. They must be at least two.
The Administrative recevability is checked against the following criteria:
1. Receipt of the offer within the time-limit
2. Compliance with the eligibility rules for experts' nationality
3. Compliance with the Framework contract prices
4. Adherence to the budget if the request sets a maximum budget
There are three criteria for the technical and financial evaluation:
1. the availability of experts
2. the qualityof the proposed experts' CV compared to the expertise or profiles laid down in
the specific ToRs
3. the sum of the fees
The most economically advantageous offer is to be retained.
Unsuccessful evaluation
If no offer is selected, the project manager has to start again and send the request to three
framework contractors other than those consulted initially provided the number of the Framework
contractors in the given lot allows it.
If all the framework contractors of the lot have been consulted and the evaluation is not successful,
there are two options:
1. Analysing the specific ToRs to see whether an in-depth revision is necessary;
2. Using the competitive negotiated procedure.
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Notification of the results
In view of the short validity period of offers, the project manager must notify the results to all the
Framework contractors who submitted offer within 14 days of the deadline for receipt of offers.
He/she does not have to wait for the specific contract to be signed.
c) Specific contract
The specific contract is based on the offer that emerged successfully from an evaluation. This offer
cannot be negotiated. Only corrections, not negotiations, are permitted. Such corrections require a
modified offer from the framework contractor.
The specific contract comprises the specific contract itself, the specific ToRs, a methodology when
relevant and the financial offer. It enters into force when it is signed by the contracting authority.
3.4.2. Competitive negotiated procedure

If the Contracting Authority cannot use the Framework Contract or its use is unsuccessful (e.g. the
technical expertise required is not available in the Framework Contract), the Contracting Authority
may award contracts under € 200,000 by competitive negotiated procedure, without publication.
Note that the competitive negotiated procedure requires more time than the procedure to initiate an
assignment under the Framework Contract.
The Contracting Authority draws up a list of at least three service providers of its choice. The
candidates are sent a letter of invitation to tender accompanied by a tender dossier. The authorising
officer may decide to use the simplified tender dossier for services for this procedure as well as for
the single offer procedure (see below).Tenders must reach the Contracting Authority at the address
and by no later than the date and time shown in the invitation to tender. The chosen candidates
must be allowed at least 30 days from the dispatch of the letter of invitation to tender to submit
their tenders.
If following consultation of the tenderers, the Contracting Authority receives only one tender that is
administratively and technically valid, the contract may be awarded provided that the award criteria
are met.
In the event of 1 failure of the competitive negotiated procedure, following the unsuccessful use of
a framework contract, the contract may be concluded by negotiated procedure subject to the prior
approval of the relevant services of the European Commission The procedure for evaluating the
tenders and awarding the contract is the same as under the restricted procedure (see points 3.3.9 to
3.3.12.2).
The Contracting Authority may award service contracts of a value of € 10,000 or less on the basis
of a single tender.
3.5. Modifying service contracts

See section 2.10 for the general information regarding contract modification.
Any justified modification which involves a change in the total value of the contract must be made
through an addendum.
Additional services and complementary services are regarded as negotiated procedures, see point
3.2.3.1.c), and either an addendum or a new contract should be signed.
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4. Supply contracts
4.1. Introduction
Supply contracts cover the purchase, leasing, rental or hire purchase, with or without option to buy,
of products. A contract for the supply of products and, incidentally, for sitting and installation shall
be considered a supply contract.
4.2.1. Contracts of € 150,000 or more

4.2.1.1. International open procedure
All supply contracts must be the subject of an international open tender procedure following
publication of a contract forecast and a procurement notice as laid down in section 4.3.
4.2.2. Contracts between € 60,000 and € 150,000

4.2.2.1. Local open procedure
In this case, supply contracts are awarded by an open procedure in which the procurement notice is
published in the beneficiary country. The European Commission publishes the references of such
tender procedures (publication reference, country, Contracting Authority and type of contract) on
the EuropeAid website with the address from which firms can obtain further information. It is also
possible to publish the full procurement notice and tender dossier on the website. For details see
section 4.4
4.2.3. Contracts under € 60,000 – competitive negotiated procedure

Supply contracts under € 60,000 are awarded by competitive negotiated procedure. At least three
candidates are sent an invitation to tender. No procurement notice needs to be published. For
details, see section 4.5.
However, the Contracting Authority may award supply contracts of a value of € 10,000 or less on
the basis of a single tender.

CENTRALISED
The Contracting Authority must seek prior approval from the European Commission for the use of
the negotiated procedure.
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Supply contracts may be awarded by negotiated procedure on the basis of one or several tenders in
the following cases:
a) where, for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events which the Contracting
Authorities could not have foreseen and which can in no way be attributed to them, the time-
limit for the competitive procedures (referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 91(1) of the
Financial Regulation applicable to the General Budget) cannot be met.
Operations carried out in crisis situations as referred to in Article 168(2) of the Implementing
Rules are considered to satisfy the test of extreme urgency (see annex A11a)16;
b) where warranted by the nature or particular characteristics of the supplies, for example, where
performance of the contract is exclusively reserved for the holders of patents or licences to use
patents;
c) for additional deliveries by the original supplier intended either as a partial replacement of
normal supplies or installations or as the extension of existing supplies or installations, where a
change of supplier would oblige the Contracting Authority to acquire equipment having
different technical characteristics which would result in either incompatibility or
disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance;
d) where the tender procedure has been unsuccessful, that is where no qualitatively and/or
from among those that took part in the tender procedure, provided that the initial conditions of
the tender procedure are not substantially altered and the principle of equal treatment is
observed;
e) where after two attempts the competitive negotiated procedure has been unsuccessful, that is to
say, where no administratively and technically valid tender or no qualitatively and/or
financially worthwhile tender has been received, in which case, after cancelling the competitive
negotiated procedure, the Contracting Authority may negotiate with one or more tenderers of
its choice, from among those that took part in the invitation to tender, provided that the original
terms of the contract are not substantially altered;
f) for contracts declared to be secret, or for contracts whose performance must be accompanied
Union or the beneficiary country so requires;
g) for contracts in respect of supplies quoted and purchased on a commodity market;
h) for contracts in respect of purchases on particularly advantageous terms, either from a supplier
which is definitively winding up its business activities, or from the receivers or liquidators of a
bankruptcy, an arrangement with creditors, or a similar procedure under national law.
decision resulting from these negotiations. The procedures described in point 4.3.11.1-2 must be
followed by analogy, with the Negotiation Report being included in the contract dossier.
4.2.4.2. Dynamic purchasing system

A dynamic purchasing system is a completely electronic process for making commonly used
purchases which is limited in duration (max 4 years). A contract notice is published to invite for
indicative tenders which should be evaluated within 15 days. The tenderers that comply with the
specifications are admitted to the system. The system is open throughout its validity to any
economic operator who satisfies the selection criteria and has submitted an indicative tender that is
found compliant.
16
IV of the Cotonou Agremeent. The emergency assistance is linked to the application of article 72 and/or 73
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For each individual contract, a simplified contract notice is published giving tenderers that have not
yet been admitted to the system the possibility to submit an indicative tender within 15 days. The
Contracting Authority then invites all the tenderers admitted to the system to submit a tender within
a reasonable time limit. The contract will be awarded to the tenderer who has submitted the tender
offering best value for money on the basis of the award criteria specified in the contract notice for
the establishment of the dynamic purchasing system.
The Contracting Authority may not resort to this system to prevent, restrict or distort competition.
The legal framework of this procedure is defined for future use, but the IT tools (confidentiality,
security) to make it possible are not yet available in the Commission.

aspects of the tender can be discussed during the dialogue; however, the dialogue is conducted with
each tenderer individually on the basis of their proposed solutions and ideas. The Contracting
and modified as required
4.3. International open tender for contracts of € 150,000 or

more
4.3.1. Publicity
transparency, a contract forecast and a procurement notice must be published for every open tender
procedure.

An individual contract forecast setting out the specific characteristics of the planned tender
publication of the procurement notice. The individual contract forecasts must give a brief indication
of the subject and content of the tenders concerned. (See template in Annex C1). Given that they
are forecasts, publication does not bind the Contracting Authority to finance the contracts proposed
and prospective suppliers are not expected to submit tenders at this stage.
Individual contract forecasts must be submitted for publication to the relevant services of the
European Commission in electronic form using the template in Annex C1 at least 15 days before
the intended date of publication, to allow time for translation. They must be published at least 30
days before the corresponding procurement notice.
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In addition to forecasts, all supply contracts of € 150,000 or more must also be the subject of a
procurement notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union, on the EuropeAid
website (at http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm) and in any other appropriate media. A
minimum of 30 days must be allowed to elapse between the publication of the contract forecast and
the procurement notice.
The European Commission (acting on behalf of the Contracting Authority) is responsible for
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and on the EuropeAid website, while, if
the procurement notice is published locally, the Contracting Authority must arrange local
publication directly.
Procurement notices and tender dossiers must be submitted for publication to the relevant services
of the European Commission in electronic form using the template in Annex C2 at least 15 days
before the intended date of publication, to allow time for translation of the procurement notice.
The procurement notice must provide would-be suppliers with the information they need to
determine their capacity to fulfil the contract in question. If the procurement notice is also
published locally, it must be identical to the procurement notice published on the EuropeAid
website and appear at the same time.
The tender dossier for the contract in question is published on the EuropeAid website but it must be
sent to would-be suppliers upon request.

These documents must contain all the provisions and information that tenderers need to present
their tenders: the procedures to follow, the documents to provide, cases of non-compliance, award
criteria, etc. It may be desirable for representatives of the final beneficiaries to participate in the
tender preparation at an early stage. See section 2.6 for guidelines for preparing Technical
Specifications.
Technical specifications must afford equal access for candidates and tenderers and not have the
effect of creating unjustified obstacles to competitive tendering. They define the characteristics
required of a product, service or material or work with regard to the purpose for which they are
intended by the Contracting Authority. Those characteristics include:
b) environmental performance;
c) wherever possible, the accessibility criteria for people with disabilities or the design for all
users;
d) the levels and procedures of conformity assessment;
e) fitness for use;
labelling, production procedures and methods;
Given the technical complexity of many supply contracts, the preparation of the tender dossier -
particularly the Technical Specifications - may require the assistance of one or more external
technical specialist(s). Each such specialist must sign a Declaration of Objectivity and
Confidentiality (see Annex A3).
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As with Terms of Reference for service contracts, particular attention must be paid to the
preparation of the Technical Specifications for the supplies tendered. These are the key to
successful procurement and a sound supply contract and project.
The Technical Specifications indicate - where applicable, lot by lot - the exact nature and
performance characteristics of the supplies. Where applicable, they also specify delivery conditions
and installation, training and after-sales service.
It is essential that the performance characteristics correspond to the intended purpose. If there
needs to be an information meeting or site visit to clarify technical requirements at the site where
supplies are to be installed, this should be specified in the instructions to tenderers, together with
details of the arrangements.
The purpose of the Technical Specifications is to define the required supplies precisely. The
minimum quality standards, defined by the Technical Specifications, will enable the Evaluation
Committee to determine which tenders are technically compliant.
Unless warranted by the nature of the contract, Technical Specifications mentioning or describing
products of a given brand or origin and thereby favouring or excluding certain products are
prohibited. However, where products cannot be described in a sufficiently clear or intelligible
manner, they may be named as long as they are followed by the words "or equivalent".
CENTRALISED
The tender dossier must be approved by the relevant services of the European Commission. The
standard practice is to consult and obtain the approval of the beneficiary country, and where
appropriate of other parties involved, on the tender dossier.

A. Instruction to Tenderers
B. Draft Contract, Special Conditions and Annexes (incl. Technical Specifications)
C. Further Information
D. Tender Form for a Supply Contract
See standard format in Annex C4.
The tender documents must clearly state whether a firm, non-revisable price must be quoted. The
prices should normally be fixed and not subject to revision, but in specific cases a price revision
clause might be justified. If that is the case, they must lay down the conditions and/or formulas for
revision of prices during the lifetime of the contract. In such cases the Contracting Authority must
take particular account of:
a) the object of the procurement procedure and the economic situation in which it is taking
place;
b) the type of tasks and contract and their duration;
A guarantee is required in return for the payment of pre-financing exceeding € 150,000. However,
where the contractor is a public body, the responsible authorising officer may, depending on his
risk assessment, waive that obligation. The guarantee will be released after provisional acceptance
in accordance with the terms of the contract.
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The selection criteria concern the tenderer's capacity to execute similar contracts. The selection
procedure involves:
1. eliminating tenderers who are ineligible (see point 2.3.1) or fall into one of the situations
2. checking that the tenderers' financial situation (financial and economic capacity) is sound;
as backed up, for example, by balance sheets and turnover for the previous three years (see
point 2.4.11.1.3) if specifically required in the Tender Dossier
3. verifying the tenderers’ technical and professional capacities, for example by looking at
their average annual staffing levels, the size and professional experience of their
management and the main services supplied and supplies delivered in the field in question
in recent years (see point 2.4.11.1.4).
The selection criteria specified in the annexes to this guide are given by way of illustration and
should be adapted to the nature, cost and complexity of the contract.
If, for some exceptional reason which the Contracting Authority considers justified, the tenderer is
unable to provide the references required by the Contracting Authority, it may prove its economic
and financial capacity by any other means which the Contracting Authority considers appropriate.
Where the services or products to be supplied are complex or, exceptionally, are required for a
country in which tenderer is established, subject to that body's agreement. Such checks shall
concern the tenderer’s technical capacity and production capacity and, if necessary, its study and
research facilities and quality control measures.
Only successful tenderers have to supply supporting documents for the selection criteria before the
award of the contract (optional for contracts below € 150.000, see point 2.4.11.1.1).
The award criterion applied to technically compliant tenders is price or, in exceptional cases and
after derogation by the relevant services of the European Commission, the best value for money.
The criteria should be precise, non-discriminatory and not prejudicial to fair competition. All
criteria specified in the tender dossier must be applied as such and cannot in any case be modified
during the procedure. The technical evaluation will be based on the evaluation grid published in the
tender dossier, which must not be modified in any way during the evaluation process. Given the
wide variety of supplies and their technical nature, the grid must be individually developed for each
tender in a YES/NO format to allow clear assessment whether or not the offer responds to the
technical requirements of the tender dossier.
4.3.3.1. Supply contracts not including ancillary services

Price is the sole criterion for awarding supply contracts not including ancillary services (such as
after-sales services and training). All non-compliant tenders having already been eliminated, the
contract is awarded to the tenderer submitting the least expensive, compliant tender.
If the selected tender exceeds the maximum budget available for the contract, the provisions of
point 4.2.4.1(d) apply.
4.3.3.2. Supply contracts including ancillary services

Where a supply contract includes ancillary services (such as after sales services and/or training),
the technical evaluation should take into account the quality of such services on a YES/NO basis.
All non compliant tenders having been eliminated, the contract is awarded to the tenderer offering
the lowest price for both equipment and ancillary services together.
If the selected tender exceeds the maximum budget available for the contract, the provisions of
point 4.2.4.1(d) apply.
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4.3.3.3. Particularly complex supplies
For particularly complex supplies, a combination of quality and price may be used as the basis for
awarding the contract to the best value for money. This should be limited to products with
particular security/production/implementation constraints.
CENTRALISED, DECENTRALISED: EX-ANTE

The relevant services of the European Commission must give their prior approval to the use of this
approach and will provide technical support on a case-by-case basis.
If it intends to use this approach, the Contracting Authority must record the justification for this in
the Evaluation Report and notify the European Commission.

The tender dossier should be clear enough to avoid tenderers having to request additional
information during the tender procedure. If the Contracting Authority, either on its own initiative or
in response to a request from a tenderer, provides additional information on the tender dossier, it
must send such information in writing to all other tenderers at the same time.
deadline for receipt of tenders. The questions and answers shall be published on the EuropeAid
website.
If it proves impossible to identify potential tenderers in the case of an open tender procedure, a
corrigendum notice setting out eventual changes to the tender dossier must be published as
explained in point 4.3.1, taking into account that international notices must be submitted for
publication to the relevant service of the European Commission at least 15 days before the intended
date of publication. The deadline for the submission of tenders may be extended to allow tenderers
to take account of the changes. The corrigendum shall also be published on the EuropeAid website.
If the tender has a particularly complex technical content, the Contracting Authority may organise
an information meeting or site visit. This meeting must be announced in the tender dossier and
must take place at least 21 days before the expiry of the deadline. All costs of attending such a
meeting must be met by the tenderers. Visits by individual companies during the tender period
cannot be permitted unless information meetings and/or site visits have been specifically scheduled
for all tenderers.
4.3.5. Deadline for the submission of tenders

Tenders must reach the Contracting Authority at the address and, at the very latest, the date and
time indicated in the tender dossier. The period for submission must be sufficient to guarantee the
quality of tenders and so permit truly competitive tendering.
Experience shows that too short a period prevents candidates from tendering or causes them to
submit incomplete or ill-prepared tenders. The deadline for submissions must fall on a working day
in the country of the Contracting Authority and if possible be combined with the tender-opening
session.
The minimum period between the date of publication of the procurement notice and the deadline
for receipt of tenders is 60 days. However, in exceptional cases, a shorter deadline may be allowed
with the prior authorization of the relevant services of the European Commission.
No prior authorization is required from the European Commission in the case of shorter deadline.
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See point 2.8.5.

Technical and financial offers must be placed in a single sealed envelope, itself placed in a package
or outer envelope. The tender must be sent in accordance with the instructions to tenderers.

CENTRALISED

4.3.9.2. Preparatory meeting

First meeting of the Evaluation Committee to be held before the tender opening session. The tender
dossier should have been distributed in advance to the members of the Evaluation Committee. The
Chairperson presents the purpose of the tender, the procedures to be followed by the Evaluation
Committee including the evaluation grid and selection and award criteria specified in the tender
dossier.

The purpose of the tender-opening session is to check that the tenders are complete, that the
requisite tender guarantee has been provided and that the tenders are generally in order.
The tender opening session is a formal, public process. The Evaluation Committee opens the
tenders in public at the place and time fixed in the tender dossier. Although it is public,
participation in the tender opening session is restricted to representatives of the companies which
are tendering for the contract. See tender opening checklist in Annex C5 for the detailed formalities
to be carried out by the Chairperson with the assistance of the Secretary.
CENTRALISED
The Evaluation Committee designated by the relevant services of the European Commission must
carry out the tender opening session.
The European Commission must be informed of the tender opening session. It may be represented
as an observer at the tender-opening session and receive a copy of each tender.
The European Commission need not be informed of the tender opening session and does not
participate in it.
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of interest with any of the tenderers (on the basis of the tenders received, consortium members and
any identified subcontractor). See point 2.8.2.
The Committee must decide whether or not tenders comply with the formal requirements. The
Summary of tenders received, which is attached to the Tender Opening Report (see Annex C6)
must be used to record the compliance of each of the tenders with the formal submission
requirements. The minutes of this meeting are included in the Tender Opening Report and this must
be made available to the tenderers on request.
Eventual tender guarantees must be returned to the tenderers. This implies that any tenders which
arrive after the submission deadline must also be opened (after the opening session) so that the
guarantees can be returned.
4.3.9.4. Evaluation of technical offers

It is obligatory that the Evaluation Committee uses the administrative compliance grid and the
evaluation grid published in the tender dossier.
As part of the technical evaluation, the Evaluation Committee analyses the commercial aspects,
and, where applicable, the service component of the tenders to determine whether they satisfy the
requirements set in the tender dossier. The results are recorded in a YES/NO grid for all elements
specified in the tender dossier. No scoring method should be used. If the tender is divided into lots,
the evaluation should be carried out lot-by-lot.

Before conducting a detailed evaluation of the tenders, the Contracting Authority checks that they
comply with the essential requirements of the tender dossier (i.e. the administrative compliance
grid).
A tender is deemed to comply if it satisfies all the conditions, procedures and specifications in the
tender dossier without substantially departing from or attaching restrictions to them. Substantial
departures or restrictions are those which affect the scope, quality or performance of the contract,
differ widely from the terms of the tender dossier, limit the rights of the Contracting Authority or
the tenderer's obligations under the contract or distort competition for tenderers whose tenders do
comply.
Each offer is examined for compliance with the tender dossier, in particular that:
- the documentation is complete
- the language required by the tender dossier has been used
For consortia: the confirmation of association and designation of a lead company has been signed
by all consortium members.
For tenderers intending to subcontract tasks (if permitted by the tender dossier): the tenderer has
included a statement regarding the content and extent of subcontracting envisaged, which must be
within the limit stated in the tender dossier.
The administrative compliance of each of the tenders must be recorded in the Evaluation Report
(see Annex C7).
Part 2: Technical compliance of tenders
The detailed technical evaluation of the tenders takes place after the administrative compliance
check.
The criteria to be applied are those published in the tender dossier and, accordingly, the evaluation
grid included in the tender dossier must be used. Under no circumstances may the Committee or its
members change the evaluation grid communicated to the tenderers in the tender dossier.
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The purpose of this evaluation is to assess whether or not the competing tenders meet the selection
criteria and the minimum technical requirements.
Rule of origin: All tenders must satisfy the rule that the goods to be supplied fulfil the
requirements as mentioned in point 2.3.1. In case of any doubt as to the origin of goods, additional
information must be requested. Should doubts persist, the advice of the European Commission
should be sought (in the case it is not the Contracting Authority).
The tenderer will be required to provide, if possible prior to the signature of the contract, proof of
origin in the form of a Certificate of Origin or other official documentation as prima facie evidence.
To establish origin, one must determine where the product in question has been obtained or
produced.
Tenders which clearly fail to satisfy the rule of origin must be rejected.
Nationality subcontractors: The Evaluation Committee must check at this stage that the
nationalities of any subcontractors identified in the technical offers satisfies the nationality rule in
point 2.3.1.
Having evaluated the tenders, the Evaluation Committee rules on the technical compliance of each
tender, classifying it as technically compliant or not technically compliant. Where contracts include
after-sales service and/or training, the technical quality of such services is also assessed during the
technical evaluation in accordance with the published criteria.

Once the technical evaluation has been completed, the Committee checks that the financial offers
contain no arithmetical errors. Any arithmetical errors are corrected without penalty to the tenderer.
If the tender procedure contains several lots, financial offers are compared for each lot. The
financial evaluation will have to identify the best financial offer for each lot, taking into
consideration any eventual discounts granted by the tenderers.
Specimen of application of discounts:
Company A offers a discount of 20% if awarded Lots 1 and 3, Company B offers a discount of
10% if awarded all three Lots, Company C offers NO discount
Ranking without
Company A Company B Company C
discount
LOT 1 90 80 70 Company C
LOT 2 not bidding 40 50 Company B
LOT 3 60 70 55 Company C
After applying the discount:
Company A Company B Company C

(20% discount) (10% discount) (no discount)
LOT 1 72 72 70
LOT 2 not bidding 36 50
LOT 3 48 63 55
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The 3 combinations possible:
Combination 1: 72 + 40 + 48 = 160
Combination 2: 72 + 36 + 63 = 171
Combination 3: 70 + 50 + 55, but since for Lot 2 there is a cheaper price offered, the sum
becomes: 70 + 40 + 55 = 165
The Contracting Authority must choose combination 1, awarding contracts for Lots 1 and 3
to company A and Lot 2 to company B for the initial price offered.
4.3.9.6. Choice of contractor

The successful tenderer is the one submitting the least expensive tender classified as "technically
compliant" during the technical evaluation. It must be declared the successful tender if it is equal to
or lower than the maximum budget available for the contract.
If the chosen tender exceeds the maximum budget available for the contract, the provisions set out
in point 4.2.4.1(d) apply.
In the case of abnormally low tenders, the Evaluation Committee must request any relevant
information concerning the composition of the tender. If, for a given contract, tenders appear to be
abnormally low, the Contracting Authority must, before rejecting such tenders on that ground
alone, request in writing details of the constituent elements of the tender which it considers relevant
and verify those constituent elements, after due hearing of the parties, taking account of the
explanations received. The Contracting Authority may, in particular, take into consideration
explanations relating to:
a) the economics of the manufacturing process, of the provision of services or of the
construction method;
b) the technical solutions chosen or the exceptionally favourable conditions available to the
tenderer;
c) the originality of the tender.
The justification for accepting or rejecting an abnormally low offer must be recorded in the
Evaluation Report.
EDF
Tenderers of the ACP States who offer supplies of ACP origin accounting for at least 50% of
contract value are accorded a 15% price preference where tenders of equivalent economic and
technical quality are compared.
Moreover, where two tenders are acknowledged to be equivalent, preference is given:
a) to the tenderer of an ACP State; or
b) if no such tender is forthcoming, to the tenderer who:
- is a consortium of natural persons, companies and firms from ACP States and the European
Union.

recommendations:
• Award the contract to the tenderer which has submitted a tender:

o which complies with the formal requirements and the eligibility rules;
o whose total budget is within the maximum budget available for the project;
o which meets the minimum technical requirements specified in the tender dossier; and
o which is the least expensive tender (satisfying all of the above conditions).
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• Cancel the tender procedure, for example when:
o None of the tenders satisfies the selection/award criteria of the tender procedure
o All tenders received exceed the maximum budget available for the contract.
CENTRALISED
template in Annex C7) to be signed by the Chairperson, the Secretary and all voting members of
template in Annex C7) to be signed by the Chairperson, the Secretary and all voting members of
Contracting Authority, which must decide whether or not to accept its recommendations. The
Contracting Authority must then submit the Evaluation Report together with its proposed decision
to the European Commission for approval. If there is an award proposal and the European
Commission has not already received a copy of the tenders, these must be submitted.
If the European Commission does not accept the proposed decision, it must write to the Contracting
Commission may endorse a proposed contract on the basis of the tender procedure.
The report is drawn up. The Contracting Authority will then take its decision. The entire evaluation
procedure, including notification of the successful tenderer, must be completed while the tenders
are still valid. It is important to bear in mind that the successful tenderer might be unable to
maintain its tender if the evaluation procedure takes too long.
confidential from the end of the tender opening session to the signature of the contract by both
parties. The Evaluation Committee's decisions are collective and its deliberations must remain
secret. The Evaluation Committee members and any observers are bound to secrecy.
European Commission and the supervisory authorities (e.g. the Court of Auditors).

See point 2.4.13.
Tenderers are entitled to the immediate release of their tender guarantee. When the tender
procedure is cancelled before the opening session, the unopened and sealed envelopes must be
returned to the tenderers.

See section 2.9 and point 2.4.12 (in the case of suspensive clause).
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See section 2.9.
The proposed contract must follow Annex C4.

See section 2.9.
4.4. Local open tender for contracts between € 60,000 and

€ 150,000
In this case, the publication of a forecast notice is not obligatory and the procurement notice is not
published in the Official Journal of the European Union but only in the beneficiary country. The
European Commission publishes details of such tender procedures (dossier number, country,
Contracting Authority etc.) on the EuropeAid website with the address from which firms can obtain
further information. The procurement notice for a local tender must as a minimum be published in
the Official Journal of the beneficiary country or any equivalent media. This publication is under
the responsibility of the beneficiary country.
As the cost of publishing the full procurement notice in the local media may be high, the template
in Annex C3 gives the minimum information, which must be included in a local advertisement.
However, the full procurement notice must be available from the address referred to in the
advertisement, together with the tender dossier. It is also possible to publish the tender dossier and
the procurement notice on the EuropeAid website and indicate this in the Summary Procurement
Notice (Annex C3). The authorising officer may decide to use the simplified tender dossier for
supplies for this procedure as well as for any procedure below this threshold (see below).
Note that a local open tender procedure must provide other eligible contractors with the same
opportunities as local firms. No conditions seeking to restrict the participation of other eligible
contractors are allowed (e.g., obliging such firms to be registered in the beneficiary country or to
have won contracts there in the past).
In this procedure, there must be a minimum of 30 days between the date of publication of the
procurement notice in the local press and the deadline for receipt of tenders.
The measures applicable to an international open procedure, as described in section 4.3, apply by
analogy to the local open procedure.
If it proves impossible to identify potential tenderers in the case of a local open tender procedure, a
corrigendum notice setting out eventual changes to the tender dossier must be published. The
deadline for the submission of tenders may be extended to allow tenderers to take account of the
changes. Possible clarifications during the tender procedure shall be published locally and on the
EuropeAid website and a reference where to find possible clarifications is to be given in the
Summary Procurement Notice (Annex C3).
The Contracting Authority may require a tender guarantee.
4.5. Competitive negotiated procedure for contracts under

€ 60,000
The Contracting Authority may award contracts under € 60,000 by competitive negotiated
procedure, without publication. The Contracting Authority draws up a list of at least three firms.
The candidates are sent a letter of invitation to tender accompanied by a tender dossier. The
authorising officer may decide to use the simplified tender dossier for supplies.
shown. The chosen candidates must be allowed at least 30 days from the dispatch of the letter of
invitation to tender in which to submit their tenders.
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The tenders are opened and evaluated by an Evaluation Committee with the necessary technical
and administrative expertise, appointed by the Contracting Authority.
are met.
In the event of 2 successive failures of the competitive negotiated procedure, the contract may be
concluded by negotiated procedure subject to the prior approval of the relevant services of the
European Commission. The remainder of the procedure (including preparation of the tender
dossier, evaluating the tenders and awarding the contract) is the same as under the international
open procedure (see points 4.3.2 to 4.3.11.2). The authorising officer may decide to use the
simplified tender dossier for supplies. No tender guarantee is required in this case.
The Contracting Authority may award supply contracts of a value of € 10,000 or less on the basis
of a single tender.
4.6. Modifying supply contracts

Under no circumstances can the Contracting Authority increase the budget of the initial supply
contract or agree to/arrange for the purchase of equipment that was not covered in the initial tender
and subsequent contract.
The only exception to this rule is for additional deliveries by the original supplier intended either as
a partial replacement of supplies or installations included in the original contract, or as an extension
of existing supplies or installations where a change of supplier would oblige the Contracting
Authority to acquire equipment having different technical characteristics which would result in
either incompatibility or disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance.
The additional deliveries is regarded as a negotiated procedure, see point 4.2.4.1 c), and an
addendum or a new contract should be signed.
According to article 22 of the General Conditions, the Contracting Authority has the power to issue
an administrative order for variations. The contractor is bound to carry out the ordered variation.
2008 Page 72 of 137

5. Works contracts
5.1. Introduction
Works contracts cover either the execution, or both the execution and design, of works or a work
related to one of the activities referred to in Annex I to Directive 2004/18/EC of the European
Parliament and the Council (BUDGET) or the realisation, by whatever means, of a work
corresponding to the requirements specified by the Contracting Authority. A 'work' means the
outcome of building or civil engineering works taken as a whole that is sufficient of itself to fulfil
an economic or technical function.
Works contracts are usually concluded by the beneficiary with, which the Commission draws up a
financing agreement (decentralised contracts).
5.2.1. Contracts of € 5,000,000 or more

5.2.1.1. Open procedure
The standard method of awarding works contracts is by means of an international open tender
procedure following publication of a procurement notice. For details, see section 5.3.
5.2.1.2. Restricted procedure

In exceptional cases justified by the special characteristics of certain projects, a restricted tender
procedure may be used (with the prior authorisation of the European Commission in the case of
decentralised ex-ante control). The publication of the procurement notice remains mandatory to
ensure the widest possible participation. For details, see section 5.4.
5.2.2. Contracts of between € 300,000 and € 5,000,000

5.2.2.1. Local open procedure
Such contracts are awarded after an open tender procedure published locally, a procedure in which
the procurement notice is published only in the beneficiary country. The European Commission
publishes the references of such tender procedures (publication reference, country, Contracting
Authority and type of contract) on the EuropeAid website with the address from which firms can
obtain further information. For details, see section 5.5.
5.2.3. Contracts under € 300,000 – competitive negotiated procedure

Works contracts under € 300,000 are awarded by competitive negotiated procedure. At least three
candidates are sent an invitation to tender. No procurement notice needs to be published. For
details, see section 5.6.
However, the Contracting Authority may award works contracts of a value of € 10,000 or less on
the basis of a single tender.
2008 Page 73 of 137

CENTRALISED
The Contracting Authority must seek prior approval from the European Commission to use the
negotiated procedure.
Works contracts may be awarded by negotiated procedure with one or several tenders, after the
Commission has given its agreement if it is not the Contracting Authority, in the following cases:
a) where, for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events which the contracting
authorities could not have foreseen and which can in no way be attributed to them, the time-
limit for the competitive procedures (referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 91(1) of
the Financial Regulation) cannot be met.
Operations carried out in crisis situations as referred to in Article 168(2) of the implementing
rules are considered to satisfy the test of extreme urgency (see annex A11a)17;
b) for additional works not included in the initial contract which have, through unforeseen
circumstances, become necessary for carrying out the works described therein and which
have been awarded to the contractor already carrying out the work:
- where such works cannot be technically or economically separated from the
main contract without serious inconvenience to the beneficiary;
- where such works, although separable from the performance of the original
contract, are strictly necessary to its completion;
However the aggregate value of contracts awarded for additional works does not exceed 50%
of the value of the principal contract. See section 5.7.
c) where the tender procedure has been unsuccessful, that is where no qualitatively and/or
from among those that took part in the invitation to tender, provided that the original terms of
the contract are not substantially altered and the principle of equal treatment is observed.
d) where after two attempts the competitive negotiated has been unsuccessful, that is to say,
where no administratively and technically valid tender or no qualitatively and/or financially
worthwhile tender has been received, in which case, after cancelling the competitive
negotiated procedure, the Contracting Authority may negotiate with one or more tenderers of
its choice, from among those that took part in the invitation to tender, provided that the
original terms of the contract are not substantially altered.
e) for contracts declared to be secret, or for contracts whose performance must be accompanied
Union or the beneficiary country so requires.
17
IV of the Cotonou Agreement. The emergency assistance is linked to the application of article 72 and/or 73
2008 Page 74 of 137
decision resulting from these negotiations. The procedures given in point 5.3.11.1-2 must be
followed by analogy, with the Negotiation Report being included in the contract dossier.

aspects of the tenderer can be discussed during the dialogue; however, the dialogue is conducted
with each tenderer individually on the basis of their proposed solutions and ideas. The Contracting
and modified as required.
5.3. International open tender (for contracts of € 5,000,000 or

more
5.3.1. Publicity
transparency, a contract forecast and a procurement notice must be published for every open tender
procedure.

An individual contract forecast setting out the specific characteristics of the planned tender
publication of the procurement notice. The individual contract forecasts must give a brief indication
of the subject and content of the tenders concerned. Contract forecasts are sent as soon as possible
after the decision approving the programme for works contracts. (See template in Annex D1).
Given that they are forecasts, publication does not bind the Contracting Authority to finance the
contracts proposed and prospective contractors are not expected to submit tenders at this stage.
Contract forecasts must be submitted for publication to the relevant services of the European
Commission in electronic form using the template in Annex D1 at least 15 days before the intended
date of publication, to allow time for translation. They must be published at least 30 days before the
corresponding procurement notice.
2008 Page 75 of 137

In addition to contract forecasts, all works contracts of € 5,000,000 or more must also be the
subject of a procurement notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union, on the
EuropeAid website and in any other appropriate media. A minimum of 30 days must be allowed to
elapse between the publication of the contract forecast and the procurement notice. The European
Commission (acting on behalf of the Contracting Authority) is responsible for publication in the
Official Journal of the European Union and on the EuropeAid website, while, if the procurement
notice is published locally, the Contracting Authority must arrange local publication directly.

Procurement notices must be submitted for publication to the relevant services of the European
Commission in electronic form using the template in Annex D2 at least 15 days before the intended
date of publication, to allow time for translation.
In addition to the above, the finalised tender dossier (see point 5.3.2) must also be submitted to the
European Commission either at this time or in advance to demonstrate that the proposed
procurement notice corresponds to the objectives of the contract.
The procurement notice must identify clearly, precisely, and completely what the subject of the
contract is and who the Contracting Authority is. If the procurement notice is also published
locally, it must be identical to the procurement notice published on the EuropeAid website and
appear at the same time.
The Contracting Authority must send tender dossiers to would-be tenderers upon request. Because
of their size and printing costs, tender dossiers for works contracts are usually sent out for a fixed
fee. The tender dossier will also be available for inspection at the premises of the Contracting
Authority and the European Commission.

These documents must contain all the provisions and information that tenderers need to present
their tenders: the procedures to follow, the documents to provide, cases of non-compliance, award
criteria, etc. It may be desirable for representatives of the final beneficiaries to participate in the
tender preparation at an early stage. See section 2.6 for guidelines for preparing Technical
Specifications.
Technical specifications must afford equal access for candidates and tenderers and not have the
effect of creating unjustified obstacles to competitive tendering. They define the characteristics
required of a product, service or material or work with regard to the purpose for which they are
intended by the Contracting Authority.
Those characteristics include:
b) environmental performance;
c) wherever possible, the accessibility criteria for people with disabilities or the design for all
users;
d) the levels and procedures of conformity assessment;
e) fitness for use;
labelling, production procedures and methods;
2008 Page 76 of 137

g) the procedures relating to quality assurance and the rules relating to design and costing, the
test, inspection and acceptance conditions for works and methods or techniques of
construction and all the other technical conditions which the Contracting Authority may
impose under general or specific regulations in relation to the finished works and to the
materials or parts which they involve
Given the technical complexity of many works contracts, the preparation of the tender dossier -
particularly the Technical Specifications - may require the assistance of one or more external
technical specialist(s). Each such specialist must sign a Declaration of Objectivity and
Confidentiality (see Annex A3).
As with Terms of Reference for service contracts, particular attention must be paid to the
preparation of the Technical Specifications for the works tendered. These are the key to successful
procurement and a sound works contract and project.
The Technical Specifications indicate - where applicable, lot by lot - the exact nature and
performance characteristics of the works. Where applicable, they also specify delivery conditions
and installation, training and after-sales service.
It is essential that the performance characteristics correspond to the intended purpose. If there
needs to be an information meeting or site visit to clarify technical requirements at the site where
the works are to be carried out, this should be specified in the instructions to tenderers, together
with details of the arrangements.
The purpose of the Technical Specifications is to define the required works precisely. The
minimum quality standards, defined by the Technical Specifications, will enable the Evaluation
Committee to determine which tenders are technically compliant.
Unless warranted by the nature of the contract, Technical Specifications mentioning or describing
products of a given brand or origin and thereby favouring or excluding certain products are
prohibited. However, where products cannot be described in a sufficiently clear or intelligible
manner, they may be named as long as they are followed by the words "or equivalent".
CENTRALISED
The tender dossier must be approved by the relevant services of the European Commission. The
standard practice is to consult and obtain the approval of the beneficiary country, and where
appropriate of other parties involved, on the tender dossier.
The tender dossier must contain the following documents:

Volume 1: Instructions to tenderer and tender forms
Volume 2: Draft contract and conditions
Volume 3: Technical specifications
Volume 4: Model financial bid
Volume 5: Design documents and drawings
See Annex D4 for template.
2008 Page 77 of 137

The tender documents must clearly state whether a firm, non-revisable price must be quoted. A
price revision clause might be justified and works contracts are commonly subject to price revision.
If that is the case, it is recommended that a price revision formula, following the models established
in the Special Conditions, is included. In order to take a decision in this respect, the Contracting
Authority must take particular account of:
a) the object of the procurement procedure and the economic situation in which it is taking
place;
b) the type of tasks and contract and their duration;
A guarantee is required in return for the payment of pre-financing exceeding € 150,000. However,
when the contractor is a public body, the responsible authorising officer may, depending on his risk
assessment, waive that obligation. The guarantee will be released as and when the pre-financing is
deducted from interim payments or payments of balances made to the contractor in accordance
with the terms of the contract.

The selection criteria concern the tenderer's capacity to execute similar contracts, with particular
reference to works executed in recent years.
The selection procedure involves:
1. eliminating tenderers who are ineligible (see point 2.3.1) or fall into one of the situations
2. checking that the tenderers’ financial situation (financial and economic capacity) is sound,
as backed up, for example, by balance sheets and turnover for the previous three years (see
point 2.4.11.1.3) if specifically required in the Tender Dossier;
3. verifying the tenderers’ technical and professional capacities, for example by looking at
their average annual staffing levels, the size and professional experience of their
management and the main services performed, supplies delivered and works carried out in
the field in question in recent years (see point 2.4.11.1.4).
The selection criteria specified in the annexes to this guide are given by way of illustration and
should be adapted to the nature, cost and complexity of the contract.
If, for some exceptional reason which the Contracting Authority considers justified, the tenderer or
candidate is unable to provide the references required by the Contracting Authority, it may prove
its economic and financial capacity by any other means which the Contracting Authority considers
appropriate. Where the works to be implemented are complex or, exceptionally, are required for a
country in which the tenderer is established, subject to that body's agreement. Such checks shall
concern the tenderer’s technical capacity and production capacity and, if necessary, its study and
research facilities and quality control measures.
The criteria should be precise, non-discriminatory and not prejudicial to fair competition. All
criteria specified in the tender dossier must be applied as such and cannot in any case be modified
during the procedure. The technical evaluation will be based on the evaluation grid published in the
tender dossier, which must not be modified in any way during the evaluation process. Given the
wide variety of works and their technical nature, these must be individually developed for each
tender in a YES/NO format to allow clear assessment whether or not the offer responds to the
technical requirements of the tender dossier.
The award criterion applied to technically compliant tenders is price or, in exceptional cases and
after derogation by the relevant services of the European Commission, the best value for money.
2008 Page 78 of 137

The tender dossier should be clear enough to avoid tenderers having to request additional
information during the tender procedure. If the Contracting Authority, either on its own initiative or
in response to a request from a tenderer, provides additional information on the tender dossier, it
must send such information in writing to all other tenderers at the same time.
deadline for receipt of tenders. The questions and answers shall be published on the EuropeAid
website.
If it proves impossible to identify potential tenderers in the case of an open tender procedure, a
corrigendum notice setting out eventual changes to the tender dossier must be published as
explained in point 5.3.1, taking into account that international notices must be submitted for
publication to the relevant service of the European Commission at least 15 days before the intended
date of publication. The corrigendum shall also be published on the EuropeAid website.
The deadline for the submission of tenders may be extended to allow tenderers to take account of
the changes.
If the tender has a particularly complex technical content, the Contracting Authority may organise
an information meeting or site visit. This meeting must be announced in the tender dossier and
must take place at least 21 days before the expiry of the deadline. All costs of attending such a
meeting must be met by the tenderers. Visits by individual companies during the tender period are
permitted on the condition that the Contracting Authority has given its prior authorization, ensuring
transparency and equal treatment.
5.3.5. Deadline for the submission of tenders

Tenders must reach the Contracting Authority at the address by the date and time indicated in the
tender dossier. The period for submission must be sufficient to guarantee the quality of tenders and
so permit truly competitive tendering. Experience shows that too short a period prevents candidates
from tendering or causes them to submit incomplete or ill-prepared tenders. The deadline should if
possible be combined with the tender-opening session.

The minimum period between the date of publication of the procurement notice and the deadline
for receipt of tenders is 90 days. However, in exceptional cases, a shorter deadline may be allowed
with the prior authorization of the relevant services of the European Commission.
No prior authorization is required from the European Commission in the case of shorter deadline.

See point 2.8.5.

Each technical and financial offer must be placed in a single sealed envelope, itself placed in a
package or outer envelope. The tender must be sent in accordance with the instructions to
tenderers.

2008 Page 79 of 137

CENTRALISED

5.3.9.2. Preparatory meeting

The first meeting of Evaluation Committee to be held before the tender opening session. The tender
dossier should have been distributed in advance to the members of the Evaluation Committee. The
Chairperson presents the purpose of the tender and explains the procedures to be followed by the
Evaluation Committee including evaluation grids, selection and award criteria specified in the
tender dossier.

The purpose of the tender-opening session is to check that the tenders are complete, that the
requisite tender guarantee has been provided and that the tenders are generally in order.
The tender opening session is a formal, public process. The Evaluation Committee opens the
tenders in public at the place and time fixed in the tender dossier. Although it is public,
participation in the tender opening session is restricted to representatives of the companies which
are tendering for the contract.
See tender opening checklist in Annex D5 for the detailed formalities to be carried out by the
Chairperson with the assistance of the Secretary.
CENTRALISED
The Evaluation Committee designated by the relevant services of the European Commission must
carry out the tender opening session.
The European Commission must be informed of the tender opening session. It may be represented
as an observer at the tender-opening session and receive a copy of each tender.
The European Commission need not be informed of the tender opening session and does not
participate in it.
of interest with any of the tenderers (on the basis of the eventual shortlist, the tenders received,
consortium members and any identified subcontractor). See point 2.8.2
The Committee must decide whether or not tenders comply with the formal requirements. The
Summary of tenders received, which is attached to the Tender Opening Report (see Annex D6)
must be used to record the compliance of each of the tenders with the formal submission
requirements. It must be made available to the tenderers upon request. Eventual tender guarantees
must be returned to the tenderers. This implies that any tenders which arrive after the submission
deadline must also be opened (after the opening session) so that the guarantees can be returned.
5.3.9.4. Evaluation of offers

It is obligatory that the Evaluation Committee uses the administrative compliance grid and the
evaluation grid published in the tender dossier.
2008 Page 80 of 137
As part of the technical evaluation, the Evaluation Committee analyses the commercial aspects,
and, where applicable, the service component of the tenders to determine whether they satisfy the
requirements set in the tender dossier. The results are recorded in a YES/NO grid for all elements
specified in the tender dossier. No scoring method should be used. If the tender is divided into lots,
the evaluation should be carried out lot-by-lot.
Before conducting a detailed evaluation of the tenders, the Evaluation Committee checks that they
comply with the essential requirements of the tender dossier (i.e. the administrative compliance
grid).
A tender is deemed to comply if it satisfies all the conditions, procedures and specifications in the
tender dossier without substantially departing from or attaching restrictions to them. Substantial
departures or restrictions are those which affect the scope, quality or performance of the contract,
differ widely from the terms of the tender dossier, limit the rights of the Contracting Authority or
the tenderer's obligations under the contract or distort competition for tenderers whose tenders do
comply.
Each offer is examined for administrative compliance with the tender dossier in accordance with
the published administrative compliance grid.
The administrative compliance of each of the tenders must be recorded in the Evaluation Report
(see Annex D7).
Part 2: Technical compliance of tenders
The detailed technical evaluation of the tenders takes place after the administrative compliance
check. The criteria to be applied are those published in the tender dossier and, accordingly, the
evaluation grid included in the tender dossier must be used. Under no circumstances may the
Committee or its members change the evaluation grid communicated to the tenderers in the tender
dossier. The purpose of this evaluation is to assess whether or not the competing tenders meet the
minimum technical requirements and selection criteria.
Rule of origin: All tenders must satisfy the rule that the goods to be supplied and the materials to
be used for the construction fulfil the requirement as mentioned in point 2.3.1. Tenders which
clearly fail to satisfy the rule of origin must be rejected. The rule of origin does not apply to the
contractor’s equipment which will be used during the construction.
Nationality of subcontractors: The Evaluation Committee must check at this stage that the
nationalities of subcontractors identified in the technical offers satisfy the nationality rule in
point 2.3.1.
Having evaluated the tenders, the Evaluation Committee rules on the technical compliance of each
tender, classifying it as technically compliant or not technically compliant.

Once the technical evaluation has been completed, the Committee checks that the financial offers
contain no arithmetical errors. Any arithmetical errors are corrected without penalty to the tenderer.
If the tender procedure contains several lots, financial offers are compared for each lot. The
financial evaluation will have to identify the best financial offer for each lot, taking due account of
any discounts offered.
For a specimen of application of discounts, see point 4.3.9.5.
2008 Page 81 of 137

5.3.9.6. Choice of contractor
The successful tenderer is the one submitting the least expensive tender classified as "technically
compliant" during the technical evaluation. It must be declared the successful tender if it is equal to
or lower than the maximum budget available for the contract.
If the chosen tender exceeds the maximum budget available for the contract, the provisions set out
in point 5.2.4.1(c) apply. In the case of abnormally low tenders, the Evaluation Committee must
request any relevant information concerning the composition of the tender. If, for a given contract,
tenders appear to be abnormally low, the Contracting Authority must, before rejecting such tenders
on that ground alone, request in writing details of the constituent elements of the tender which it
considers relevant and verify those constituent elements, after due hearing of the parties, taking
account of the explanations received.
The Contracting Authority may, in particular, take into consideration explanations relating to:
a) the economics of the manufacturing process, of the provision of services or of the
construction method;
b) the technical solutions chosen or the exceptionally favourable conditions available to the
tenderer;
c) the originality of the tender.
The justification for accepting or rejecting an abnormally low offer must be recorded in the
Evaluation Report.
EDF
Where two tenders are acknowledged to be equivalent, preference is given:
- to the tenderer of an ACP State; or
- if no such tender is forthcoming, to the tenderer who:
- is a consortium of natural persons, companies and firms from ACP States and the European
Union.
recommendations:
o Award the contract to the tenderer which has submitted a tender:
- which complies with the formal requirements and the eligibility rules;
- whose total budget is within the maximum budget available for the project;
- which meets the minimum technical requirements specified in the tender dossier; and
- which is the least expensive tender (satisfying all of the above conditions).
o Cancel the tender procedure for example when:
- None of the tenders satisfies the selection/award criteria of the tender procedure
- All tenders received exceed the maximum budget available for the contract.
CENTRALISED
template in Annex D7) to be signed by the Chairperson, the Secretary and all voting members of
2008 Page 82 of 137

template in Annex D7) to be signed by the Chairperson, the Secretary and all voting members of
Contracting Authority, which must decide whether or not to accept its recommendations. In
addition to the above, the Contracting Authority must then submit the Evaluation Report together
with its proposed decision to the European Commission for approval. If there is an award proposal
and the European Commission has not already received a copy of the tenders, these must be
submitted.
If the European Commission does not accept the proposed decision it must write to the Contracting
Commission may endorse a proposed contract on the basis of the tender procedure.
The entire evaluation procedure, including notification of the successful tenderer, must be
completed while the tenders are still valid. It is important to bear in mind that the successful
tenderer might be unable to maintain its tender if the evaluation procedure takes too long.
confidential from the end of the tender opening session to the signature of the contract by both
parties. The Evaluation Committee's decisions are collective and its deliberations must remain
secret. The Evaluation Committee members and any observers are bound to secrecy.
European Commission and the supervisory authorities (e.g. the Court of Auditors).

See point 2.4.13.
Tenderers are entitled to the immediate release of their tender guarantee. When the tender
procedure is cancelled before opening session, the unopened and sealed envelopes must be returned
to the tenderers.

See section 2.9 and point 2.4.12 (in the case of suspensive clause).
5.3.11.2. Contract signature

See section 2.9.
The proposed contract must follow Annex D4.
See section 2.9.
2008 Page 83 of 137

5.4. Restricted tender for contracts of € 5,000,000 or more
In exceptional cases justified by the special characteristics of certain projects, a restricted tender
procedure may be used. The relevant services of the European Commission must give their prior
approval to the use of this approach and will provide technical support on a case-by-case basis.
If it intends to use this approach, the Contracting Authority must record the justification for this in
the Evaluation Report and notify the European Commission.
The publication of the procurement notice in the Official Journal of the European Union, on the
EuropeAid website and in any other appropriate media remains mandatory.
The restricted procedure begins with a short-listing phase which must be specially designed for
each project. On the basis of the outcome of this short-listing phase, the Contracting Authority
draws up a list of firms that will be invited to tender (after obtaining the European Commission's
approval, in the case of decentralised ex-ante control).
The Contracting Authority sends a letter of invitation to tender accompanied by the tender dossier
only to the candidates on the shortlist.
In this procedure, there must be a minimum of 60 days between the date of dispatch of the letters of
invitation to tender and the deadline for receipt of tenders.
The measures applicable to an open procedure, as described in points 5.3.2 to 5.3.11.3, apply by
analogy to the restricted procedure for works contracts.
5.5. Local open tender (for contracts of at least € 300,000 and

under € 5,000,000)
In this case, the procurement notice is not published in the Official Journal of the European Union
but only in the beneficiary country. The European Commission publishes details of such tender
procedures (dossier number, country, Contracting Authority etc.) on the EuropeAid website with
the address from which firms can obtain further information. The procurement notice for a local
tender must as a minimum be published in the Official Journal of the beneficiary country or any
equivalent media. This publication is under the responsibility of the beneficiary country.
As the cost of publishing the full procurement notice in the local media may be high, the template
in Annex D3 gives the minimum information which must be included in a local advertisement.
However, the full procurement notice must be available from the address referred to in the
advertisement, together with the tender dossier.
Note that a local open tender procedure must provide other eligible contractors with the same
opportunities as local firms. No conditions seeking to restrict the participation of other eligible
contractors are allowed (e.g., obliging such firms to be registered in the beneficiary country or to
have won contracts there in the past).
In this procedure, there must be a minimum of 60 days between the date of publication of the
procurement notice in the local press and the deadline for receipt of tenders.
If it proves impossible to identify potential tenderers in the case of a local open tender procedure, a
corrigendum notice setting out eventual changes to the tender dossier must be published. The
deadline for the submission of tenders may be extended to allow tenderers to take account of the
changes. Possible clarifications during the tender procedure shall be published locally and on the
EuropeAid website and a reference where to find possible clarifications is to be given in the
Summary Procurement Notice (Annex D3).
The measures applicable to an international open procedure, as described in section 5.3, apply by
analogy to the local open procedure. The principal difference is that minimum number of voting
members in the Evaluation Committee is three. The Contracting Authority may require a tender
2008 Page 84 of 137

guarantee.
EDF
For works contracts of a value of € 5,000,000 or less, tenderers of the ACP States, provided that at
least one quarter of the capital stock and management staff originates from one or more ACP
States, are accorded a 10% price preference where tenders of an equivalent economic and technical
quality are compared.
5.6. Competitive negotiated procedure

The Contracting Authority may award contracts under € 300,000 by competitive negotiated
procedure, without publication. The Contracting Authority draws up a list of at least three
contractors. The candidates are sent a letter of invitation to tender accompanied by a tender dossier.
shown in the invitation to tender. The chosen candidates must be allowed at least 30 days from the
dispatch of the letter of invitation to tender in which to submit their tenders.
The tenders are opened and evaluated by an Evaluation Committee with the necessary technical
and administrative expertise, appointed by the Contracting Authority.
are met.
In the event of 2 successive failures of the competitive negotiated procedure, the contract may be
concluded by negotiated procedure subject to the prior approval of the relevant services of the
European Commission. The remainder of the procedure (including preparation of the tender
dossier, evaluating the tenders and awarding the contract) is the same as under the international
open procedure (see points 5.3.2 to 5.3.11.2). No tender guarantee is required in this case.
The Contracting Authority may award works contracts of a value of € 10,000 or less on the basis of
a single tender.
5.7. Modifying works contracts

No contract modification:
In the overall majority of cases, the works contract stipulates that it is paid by measurement: in
such contracts, the quantities indicated in the bill of quantities are estimates, as is the initial
contract price derived from these estimated quantities.
Whenever an application for payment is submitted, the supervisor measures, for the respective
items, the actual quantities of the works executed and certifies, by applying the unit rates, the
amount due.
Increases vis-à-vis the initial contract price, which are the sole result of the measured actual
quantity exceeding the stated bill of quantities or price schedule, do not represent a change of the
contract and do not require an administrative order for modification nor a contract addendum.
Likewise, it can occur that the application of the price revision clause of the contract will have the
same effect. Again, since the price revision formula is already agreed upon by the contracting
parties in the initial contract, no modification of the contract is required to allow increases vis-à-vis
the initial contract price to deal with their effect.
In no way, can a contract addendum or administrative order be used to obtain additional works
which are not necessary for the completion of the initial contract.
2008 Page 85 of 137

Administrative order:
In a works contract, the supervisor has the power to issue an administrative order for any
modification to any part of the works necessary for the proper completion and/or functioning of the
works. Such modifications may include additions, omissions, substitutions, changes in quality,
quantity, form, character, kind, position, dimension level or line and changes in the specified
sequence, method or timing of execution of the works. See General Condition article 37.
The contractor is bound to carry out the ordered modification. The contractor can not delay the
ordered works pending a decision on his possible claim for extension of the period of
implementation or for additional payment.
Addendum:
Contract modifications not covered by an administrative order must be formalised through an
addendum. In that respect, for additional works, not included in the initial contract, which, through
unforeseen circumstances become necessary for carrying out the works described therein, an
addendum can be concluded under the conditions given in point 5.2.4.1 b).
It is necessary to proceed to the modifications through contract addendum when such variation
would result in an increase or reduction of the total value of the works in excess of 15% the
percentage of the initial contract price.
If additional EU financing is sought, it must be endorsed by the Delegation of the European Union
before any commitment is made by the Contracting Authority.
The total period of execution of a works contract includes the period of the implementation of the
works and the defects liability period between provisional and final acceptance. During this time,
the period(s) of implementation can be extended by administrative order or by contract addendum
during the period of execution of the contract, even after the implementation period specified in the
contract has expired.
A works contractor is committed to complete the works, and the Contracting Authority is
committed to pay for the certified works. These commitments and the contract remain valid even if
the contractor fails to complete the works within the period(s) specified thereto in the contract, the
consequence being that liquidated delay damages can be deducted from the amounts due.
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6. Grants
6.1. Basic rules for grants contracts
6.1.1. Definition
A grant is a direct financial contribution, by way of donation, from the EU budget or the EDF, in
order to finance:
- either an action intended to help achieve an objective forming part of a European Union policy;
- or the functioning of a body which pursues an aim of general European interest or has an
objective forming part of a European Union policy.
In other words, it is a payment of a non-commercial nature by the Contracting Authority to a
specific beneficiary to implement an action intended to help achieve an objective forming part of a
European Union policy or an objective of the ACP-EC Agreement or the Overseas Association
Decision or of a programme or project adopted in accordance with that Agreement or Decision.
In certain cases the grant may also finance the operation of a body which pursues an aim of general
European interest or has an objective forming part of a European Union policy or an objective of
the ACP-EC Agreement or the Overseas Association Decision.
A body pursuing an aim of general European interest is: a European body involved in education,
training, information, innovation or research and study on European policies, any activities
contributing to the promotion of citizenship or human rights, or a European standards body; or a
European network representing non-profit bodies active in the Member States or in the candidate
countries and promoting principles and policies consistent with the objectives of the Treaties.
The body signing a grant contract is known as the grant beneficiary and should not be confused
with the final beneficiary of the operation18 nor with the target group19.
Grants should be distinguished from other legal commitments entered into in the external action
framework and the correct rules applied accordingly. A grant contract can be distinguished from a
procurement contract in a number of ways:
A grant is made for an operation which is proposed to the Contracting Authority by a potential
beneficiary (an “applicant”) and falls within the normal framework of the beneficiary's activities.
This is in contrast to a procurement contract, in which the Contracting Authority draws up the
terms of reference for a project it wants to be carried out.
A contract should be classified as a procurement contract rather than a grant contract if its subject
matter relates primarily or broadly to the administrative functions of the Contracting Authority.
A grant beneficiary is responsible for implementing the operation and retains ownership of its
results. By contrast, under a procurement contract, it is the Contracting Authority which owns the
results of the project and closely supervises its implementation.
A grant beneficiary generally contributes to the financing of the action except in cases where full
EU financing is essential for the action to be carried out or full EDF financing is required (see point
6.2.9). In the case of procurement contracts, however, the contractor does not normally contribute
financially.
18
“Final beneficiaries” are those who will benefit from the project in the long term at the level of the society
or sector at large
19
“Target groups” are the groups/entities who will be directly positively affected by the project at the Project
Purpose level
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A grant can only be made for an operation whose immediate objective is non-commercial. Under
no circumstances may the grant give rise to profits (i.e., it must be restricted to the amount required
to balance income and expenditure for the action, see point 6.2.10), with exception of the actions
with the objective of reinforcement of the financial capacity of a beneficiary or the generation of an
income in the framework of external actions. Grant beneficiaries are generally non-profit-making.
The fact that a body is non-profit-making does not necessarily mean that a contract to be concluded
with it will be a grant contract; non-profit bodies can also tender for procurement contracts. The
action itself must be of a non-commercial nature.
The grant is expressed by ways of a percentage and a maximum amount of the eligible costs of the
action actually incurred by the beneficiary. If lump sums (with a unit value not exceeding
€ 25.000 per category(ies) of eligible cost) or flat-rate financing are envisaged, its use and the
maximum amounts must be authorised by grant or type of grant by the Commission in a decision,
e.g. in the financing decision. The use of lump sums, flat-rate financing or a combination of the
different forms of expressing a grant requires an amendment of the standard grant contract, which
is subject to a derogation.
The amount of a procurement contract, on the other hand, represents a price fixed in accordance
with competitive tendering rules.
Benefit deriving from an interest subsidy and equity investments, with the exception of those for
international financial institutions such as the EBRD or specialised EU bodies such as the European
Investment Fund, are also considered as grants.
The following e.g. do not constitute grants within the meaning of this Practical Guide:
- direct-labour contracts;
- loans, risk-bearing instruments of the EU or financial contributions to such
instruments, contributions, interest-rate subsidies or any other financial operation
managed by the EIB;
- direct or indirect budgetary assistance, or aid to help relieve debt or support export
earnings in the event of short-term fluctuations;
- payments made to bodies to which implementation tasks are delegated in accordance
with Articles 53 c, 53 d and 54(2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the
General Budget and Article 25(3) of the 10th EDF Financial Regulation and payments
made by virtue of their constitutive basic act to bodies set up by the legislative
authority.
Financing agreements concluded with beneficiary States do not constitute grants. If an operation
involves an agreement with the beneficiary State (or a ministry or other State central administrative
body), this must be in the form of a financing agreement and not a grant contract.
Grants paid under financing or related agreements, direct-labour contracts and other agreements
with the bodies referred to in Articles 54, 55 and 185 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the
Budget and in Articles 25-28 of the 10th EDF Financial Regulation are covered by the rules set out
in Chapter 6 of this Practical Guide.
A grant contract cannot be signed unless the action concerned meets the definition of a grant
according to the abovementioned criteria.
An action eligible to receive grant funding must be clearly identified. No action may be split for the
purpose of evading compliance with the rules laid down in this Practical Guide.
6.2. Overview
There are strict rules governing the way in which grants are awarded. The award of grants is
subject to the principles of programming, transparency and equal treatment. They may not be
cumulative or awarded retrospectively and they must generally involve co-financing. The amount
eligible for financing, as specified in a grant contract, may not be exceeded.
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The grant may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit for the beneficiary with
exception for the actions with the objective of reinforcement of the financial capacity of a
beneficiary or the generation of an income in the framework of external actions.
Grants shall be awarded either by a Commission decision notified to the successful applicant or by
a written agreement (standard grant contract) concluded with it. In case of grants awarded in the
framework of external actions those are awarded through written agreement (standard grant
contract).
6.2.1. Management modes

There are several possible approaches to managing procedures for EU external actions. See
section 2.2.
This Practical Guide includes the procedures to be observed in all cases under the following
headings:
CENTRALISED
Procedures to be followed under a centralised programme. Grants are awarded by the European
Commission. The Commission is responsible for publishing work programmes, issuing Calls for
Proposals, receiving proposals, chairing Evaluation Committees, deciding on the results of Calls
for Proposals and signing the contracts.
Procedures to be followed under a decentralised programme with ex-ante controls. Grants are
awarded by the Contracting Authority designated in the financing agreement, i.e., the government
or an entity of the beneficiary country with legal personality with which the European Commission
establishes the financing agreement.
Before launching calls for proposals, the Contracting Authority must submit the annual work
programmes and, where appropriate, the Guidelines for Applicants to the European Commission
for approval.
On the basis of decisions thus approved, the Contracting Authority is responsible for publishing
annual work programmes, issuing calls for proposals, receiving proposals, chairing Evaluation
Committees and deciding on the results of calls for proposals. The Contracting Authority must
submit the Evaluation Report, details of the proposed grants and, where appropriate, the draft
contracts to the European Commission for endorsement. No endorsement of the contracts by the
European Commission is however needed in certain cases contemplated in the Practical Guide
procedures for programme estimates (point 4.2.3).
Once the grant has been approved, the Contracting Authority will sign the contract and notify the
European Commission accordingly. As a general rule, the European Commission will be
represented as an observer when proposals are opened and evaluated and must always be invited.
The Contracting Authority must submit the annual work programmes, Guidelines for Applicants
and grant award notices to the European Commission for publication.
The application of the derogations specifically provided for by this Practical Guide is subject to the
prior approval of the relevant services of the European Commission.
Procedures to be followed under a decentralised programme with ex-post controls. Grants are
awarded by the Contracting Authority designated in the financing agreement, i.e., the government
or an entity of the beneficiary country with legal personality with which the European Commission
establishes the financing agreement. It is responsible for publishing annual work programmes,
issuing Calls for Proposals, receiving proposals, chairing Evaluation Committees, deciding on the
results of Calls for Proposals and signing the contracts without the prior approval of the European
Commission.
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The Contracting Authority must submit the annual work programmes, Guidelines for Applicants
and grant award notices to the European Commission for publication.
6.2.2. Management Tools

CENTRALISED
PADOR (Potential Applicant Database On-line Registration) is the first module of EuropeAid On-
Line Services which purpose is knowledge management of its partners as well as to improve the
services offered to applicants. It is destined for Non State Actors and Local Authorities (not
individuals) interested in applying for EU funding through calls for proposals. PADOR is open for
these organisations to register and update their generic data (i.e. that are not specific to a given Call
for Proposals) and upload their supporting documents (for instance statutes or equivalent
document).
Once registered in PADOR, the applicant or partner do not need to fill in the sections concerning
non-action specific information of the Grant Application form, nor do they need to submit
supporting documents, since the evaluation in this case will be based on the information provided
by the applicant in PADOR. It is the obligation of the applicant to ensure that the information is
updated.
Each call for proposals needs to specify whether prior registration in PADOR is obligatory or not.
Eventual derogation requests received from individual applicants in the context of calls where prior
registration has been rendered obligatory are subject to the prior approval of the relevant services
of the European Commission. In this case, data will be introduced in PADOR by the European
Commission.
For further information, see http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/onlineservices/pador/index_en.htm,
where you can find:
- the PADOR user's guide
- the PADOR e-learning
- Frequently Asked Questions.
In CRIS, there is a Call for Proposals Module available to facilitate the management of the
evaluation procedure. The use of this module is obligatory as from 1 January 2009 for the
registration of applications whereas the services have a choice to use it or not for the evaluation
procedure.
6.2.3. Eligibility criteria

6.2.3.1. Nationality rule
See point 2.3.1.
Participation in the award of grants contracts is open on equal terms to all natural and legal persons
and, after prior approval from the relevant services of the Commission, to entities which do not
have legal personality under the applicable national law, provided that their representatives have
the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf and assume financial liability and who
are established in an eligible country in accordance with the basic act governing the programme in
question.
6.2.3.2. Exceptions to the nationality rule

See point 2.3.2. Exceptions to the nationality rule must be specifically mentioned in the Guidelines
for Applicants and is subject to the prior approval of the European Commission. Restrictions to the
nationality rule are not allowed as such, however, if provided for in the relevant basic act, on the
basis of the objectives of the programme, scope and the particular location of the action(s), the
eligibility of the applicants may be limited by facts; e.g. the objective of the programme is to
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establish cooperation between European universities and those from a specific geographical region,
by definition only Universities from Europe and this specific region may apply.
6.2.3.3. Grounds for exclusion

Natural or legal persons are not entitled to participate in Calls for Proposals or be awarded grants if
they fall into any of the situations listed in point 2.3.3.
6.2.4. Programming
Grants must be programmed by the Contracting Authority with clearly defined objectives.
The annual work programme must be published, by budget heading or programme, on the Internet
site of the Contracting Authority (or any other appropriate media) and on the EuropeAid website.as
appropriate, following the template in Annex E1.
Any substantial change in the work programme during the relevant year must also be adopted and
published in the same conditions as the initial work programme.
CENTRALISED
The work programme will be adopted by the Commission and published on the EuropeAid website,
if necessary during the previous year and no later than 31 March of each financial year.
The work programme will be adopted by the Contracting Authority and published on its Internet
site (or any other appropriate media) and on the EuropeAid website, if necessary during the
previous year and no later than 31 March of each financial year.
The Contracting Authority must submit the work programme to the European Commission for
approval before publishing it.
The work programme will be adopted by the Contracting Authority and published on its Internet
site (or any other appropriate media) and on the EuropeAid website, if necessary during the
previous year and no later than 31 March of each financial year.
6.2.5. Transparency
The availability of grants must be publicised widely and in an easily accessible way.
The work programme will be implemented through the publication of calls for proposals save in
duly substantiated exceptional cases of urgency or where the characteristics of the beneficiary
make it the sole choice for a given action (see point 6.3.2).
All grants awarded in the course of a financial year will be published annually with due observance
of the requirements of confidentiality and security (see point 6.4.10.4).
6.2.6. Equal treatment

The grant award process must be completely impartial. This means notably that the proposals must
be evaluated by an Evaluation Committee, with the advice of assessors where appropriate, using
the published eligibility and evaluation (selection and award) criteria (see point 6.4.3).
6.2.7. Non-cumulation
No single beneficiary may receive more than one grant financed by the European Union or EDF for
a given action, save otherwise provided in the basic act concerned. A beneficiary may be awarded
only one operating grant financed by the European Union or EDF per financial year.
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Under the centralised management system, however, an action may be financed jointly from
separate budget lines by a number of authorising officers.
The applicant shall immediately inform the authorising officer of any multiple applications and
multiple grants relating to the same action or to the same work programme.
6.2.8. Non-retroactivity
Grants may, as a rule, only cover costs incurred after the date on which the grant contract is signed.
A grant may be awarded for an action which has already begun only where the applicant can
demonstrate the need to start the action before the contract is signed.
In such cases, expenditure incurred prior to the deadline for submitting proposals or, in the case of
direct award, the date of submission of the grant application, and if applicable the date of signature
of the relevant financing agreement, will not be eligible for financing. No grant may be awarded
retroactively for actions already completed. However, in the case of crisis situations within the
meaning of article 168, paragraph 2 of the Implementing Rules of the Financial Regulation,
expenditure incurred by a beneficiary before the date of submission of the application shall be
eligible for EU financing solely where the expenditure relates to the constitution of stocks by the
applicant for use in connection with the action for which the grant is awarded and/or by way of
exception and for properly substantiated reasons, the Special Conditions of the grant contract
explicitly provide for this by setting an eligibility date earlier than the date for submission of the
application.
The contract for an operating grant shall be awarded within 6 months after the start of the
beneficiary's budgetary year. Costs eligible for financing may not have been incurred before the
grant application was lodged or before the start of the beneficiary's budgetary year.
6.2.9. Co-financing
Grants may not, as a rule, finance the entire cost of the action or the entire operating expenditure of
a beneficiary body, with the following exceptions.
BUDGET
The financing of an action in full may be authorised in the following cases, save where prohibited
by the basic act:
- humanitarian aid, including assistance for refugees, uprooted persons, rehabilitation and mine
clearance;
- aid in crisis situations within the meaning of article 168 paragraph 2 of the Implementing Rules
of the Financial Regulation;
- actions to protect health or the fundamental rights of peoples;
- actions resulting from the implementation of financing agreements or actions with international
organisations.
The Contracting Authority must be in a position to show that financing in full is essential to carry
out the action in question and must substantiate its award decision accordingly.
Where it is in the interests of the EU to be the sole donor to an action, and in particular to ensure
visibility of an EU action. Grounds shall be provided in the Commission's financing decision.
EDF
The financing of an operation in full may be authorised if the Contracting Authority is in a position
to show that financing in full is essential in order to carry out the operation in question and
substantiates its award decision accordingly.
The beneficiary supplies evidence of the amount of the co-financing brought either with its own
resources or in the form of financial transfers from third parties.
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The Contracting Authority may accept co-financing in kind, if considered necessary or appropriate.
For grants with a total value of less than or equal to € 25 000, the Contracting Authority may,
depending on his risk assessment, waive the obligation to provide evidence for co-financing.
6.2.10. Non-profit
Grants may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit for the beneficiary, except the case
where the objective(s) of the Action is to reinforce the financial capacity of a beneficiary or to
generate an income. In such case, this fact has to be provided for in the Special Conditions of the
Standard grant contract.
Profit is defined as:
- in the case of a grant for an action, a surplus of receipts over the costs incurred by the
beneficiary when the request is made for final payment.
- in the case of an operating grant, a surplus balance on the operating budget of the
beneficiary.
Lump-sums and flat-rate financing should be established in such a way as to exclude a priori a
profit.
In the case of operating grants to bodies which pursue an aim of general European interest, the
Contracting Authority shall be entitled to recover the percentage of the annual profit corresponding
to the EU contribution to the operating budget of the bodies concerned where these bodies are also
funded by public authorities which are themselves required to recover the percentage of the annual
profit corresponding to their contribution. For the purpose of calculating the amount to be
recovered, the percentage corresponding to the contributions in kind to the operating budget shall
not be taken into account.
6.2.11. Other essential points

See point 2.3.6.
Procurement of services, supplies or works for a grant-funded action: if the implementation of an
action involves the procurement of services, supplies or works by the grant beneficiary, the contract
award procedures specified in Annex IV of the grant contract must be applied for each procurement
contract.
If the action requires financial support to be given to third parties (re-granting), it may be given on
the condition that the financial support is not the primary aim of the action and that the conditions
for the giving of such support are strictly defined in the grant contract or decision with no margin
for discretion. The grant contract must therefore specify:
– the minimum and maximum amounts of financial support that can be paid to a third party
and criteria for determining the exact amount;
– the different types of activities that may receive such financial support on the basis of a
fixed list.
The maximum amount of financial support that can be paid to third parties by a beneficiary is
€ 100.000 with a maximum of € 10.000 per each third party.
Unless otherwise specified in the basic act, in the case where operating grants to (BUDGET:
European) bodies are renewed, they shall gradually be decreased, except if the grant is in the form
of lump-sums or flat-rate financing.
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6.3. Award procedures
6.3.1. Call for proposals

Grants must be awarded following the publication of a Call for Proposals except in the cases listed
in point 6.3.2 below.
6.3.1.1. Publication
A call for proposals is always published on the EuropeAid website.
A call for proposals must also be published locally where it is not organised by a service of the
European Commission headquarters.
6.3.1.2. Open or restricted call for proposals

Calls for proposals are open where all applicants are free to submit a grant application form
including a full proposal in response to the published Guidelines for Applicants (see point 6.4.2).
Calls for proposals are restricted where all applicants may ask to take part but only the applicants
who have been shortlisted (on the basis of a concept note (see Annex E3b) in response to the
published Guidelines for Applicants) will be invited to submit a full proposal.
The choice of procedure will i.e. depend on the technical nature of the field, the budget available or
the expected number of proposals.
6.3.1.3. Partnerships
Grant contracts may form part of framework partnership agreements with a view to establishing
long-term cooperation with the Contracting Authority. Framework agreements specify the common
objectives, the nature of actions planned on a one-off basis or as part of an approved annual work
programme, the procedure for awarding specific grants, in compliance with the principles and
procedural rules in this Guide, and the general rights and obligations of each party under the
specific contracts. The duration of the partnership may not exceed four years, save in exceptional
cases, justified in particular by the subject of the framework partnership. Framework partnership
agreements are treated as grants for the purposes of the award procedure.
Partnerships of this nature (between the Contracting Authority and the beneficiary) are rare and not
to be confused with the possibility frequently used by beneficiaries of carrying out an action in
partnership with one or more other organisations as their "partners".
of a framework partnership agreement.
No prior approval by the European Commission is required for the use of a framework partnership
agreement.
6.3.2. Grants awarded without calls for proposals (“Direct award”)

The prior approval of the relevant services of the European Commission must be sought for use of
the direct award procedure
No prior approval by the European Commission is required for the use of the direct award
procedure.
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Only in the following circumstances is it not necessary to organise a Call for Proposals before
awarding grants:
• In duly substantiated exceptional cases of urgency, i.e., where unforeseeable events oblige
the Contracting Authority to act with an urgency incompatible with the periods laid down
for Call for Proposals procedures described in point 6.3.1. The circumstances cited as
grounds for extreme urgency must in no way be attributable to the Contracting Authority
(e.g., imminent expiry of the financing agreement).
Actions carried out in crisis situations as described in Annex A11a are considered to satisfy
the test of extreme urgency; this provision is mutatis mutandis applicable to EDF.
Under emergency assistance provided for in article 72 and/or 73 of the Cotonou Agreement
(see annex A11a), it is also possible the direct award of grants.
• Where the grant is awarded to a body with a de jure or de facto monopoly, duly
substantiated in the award decision.
For these purposes, "de facto" or "de jure" monopoly means that the beneficiary, which
may be a consortium:
- has exclusive competence in the field of activity and/or geographical area to
which the grant relates pursuant to any applicable law; or
- is the only organisation (i) operating or (ii) capable of operating in the field of
activity and/or geographical area to which the grant relates by virtue of all
considerations of fact and law.
• Where the grant is to be awarded to a body identified by the relevant basic act as
beneficiary of a grant.
• In the case of research and technological development, to bodies identified in the annual
work programme, where the basic act expressly provides for that possibility, and on
condition that the project does not fall under the scope of a call for proposals.
• For actions with specific characteristics that require a particular type of body on account of
its technical competence, its high degree of specialisation or its administrative power, on
condition that the actions concerned to no fall within the scope of a call for proposals.
These cases shall be duly substantiated in the award decision.
• In case of grants of a low amount in decentralised management (see section 6.5)
In all cases, the Contracting Authority must prepare a report explaining the manner in which the
grant beneficiaries were identified and the grant amounts established, and the grounds for the
award decision. The Contracting Authority must ensure that all the basic principles for grants are
respected (including eligibility and exclusion).
The procedures described in point 6.4.10 must be followed by analogy, with the aforementioned
report being included in the contract dossier.
6.4. Call for proposals
6.4.1. Publicity
In order to ensure the widest possible participation and the requisite transparency, Guidelines for
applicants must be published for every Call for Proposals.
The Guidelines are published on the Internet and in any other appropriate media (specialised press,
local publications, etc.). They should also be available in hard copy from the Contracting
Authority. They should be available in the languages appropriate to the context of the Call for
Proposals.
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The European Commission is responsible for publication on the EuropeAid website. When the
Contracting Authority is not a service of the European Commission headquarters, it must arrange
local publication directly at the same time as it is published on the Internet.
Since the publication cost of the entire Guidelines in the local press may be prohibitive, the
template in Annex E2 prescribes the minimum information which is required for a local
publication. The Guidelines have to be available at the address mentioned in the local publication.
It is also advisable, after the launch of the call for proposals, to organise one or more information
sessions which all the potential applicants can attend.
6.4.2. Drafting and contents of the guidelines for applicants

The Guidelines for Applicants (which include the Application Form and other annexes) explain the
purpose of the Call for Proposals, the rules regarding the eligibility of applicants and partners, the
types of action and costs which are eligible for financing, and the evaluation (selection and award)
criteria (see annex E3a). They also contain instructions on how to fill in the application form, what
to annex to it and what procedures to follow for applying. They give information on the evaluation
process that will follow (including an indicative timetable) and the contractual conditions which
will apply to successful applicants.
The Guidelines should set out very clearly and in detail the objectives and priorities of the call for
proposals, and give particular attention to the eligibility criteria. The guidelines must be published
and any modification must be published as well. The information published will become binding
on the Evaluation Committee once the date for submission has elapsed.
The Application Form to be completed by the applicants comprises the following parts:
- a concept note
- information about the action proposed, including its budget
- information about the applicant
- information about any partners.
The Guidelines for Applicants must be approved by the Contracting Authority prior to issue.
The Contracting Authority must submit the Guidelines for Applicants to the Delegation of the
European Union for approval prior to issue.
6.4.3. Eligibility and evaluation (selection and award) criteria

6.4.3.1. Eligibility criteria
The eligibility criteria shall determine the conditions for participating in a call for proposals. Those
criteria shall be established with due regard for the objectives of the action and shall comply with
the principles of transparency and non-discrimination. The eligibility criteria relate to two different
aspects:
• Eligibility of the applicant: this refers to the applicant's legal and administrative status - see
points 6.2.3.1 (Rules on nationality) and 6.2.2.3 (Grounds for exclusion).
If a Call for Proposals relates to actions to be implemented in partnership, the minimum
number of partners and the eligibility criteria applicable to each of the partners of the lead
applicant must be specified. The eligibility criteria applicable to the lead applicant and to
the partners may differ.
• Eligibility of the action: this refers to the types of activities, sectors or themes and
geographical areas covered by the Call for Proposals.
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6.4.3.2. Evaluation criteria: selection and award
The evaluation criteria consist of selection and award criteria, all of which are defined in the
evaluation grids.
• The selection criteria are used to assess the applicant's financial and operational capacity to
complete the proposed action: the applicant must have stable and sufficient sources of
funding to maintain its activity throughout the period during which the action is being
carried out and to participate, where appropriate, in its funding. Applicants and their
partners must also have the necessary professional competencies and qualifications to
complete the proposed action.
The verification of financial capacity based in particular on an analysis of the supporting
documents requested from the applicants does not apply to natural persons in receipt of
scholarships, public bodies or international organisations.
• The award criteria are used to assess the quality of proposals against the set objectives and
priorities, so that grants are awarded to the actions which maximise the overall
effectiveness of the call for proposals. They should enable the Contracting Authority to
select proposals which it can be confident will comply with its objectives and priorities and
guarantee the visibility of the EU financing.
The award criteria relate, in particular, to the relevance of the action and its compatibility
with the objectives of the grant programme under which the Call for Proposals is being
financed, to the quality, expected impact and sustainability of the action, and to its cost-
effectiveness.
All eligibility and evaluation criteria specified in the Call for Proposals must be applied as they
stand and cannot be changed in the course of the procedure. The criteria should be precise and non-
discriminatory. See the templates of evaluation grids given in Annexes E5a and E5b.
6.4.4. Additional information before the deadline for submission of

proposals
During the time between publication and the deadline for the submission of proposals, and in
addition to the eventual information session mentioned in point 6.4.1, applicants should be able to
ask questions to help them fill in the form and put together their applications. The Contracting
Authority should therefore provide a contact point to which questions may be addressed.
Applicants may submit questions in writing up to 21 days before the deadline for the submission of
proposals. The Contracting Authority must reply to all such questions at least 11 days before the
deadline for submission of proposals.
In the interests of transparency and equal opportunity, the answer provided to one applicant on
points which may be of interest to the other applicants should be made available to all the others.
The way to achieve this is to publish on the Internet a table of questions and answers provided.
This must be updated regularly until 11 days before the deadline for submission of proposals.
6.4.5. Deadline for submission of proposals

Proposals must be submitted to the Contracting Authority at the address and, at the very latest, by
the date (and time in case of hand-delivery) indicated in the Call for Proposals, as evidenced by the
date of dispatch, the postmark or the date of the deposit slip (in case of hand-deliveries, the
deadline for receipt is on the date and hour fixed in the guidelines). However, for reasons of
administrative efficiency where the acceptance of late arriving Concept Notes or applications that
have been submitted on time would considerably delay the award procedure or put into question
decisions already taken and communicated, the Contracting Authority may reject any application
received after the effective date of approval of the first evaluation step. For an open procedure, this
is the approval of the Concept Note evaluation. For a restricted procedure this is either the approval
of the Concept Note evaluation (first stage) or the approval of the evaluation of the full application
(second stage).
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The deadline for submission must be long enough to allow for high-quality proposals. Experience
shows that too short a deadline may prevent would-be applicants from submitting proposals or
cause them to submit incomplete or ill-prepared proposals.
The minimum period between the date of publication of the Guidelines and the deadline for
submission of proposals is 90 days. When the maximum size of each grant to be awarded within
the programme is less or equal to € 100,000, the minimum period is 60 days. In exceptional cases, a
shorter deadline may be allowed as a derogation.
A call for proposals may set more than one deadline for submissions, either to allow for staggered
processing or in cases where the actions to be financed cannot by their nature be planned long in
advance. In this case, proposals submitted after one deadline are automatically carried over to the
next.
6.4.6. Submission of proposals

The proposals must be submitted in accordance with the instructions given in the Guidelines for
Applicants (see annex E3).
The application form consists of a concept note, the application form itself, a checklist and a
declaration.
The Authorising Officer responsible for an individual call for proposals has the discretion to decide
whether to request the supporting documents from all the applicants with the application form or
only from the applicants which have been provisionally selected after the evaluation. Even if this
does not change the basic principle that the supporting documents will be examined only for the
provisionally selected applicants, the Guidelines for applicants and the Application form should be
adapted accordingly. No supporting document will be requested for applications for a grant not
exceeding € 25 000.
Originals or photocopies of the said originals of the requested supporting documents must be
provided. If the supporting documents are not written in one of the official languages of the
European Union or if applicable of the country of implementation of the Action, a translation into
the language/one of the languages of the call for proposals of the relevant excerpts of these
documents showing proof of the applicant’s eligibility may be requested for the purposes of
interpreting the proposal.
In the case of actions where the cost to be financed exceeds € 500,000 and operating grants of over
€ 100,000, the applicant must provide an external audit report produced by an approved auditor.
The report must certify the accounts for the last financial year available (the last two years in the
case of framework partnership agreements). The obligation does not extend to international
organisations nor to public bodies. Depending on his risk assessment, the Contracting Authority
may waive the obligation of audit for secondary and higher education establishments and
beneficiaries who have accepted joint and several liabilities in the case of agreements with a
number of beneficiaries.
CENTRALISED
Instead of providing the required supporting documents in original or photocopies, the applicant
may upload these in PADOR. In the case registration in PADOR is obligatory for a certain call for
proposals, it is also obligatory to upload the supporting documents in PADOR.
The supporting documents required by a specific call for proposals must be uploaded by the time-
limit communicated by the Contracting Authority
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6.4.7.1. Composition
Proposals are evaluated by an Evaluation Committee appointed by the Contracting Authority
comprising a non-voting Chairperson, a non-voting Secretary and an odd number of voting
members (minimum of three). The voting members must possess the technical and administrative
capacities necessary to give an informed opinion on the proposals. They must have a reasonable
command of the language in which the proposals are submitted. They must represent at least two
organisational entities of the Contracting Authority with no hierarchical link between them, unless
the call for proposals is organised by a delegation of the European Union. Substitutes to the
members can be nominated on the same conditions as the titulars where justified by the size and/or
the technical nature of the call for proposals.

nominated by name by the Contracting Authority. The participation of other observers must be
authorised in advance by the Contracting Authority.
The Evaluation Committee (i.e., the Chairperson, the Secretary and the voting members), must be
nominated by name by the Contracting Authority which informs the European Commission. The
composition of the Evaluation Committee is considered approved if after 5 working days the
European Commission has not raised any objection. The European Commission may nominate an
observer to follow all or part of the proceedings of the Evaluation Committee. The participation of
other observers must be submitted for prior approval to the European Commission.
The Evaluation Committee members should attend all meetings, except the opening meeting. Any
absence must be recorded and explained in the evaluation report. A member who withdraws from
the Evaluation Committee for whatever reason must be replaced by his substitute or following the
standard procedure for appointing members of the Evaluation Committee. The Chairperson of the
Evaluation Committee determines to what extent the evaluation process must be restarted. Such
decision as well as any decision relating to the replacement of a Committee member must be
recorded and justified in the evaluation report.
All voting members of the Evaluation Committee have equal voting rights.
The Evaluation Committee should be formed early enough to ensure the availability of the
designated members (and any observer nominated by the European Commission, in the case of
decentralised ex-ante control) during the period necessary to prepare and conduct the evaluation
process.
6.4.7.2. Use of assessors

Where the proposals received are particularly numerous or highly technical, it may not always be
possible for the Evaluation Committee to examine each one in detail. If necessary, all or part of this
detailed examination may be carried out by assessors so that the Evaluation Committee may
conduct its deliberations on the basis of their assessments. Assessors may attend the meetings of
the Evaluation Committee as observers to present the results of their assessments and answer any
questions from Committee members.
In the case assessors are not used, it suffices that the Evaluation Committee completes one
collective evaluation grid for each respective step of the procedure.
Assessors work under the supervision of the Chairperson of the Evaluation Committee. Although
the same assessors may be used for the different stages, different types of expertise are required for
the different assessments and it is recommended to use different persons wherever possible.
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Where the call for proposals is organised by a service of the European Commission headquarters,
one of the two assessors will be the delegation of the country where the action is to take place (in
case of regional projects it is the leading delegation - or, as appropriate, headquarters - which will
consult the delegations concerned in the region where appropriate). In the case assessors are not
used, the delegation should nevertheless be duly consulted.
• With respect to the administrative check and the verification of eligibility, the task of
assessors consists of carrying out a screening of each proposal on the basis of the Checklist
(section V of the application form) and the Declaration by the applicant (see Annex E3b).
Each proposal need only be screened by one assessor.
It would be preferable to delegate this work to officials or other staff members of the
Contracting Authority. Outside assessors may be recruited as required.
• With respect to the evaluation of the concept notes and of the proposals, the task of
assessors consists of carrying out a written assessment on the basis of the published
evaluation grids (see Annexes E5a and E5b). At least two assessors must assess each
concept note and each proposal, working independently of each other. These two assessors
should preferably be chosen internally within the Commission services. Where there are
insufficient internal resources, external assessors can however also be chosen. The external
assessors must have an in-depth knowledge of the issues covered by the grant programme
concerned. Their expertise should be verified on the basis of their CVs. A minimum of five
years' experience of a particular issue should be expected.
CENTRALISED. DECENTRALISED: EX-POST

The assessors are selected by the Contracting Authority. Outside assessors who are not officials or
other staff of the Contracting Authority or the public administration of the beneficiary country must
be selected using the appropriate procedure for service contracts.
The assessors are selected by the Contracting Authority. The list must be submitted for approval to
the European Commission. Outside assessors who are not officials or other staff of the Contracting
Authority or the public administration of the beneficiary country must be selected using the
appropriate procedure for service contracts.
6.4.7.3. Impartiality and confidentiality

See point 2.8.2.
6.4.7.4. Responsibilities of the Evaluation Committee

See point 2.8.3.

The evaluation process starts with the receipt of the concept notes/proposals by the Contracting
Authority, and ends with the decision to award grants to the selected applicants. The procedure is
set out below.
6.4.8.1. Receipt and registration of proposals

On receiving proposals, the Contracting Authority must register them and provide a receipt for
those delivered by hand (see Annex A7). The envelopes must remain sealed and be kept in a safe
place until they are opened.
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6.4.8.2. Opening session and administrative check
All proposals received should be opened in an opening session at which the registration details will
be checked and completed and the proposals numbered.
The secretary to the Evaluation Committee supervises the opening session and requests the
assistance of other staff of the Contracting Authority as need be.
The registration of concept notes/proposals should contain the following information:
- registration number of concept note/proposal
- date of submission
- the applicant's name and address.
For each proposal,
- the original is kept safely in the archives of the Contracting Authority;
- the copies are distributed to the evaluators and, where appropriate, to the assessors.
The proposals having met the deadline are then subject to an administrative check, which will
assess whether they satisfy all the criteria mentioned in the checklist (Part 1 of section V of the
grant application form). Under no circumstances may assessors or members of the Evaluation
Committee change this checklist.
Incomplete dossiers will be disqualified from the evaluation process. However, if some of the
criteria are not satisfied, according to the option chosen in the call for proposals, the applicant is
rejected or invited to submit a clarification within the deadline fixed by the Evaluation Committee.
In the latter, the Evaluation Committee may use its discretion to decide whether or not it should
still be considered during the rest of the evaluation process, while ensuring the equal treatment of
proposals and in accordance with the principle of proportionality. Whatever the Evaluation
Committee decides, this must be fully recorded and justified in the Evaluation Report (see
point 2.8.3.)
The Contracting Authority must keep proposals not considered for further evaluation.
The administrative check may be carried out by members of the Evaluation Committee or by
assessors.
If the members of the Evaluation Committee do not carry out the check themselves, the Evaluation
Committee must review the conclusions of the assessors on the basis of their completed grids. In
order to facilitate the Evaluation Committee's review of the assessments, the Secretary to the
Evaluation Committee must ensure that one list is drawn up containing proposals which did not
satisfy the administrative criteria mentioned in the checklist. For each entry on the list, the criteria
not satisfied must be identified.
Following the opening session and the administrative check, the Evaluation Committee meets to
decide on any contentious case and sign the Proposal Opening session and administrative check
Report, (see Annex E6a).
This report (see Annex E6a) is submitted to the Contracting Authority, which have to decide
whether or not to accept the recommendations of the Committee.
In addition to the above, the Contracting Authority then has to submit the first part of the
evaluation report to the European Commission for approval.
Once the required approvals received, the Contracting Authority must send a standard letter to the
applicants (see Annex E9a) that includes a statement indicating the applicants whether or not their
application was submitted within the deadline, informing them of the reference number they have
been allocated, whether their application has satisfied all the criteria mentioned in part 1 of the
checklist and whether their concept note has been recommended for further evaluation.
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6.4.8.3. Evaluation of the concept note
The concept notes submitted within the deadline and having satisfied the administrative criteria
mentioned in the checklist will undergo an evaluation of the relevance of the action, its
effectiveness as well as of the feasibility and sustainability of the action on the basis of an
evaluation grid (see Annex E5a). The overall assessment is based on the scores obtained under
each subheading, added up by heading. In the case the Evaluation Committee does not evaluate
itself the concept notes, the final score is the arithmetical average of the scores given by the
assessors.
The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to undertake the evaluation of the Concept Notes
whenever considered justified (for example when a less than expected number of proposals are
received) and to go straight to the evaluation of the corresponding full proposals.
Where the call for proposals is organised by a headquarters service of the European Commission,
copy of each concept note must be sent to the European Union delegation in the country where the
proposed action is to take place, for assessment on the basis of the same evaluation grid (see Annex
8).
The Secretary will then prepare a list of all the concept notes, ranked by score. At a first step, only
the concept notes which have been given a score of 12 points in the category "Relevance" as well
as a minimum total score of 30 points will be considered for pre-selection. The completed
evaluation grids for each concept note must be sent to the Evaluation Committee.
The evaluation report of the concept note (see Annex 6b) is submitted to the Contracting Authority,
which have to decide whether or not to accept the recommendations of the Committee.
In addition to the above, the Contracting Authority then has to submit the evaluation report to the
European Commission for approval.
Following the evaluation of the concept notes, the Contracting Authority will send a letter to the
applicants whose concept note has been evaluated, indicating whether their full application will be
evaluated or not (see Annex E9b).
6.4.8.4. Evaluation of the application form

The quality of the applications forms must be assessed on the basis of the evaluation grid (see
Annex 5b) containing the selection and award criteria. Comments are made for each heading on the
basis of the questions and criteria used for that heading. In particular cases, comments may need to
be made for specific subheadings. The overall assessment is based on the scores obtained under
each subheading, added up by heading. In the case the Evaluation Committee does not evaluate
itself the application forms, the final score is the arithmetical average of the scores given by the
assessors.
Where the call for proposals is organised by a headquarters service of the European Commission,
copy of each application form must be sent to the European Union delegation in the country where
the proposed action is to take place, for assessment on the basis of the same evaluation grid (see
Annex 8).
The Secretary will then prepare a list of all the proposals, ranked by score. The completed
evaluation grids for each proposal and must be sent to the Evaluation Committee.
The evaluation report of the application forms (see Annex 6c) is submitted to the Contracting
Authority which has to decide whether or not to accept the recommendations of the Committee.
In addition to the above, the Contracting Authority then has to submit the evaluation report to the
European Commission for approval.
2008 Page 102 of 137
Once the required approvals received, the Contracting Authority must send a standard letter (see
Annex E9c_1) to the applicants, stating whether their proposal has been provisionally selected
according to their score, and inviting those whose proposals have been provisionally selected to
supply the required supporting documents.
6.4.8.5. Verification of eligibility

This assessment must be carried out using the Declaration by the applicant (part 2 of section VI of
the grant application form) and the criteria set out in the Guidelines for Applicants. Under no
circumstances may assessors or members of the Evaluation Committee change this Declaration.
• Is the Declaration by the applicant in conformity with the supporting documents requested?
Any missing supporting document or any incoherence between the Declaration and the
supporting documents will lead to the rejection of the proposal on that sole basis
• Eligibility: are the applicant, the partners and action eligible?
This is assessed according to the criteria set out in the Guidelines for Applicants.
The verification of eligibility may be carried out by members of the Evaluation Committee or by
assessors. Each proposal may be examined by one person.
Even though the verification of eligibility is foreseen to be carried out only for the provisionally
selected applicants at the end of the procedure, the Committee may decide to verify this point at
any previous step of the procedure.
Taking into account the Good Administrative Practices, the Evaluation Committee can exclude an
applicant at any stage of the Call for proposals evaluation process whenever it is obvious that the
latter does not meet the eligibility criteria.
If the members of the Evaluation Committee do not carry out the assessment themselves, the
Evaluation Committee must review the conclusions of the assessors on the basis of their completed
grids. In order to facilitate the Evaluation Committee's review of the assessments, the Secretary to
the Evaluation Committee must ensure that one list containing the proposals which are ineligible is
drawn up. For each entry on a list, the grounds for ineligibility must be identified.

The Evaluation Committee will draw up its recommendations after the assessors have examined all
the proposals. The Evaluation Committee must not change the assessors' scores or
recommendations and must not alter the evaluation grids completed by the assessors.
The Evaluation Committee may decide to approve the ranking drawn up by the secretary on the
basis of the assessors' report. If the Committee does not accept the scores awarded by the assessors
to a proposal, for example where there is a significant difference between the scores awarded by
the assessors, it must justify this decision in the evaluation report. Subject to the points below, the
Committee then has to prepare a new evaluation grid for the proposal concerned. The list will be
amended on the basis of the scores from the new evaluation, which replace those completed by the
assessors.
All such decisions must be recorded and fully substantiated in the Evaluation Report. The
evaluation grids completed by the members of the Evaluation Committee must be kept with those
completed by the assessors.
The Evaluation Committee's decisions are taken independently and in an advisory capacity. The
Evaluation Committee must ultimately draw up a list of the proposals selected for financing,
indicating the score obtained by each proposal, the amount of the proposed grant and the proportion
of the eligible costs it is proposed to finance. Subject to the following considerations, this list is
made up of the proposals obtaining the best scores, ranked by order, within the limits of the funds
available under the call for proposals.
• The Committee may not allocate all the available funds if it finds that there are too few
proposals of the quality required to receive a grant.
2008 Page 103 of 137
• The Committee may draw up a list by subject or geographical area specified in the
Guidelines for Applicants.
• The Committee may reject a proposal if it has selected another which is of a similar nature
but has been awarded a higher score.
• Where several proposals submitted by the same applicant are selected for financing, but the
applicant does not have the financial and operational capacity required to implement the
actions all together, the Committee may reject the proposal(s) which has (have) been
awarded a lower score, and select the proposal(s) that the applicant has the capacity to
implement.
The Committee may furthermore draw up, in the same conditions, a reserve list comprising a
limited number of proposals having obtained the best scores after those selected for financing. This
reserve list is valid during the period mentioned in the evaluation report. The proposals included in
that list are likely to receive a grant insofar as funds become available under the call for proposals
(decrease of the eligible costs of the selected proposals, impossibility to sign a contract with a
selected applicant, etc).
• The final Evaluation Report (see Annex 6d), covering the eligibility verification, is drawn
up following the final meeting of the Evaluation Committee. It comprises the minutes of
the evaluation sessions and must be signed by all members of the Evaluation Committee.

The entire evaluation procedure is recorded in an Evaluation Report (see template in Annex 6d) to
be signed by the Chairperson, the Secretary and all voting members of the Evaluation Committee.
This must be submitted for approval to the Contracting Authority which must decide whether or
not to accept its recommendations.
In addition to the above, the Contracting Authority must then submit the Evaluation Report and the
recommendations of the Contracting Authority to the Delegation of the European Union for
approval.
If the Contracting Authority confirms that there are no derogations (either in the special conditions
or in the proposed contract annexes) from the standard contract conditions annexed to the
Guidelines for Applicants, the European Commission's approval of the evaluation report including
of the list of award proposals counts as a global endorsement of the corresponding contracts when
this endorsement is requested. The list must include all the elements necessary to conclude the
contracts (including the applicant's details, maximum grant amount and contract duration). No
endorsement by the Delegation is required in certain cases contemplated in the Practical Guide for
Programme Estimates.
Once the approvals have been given, the Contracting Authority will commence awarding the grants
(see point 6.4.10).
The award decision contains the subject and overall amount of the decision, the approved
evaluation report and, where appropriate, the grounds for the decision by the Contracting Authority
to depart from the recommendations made by the Committee in the report in respect of a particular
proposal.
Subject to the Contracting Authority’s policy on access to documents, the entire procedure, from
the drawing-up of the Call for Proposals to the selection of successful applicants, is confidential.
The Evaluation Committee's decisions are collective and its deliberations must remain secret. The
committee members are bound to secrecy.
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6.4.9. Cancelling the call for proposals procedure
The Contracting Authority may decide to cancel the call for proposals procedure at any stage, but
particularly in the light of the Evaluation Report, if:
the call for proposals has been unsuccessful, i.e., no worthwhile proposal has been received or there
were no replies;
• the economic or technical data of the programme have been fundamentally altered;
• exceptional circumstances or force majeure render the normal conduct of the planned
actions impossible;
• there have been irregularities in the procedure, in particular where these have prevented
equal treatment
The responsibility for cancelling a call for proposals procedure lies with the relevant services of the
Contracting Authority.
In addition to the above, prior approval of the European Commission is required.
In the event of cancellation of a call for proposals, applicants must be notified of the cancellation
by the Contracting Authority but will not be entitled to compensation.
6.4.10. Awarding grants

6.4.10.1. Notification of applicants
After the Contracting Authority has given its official approval to the final list of grants to be
awarded, it notifies the successful applicants in writing that their applications have been selected
(see Annex E9d_1).
It must also send the unsuccessful applicants a standard letter (see Annex E9d_2) informing them
that they have not been selected and specifying the reasons.
Where the call for proposals is organised by a headquarters service of the European Commission, a
copy of these letters, as well as, where appropriate, the entire documentation and elements of the
evaluation necessary for the preparation and the management of the contract, are sent to the
European Union delegation in the country where the proposed action is or was to take place.
In addition to the above, the approval of the European Commission is required.
The letters to the successful applicants must be sent within 15 days of the award decision and
letters to the unsuccessful applicants within a further 15 days of that.

In preparing grant contracts for each of the successful applicants on the final list, the Contracting
Authority must proceed as mentioned in point 2.9.1.2.
The budget proposed for the action by the successful applicant at the call for proposals stage must
be corrected to remove any arithmetical errors or ineligible costs prior to signing the contract. The
Description of the action is corrected accordingly if need be.
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Other clarifications or minor corrections may be brought to the Description of the action or to the
budget in so far as they would not call into question the grant award decision or be contrary to the
equal treatment of applicants and:
- Relate to aspects clearly identified by the Evaluation Committee; or
- Aim at taking into consideration the changes which have occurred since the date of
receipt of the proposal
Those modifications may in any case not lead to an increase of the amount of the grant nor of the
percentage of the co-financing fixed by the Evaluation Committee.
Any other alteration to the successful applicant's proposal or negotiation with it is prohibited.
If the successful applicant is an international organisation applying accounting, audit, internal
control and procurement procedures which offer guarantees equivalent to internationally accepted
standards (see Section 6.9 below), the standard Contribution Agreement (see Annex F1) or any
other contract template agreed between the international organisation concerned and the
Contracting Authority, should be used instead of the standard grant contract (see points 6.9 and 7.1
of the present Guide).
6.4.10.3. Characteristics of the standard grant contract

• The standard grant contract recognises the beneficiary's independence of action and lays
down simplified management rules accordingly. In particular, it allows the recipient to adapt
or modify the action without the prior consent of the Contracting Authority provided that the
modifications are not substantial and do not result in a change of more than 15% to any
budget heading.
• The first pre-financing payment, which covers either 80% of the amount of the contract or
80% of the first annual budget, is paid after both parties have signed the contract.
Subsequently, in the case of contracts for large amounts, an interim report (technical and
financial) and payment request must be sent once a year as soon as 70% of the previous
payment (and 100% of earlier ones) has been used up. A new payment of pre-financing is
made on that basis. Where the consumption of the previous pre-financing is less than 70%,
the amount of the new pre-financing payment shall be reduced by the unused amounts of the
previous pre-financing payment. The balance is paid on approval of the final report. The
beneficiary must not send documents in support of its request to the Contracting Authority
but must keep them in case of inspection or audit for a period of seven years after payment
of the balance and up to the date of the prescription of any dispute in regard to the law which
governed the contract. During and after this period, the Contracting Authority will treat the
personal data in conformity with its privacy policy.
• The EU finances a specific percentage of the total eligible costs rather than a particular part
of the action. If at the end of the action, the actual eligible cost is lower than anticipated, the
grant will be reduced proportionately.
• An expenditure verification report is attached to the final report were the grant is of more
than € 100,000, to a request for further pre-financing in the case of grants of € 750,000 or
more and in the case of an operating grant to a request for payment of over € 100,000 for
the financial year.
• A financial guarantee for up to the same amount as the pre-financing is required where pre-
financing represents over 80% of the total amount of the grant and provided it exceeds €
60,000 or, where the beneficiary is a non-governmental organisation, when it exceeds
€ 1,000,000 or 90% of the total amount of the grant. Instead of asking such a financial
guarantee, the Contracting Authority can also decide to split the payments into several
instalments.
• In awarding any procurement contracts required for the purposes of the action, the
beneficiary must comply with the rules set out in Annex IV to the contract.
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• Unless otherwise requested or agreed by the European Commission, beneficiaries must take
the necessary measures to ensure the visibility of the EU financing or contribution to the
financing. See section 2.3.5.
6.4.10.4. Publicising the award of grants

Once the contracts have been signed, the Contracting Authority prepares a notice of award for each
call for proposals (see Annex E11). It sends this immediately to the European Commission, which
publishes the results of the call for proposals on the EuropeAid website.
In addition, the Contracting Authority must record all statistical information concerning the
procedure (including the number of applicants in the past year; the number and percentage of
successful applications per call for proposals; the mean duration of the procedure from date of
closure of the call for proposals to the award of a grant, grant amounts, the names of the applicants,
and details of the beneficiaries).
At the end of each year, the Contracting Authority also prepares and submits to the European
Commission for publication a summary table based on the format in the annex to the Practical
Guide (Annex E11 including the table of "grants made without a call for proposals").
The Contracting Authority is responsible for preparing the grant contract award notice using the
template in Annex E11 and for submitting it in electronic form to the European Commission for
publication.
The Contracting Authority also publishes this information on its own Internet site and/or any other
appropriate media.
The European Commission may authorise the Contracting Authority to waive the above obligations
if publication of the information may threaten the safety of the beneficiaries or harm their business
interests.
6.5. Grants of a low amount in decentralised management

In decentralised management, when:
- the maximum size of each grant to be awarded within the programme is less or equal to
€ 10,000, and
- the potential beneficiaries of the grants are community based organisations or other
local organisations of the country of the Contracting Authority,
the Contracting Authority may award grants without calls for proposals. It implements publicity
measures and evaluation procedures which are suitable for this kind of programme in order to
ensure the respect of the principle of transparency and equal treatment while avoiding any conflict
of interests.
Each grant contract to be concluded has to specify in particular its subject, its beneficiary, its
duration, the maximal amount of the grant, the description of the action, the estimated budget, the
beneficiary’ acceptance of the checks to be carried out by the Commission and the Court of
Auditors and the Beneficiary’s obligations as regard management and reporting.
When the implementation of such grant contract requires procurement by the beneficiary, the
relevant rules of nationality and origin do apply. Subcontracting may only concern a limited
portion of the action.
6.6. Restricted call for proposals

The measures applicable to an open Call for Proposals, as described in section 6.4, apply by
analogy to a restricted Call for Proposals, except as specified below.
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In a restricted call for proposals, the Guidelines for Applicants invite applicants to submit a concept
note (see Annex E3b_1). After the opening session and the administrative check, a report will be
established for each of both phases of the restricted call for proposals (Annex E7a and E7c)
The administrative check of the concept notes and afterwards of the full applications is assessed
through the relevant checklists (see Annexes E3b_1 and E3b_2 respectively). Specific evaluation
reports (see Annexes E7b and E7d) are used for each of both phases of the procedure.
The Guidelines for Applicants may indicate that a specific number of applicants will be invited to
submit a final proposal. In this case a list restricted to the published number is drawn up consisting
of the concept notes with the best scores, ranked in order.
The shortlisted applicants are then invited in writing (see Annex E9f_1) to submit a full application
form. The eligibility check will still only be performed for the proposals that have been
provisionally selected at the end of the evaluation on the basis of the supporting documents
requested by the Contracting Authority and of the Declarations by the Applicant (Annexes E3b and
E7e), according to the rules set out in the Guidelines for applicants and within the available
financial envelope of the Call.
The elements assessed on the basis of the concept note may not be modified by the applicant in the
full application form. The EU contribution requested for the action may not depart from the initial
estimation more than 20%. Should the EU contribution requested vary from the initial estimation,
the percentage between the EU contribution and the total cost of the action has to remain within the
limits imposed by the Guidelines of the Call for Proposals.
The minimum period between the date of publication of the Guidelines and the deadline for
submission of preliminary proposals is 45 days. The minimum period between the dispatch of the
letter of invitation to submit final forms and the deadline for submission of proposals is 45 days. In
exceptional cases, a shorter deadline may be allowed as a derogation.
6.7. Modifying grant contracts

See point 2.10.1.
- The modifications must not have the purpose or the effect of making such changes to the
contract as would call into question the grant award decision or be contrary to the equal
treatment of applicants.
- The maximum amount of the grant may not be increased.
6.7.2. Preparing an addendum

See point 2.10.2.
6.8. Procurement by grant beneficiaries

If the implementation of an action which is supported by a grant from the EU budget or the EDF in
the context of external actions requires procurement by the grant beneficiary, the contract must be
awarded to the best value for money 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.
To this end, the beneficiary respects the rules prescribed in Annex IV to the grant contract, subject
to point 6.9.
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These rules apply mutatis mutandis to the procurements by the partners of the beneficiary. In the
event of failure to comply with the rules referred to above, expenditure relating to the operations in
question is not eligible for EU/EDF financing.
Concerning re-granting, see point 6.2.11.
The Commission will carry out ex-post checks on the compliance of grant beneficiaries with these
rules. Grant contracts must provide expressly for the Commission, including the European Anti-
Fraud Office (OLAF), and the Court of Auditors to exercise their powers of control, on documents
and on the spot, over all contractors and subcontractors which have received EU funds.
6.9. Grants to international organisations

Where the beneficiary of a grant is an international organisation, the present Chapter 6 is fully
applicable (including for instance, the principles under points 6.2.4 and 6.8, limitation for sub-
granting under point 6.2.11, award procedures under section 6.3, etc).
The international organisations covered by this point are those defined in Section 7.1 below
¾ Method of implementation and procedures

The decision of the method of implementation of the action is under the responsibility of the
Commission (College) and has been determined at the stage of the financing decision.
Consequently, where an international organisation has been selected after a call for proposals
launched under centralised or under decentralised management, the financial support provided to
the international organisation shall constitute a grant according to the present Chapter 6. The
Authorising officer is not entitled to change the pre-established method of implementation unless
the financing decision explicitly foresees the possibility to conclude a contribution agreement with
an international organisation under joint management (see Section 7.1 below).
Furthermore, the principle of equal treatment does not allow different types of agreement and
obligations under the same call for proposals unless this is explicitly mentioned in the
documentation of the call (i.e. the Guidelines)20. If the use of the contribution agreement for
international organisations is foreseen in the Guidelines, the Contracting Authority may conclude
this type of agreement with the international organisation.
The award of a grant under centralised or decentralised management cannot be seen as an
alternative to delegate budget/financial implementation tasks to international organisations under
joint management for, amongst other activities, managing procurement and grant procedures
financed by the EU (see Section 7.1 below). Therefore, it should be limited to cases where, for
instance, the international organisation implements activities mainly through its own means and is
not required to manage procurement procedures, contracts, grants, etc. For the sake of consistency
of the way the Commission deals with international organisations, the award of grant to an
international organisation under centralised/decentralised management would no longer be
advisable where joint management can be applied pursuant to Section 7.1.
When it is not possible to apply joint management, it is strongly advised that all contribution
agreements to international organisations following the award of a grant be signed by the
Commission (hence, under centralised management) and not by the beneficiary country
under decentralised management. This should be adequately reflected in the financing decision
and financing agreement.
20
The Commission recognises that international organisations complying with international standards are
different than other entities (e.g. NGOs) and hence, in view of such differences, a different type of
agreement recognising their specificities may be used (cf. agreements concluded between the Commission
and international organisations, treatment of international organisations in the Financial Regulations -EC
Budget and EDF-, etc). However, the application of this possibility must be made public (in the relevant
Guidelines).
2008 Page 109 of 137
Note that, as provided for in Section 6.3 above, the procedure to be followed to select an entity as
beneficiary of a grant should be a call of proposals unless one of the conditions of article 168 of the
Implementing Rule are fulfilled. International Organisations are not treated differently than other
grant beneficiaries (e.g. NGOs) when motivating recourse to Art. 168. For instance, before arguing
that an Organisation has the monopoly to implement certain actions, the relevant authorising officer
needs to make sure that such Organisation is the only entity, being public or private, who can
actually carry out the required action.
¾ Document to be signed
The legal document to be signed should be a grant contract unless the Contracting Authority has
evidence (e.g. through four-pillar assessment– see Section 7.1 below) that a standard contribution
agreement with an international organisation may be signed according to point 6.4.10 above.
The signature of a standard contribution agreement implies that the international organisation is
entitled to use its own audit and internal control procedures. Also, it may use its own procurement
procedures as long as they respect the principles mentioned in Section 6.8 above, namely:
- choice of the best value for money tender (i.e., the tender offering the best price-quality
ratio),
- transparency,
- fair competition for potential contractors,
- and taking care to avoid any conflicts of interest.
The principles above constitute international standards; for that reasons it may be assumed that
international organisations providing guarantees equivalent to internationally accepted standards
for procurement (see Section 7.1 below) can use their own procedures.
In the cases where a beneficiary country awards a grant to international organisation under
decentralised management, it is reminded that some provisions of the standard contribution
agreement are only applicable to the Commission (and not to the beneficiary country), such as art.8
of the General Conditions related to the evaluation of the Action and art. 16.4 of the General
Conditions related to the verification. The Commission should pay special attention to apply the
rights granted by these provisions where necessary.
See point 7.1.2 for further information on the conclusion of contribution agreements under joint
management by the Commission
2008 Page 110 of 137

7. Relations with international organisations, Member
States, beneficiary countries and other donors:
Delegated cooperation and co-financing
The Commission may implement EU external actions with and/or through partners such as
international organisations and other actors (e.g. national bodies), in line with the commitments of
the Commission on Division of Labour and Effectiveness of Aid. The primary roles of the partner
of Commission in this context should be distinguished in legal and procedural terms: partners
implementing an action on behalf of the Commission (Delegated cooperation) or financing partner
(Co-financing).
¾ Delegation of implementation tasks to other partners :"Delegated cooperation"

The Commission may decide to entrust the implementation of an external action (delegation of
budget/financial-implementation tasks) to an international organisation, a national body or a
beneficiary third country. The choice of the partner implementing the action financed by the EU
determines the legal framework applicable (management mode/method of implementation for cases
a), b) and c) below –see section 2.2-, procedures and legal instruments to be signed).
Delegation of budget/financial-implementation tasks implies that the entity to which these tasks are
delegated will, inter alia, launch call for tenders and proposals, sign procurement contracts and
award grants financed (in whole or in part) by EU/EDF funds to implement the action. It may also
be entitled to pay or reimburse to third parties (beneficiaries) on the basis of such procurement
contracts or grants. The methodology used for such delegation (i.e. method of implementation) is
decided at the level of the Commission (College); hence it is reflected in the financing decision for
the action (e.g. relevant action fiche of the Annual Action Programme).
The rules on the procedures and system to be used by the entity to which implementation tasks
have been delegated (e.g. EU rules or other) are defined in the relevant provisions of the applicable
Financial Regulation. As a rule, the use of these methods of implementation and the use of
procedures and systems different to those of the Commission requires an ex ante assessment
by the Commission of these procedures and systems (or "pillars"), in order to ensure that
these comply with international standards and thus are close to those applied by the
Commission.
a) If the entity to which implementation tasks have been delegated is an international
organisation, the method of implementation is joint management (articles 53d of the Financial
Regulation and 29/16 of the Financial Regulation of the 10th/9th EDF), subject to the so-called
4-pillar assessment. The Commission would sign a Contribution Agreement to entrust budget-
implementation tasks to this organisation (see section 7.1 below);
b) If the entity to which implementation tasks have been delegated is a national body (or
"delegatee body")21, the method of implementation is indirect centralised management (articles
54(2)(c) of the Financial Regulation and 25(3)(b)/14 of the Financial Regulation of the 10th/
9th EDF) , subject to the so-called 6-pillar assessment. The Commission would sign a
Delegation Agreement to entrust budget-implementation tasks to this body22 (see section 7.2
below);
21
For Budget, indirect centralised management can also apply to international sector-public bodies.
22
The Delegation Agreement is not to be used for delegation to traditional or executive EC agencies (sub-
paragraphs (a) and (b) of article 52.4 of the EC Financial Regulation) and 25.3/14 of the FR of the 10th/9th
EDF.
2008 Page 111 of 137
c) If the entity to which implementation tasks have been delegated is a beneficiary country, the
method of implementation is decentralised management (articles 53c of the Financial
Regulation and 21/13 of the Financial Regulation of the 10th /9th EDF), subject to the so-
called 5-pillar assessment. The Commission would sign a Financing Agreement to entrust
budget-implementation tasks to this country (see section 7.3 below)23.
¾ Co-Financing by the Commission of its external actions with other partners

An external action may be fully or partly financed by the EU budget/EDF. This implies that other
donors may co-finance an action together with the Commission.
Two types of co-financing should be distinguished: parallel and joint co-financing. Under parallel
co-financing, the project is broken down into clearly identifiable sub-projects which are each
funded by the different co-financing partners (funds are earmarked). Under joint co-financing, the
total project cost is divided between the co-financing partners and all the funds are pooled such that
the source of funding for a specific activity within the project cannot be identified (funds are not
earmarked).
In case of joint co-financing the contribution of the EU/EDF is fungible by nature and therefore it
would not be possible or consistent with the purpose of joint co-financing to require the traceability
of this contribution once it has been transferred to a co-financed fund/action and mingled with
other donors' funds.
In the cases referred to in a), b) and c) above, the Commission may decide to co-finance the
delegated external actions with other partners.
The Commission may also be entrusted by other donors the implementation of a jointly co-financed
external action (articles 18(1) aa of the Financial Regulation and 9(2) of the Regulation on the
implementation of the 10th EDF – this possibility does not exist for the 9th EDF). The receipt of
funds from other donors will be made through the signature of a Transfer Agreement. Once
transferred, these funds would be considered as revenue assigned to the action for which co-
financing is provided. (See section 7.4 below).The action to be implemented by the Commission on
that basis will always be jointly co-financed by other donors. Note that this is not a method of
implementation but a technique allowing the Commission to pool inside the General Budget (or
EDF) various sources of revenues to co-finance an action/programme. Once pooled, the funds will
be disbursed through the adequate management mode chosen by the Commission (College) in the
correspondent financing decision.
Subject to the rules provided for in the applicable basic act, the Commission's co-financing partners
may be the following i) Member States, ii) international organisations, iii) other public donors,
iv) private entities or v) beneficiary countries. However, when the funds are managed by the
Commission (see section 7.4 below), the funds can only be received from entities mentioned under
i), ii) and iii).
For the purpose of the present Guide, in order to harmonise the terminology used by the new legal
framework, the term "joint co-financing" shall cover terms such as pool funds, basket funds,
multi-donor funds/actions, active or passive co-financing with Member State and multi-
donor trust funds, which are co-financing modalities.
23
In cases of actions managed according to a) and b), a financing agreement may also be signed with a
beneficiary country for the same action where i) in addition to those delegated to an international
organisation and/or national body, the beneficiary country is entrusted with other budget-implementing
tasks related to the same action (i.e. action is implemented through two or more methods of
implementation). This is for instance the case of delegation of residual tasks by indirect centralised
management in the context of decentralised management; or ii) the beneficiary country has not been
entrusted with implementing tasks, but the Commission considers that a financing agreement with that
country is still necessary to accompany the implementation of the action by the concerned international
organisation or national body in the beneficiary country.
2008 Page 112 of 137
Method of
Entity Legal instruments Procedures
implementation
procedures of the
a) international Contribution
Joint management international
organisation agreement
organisation
choice between the EU
b) public or Indirect centralised
Delegation agreement rules or that of the
private body management
delegated body
EU rules. Possibility to
c) beneficiary Decentralised
Financing agreement use rules of beneficiary
country management
country or other donor
European As defined in the
Transfer agreement Commission's rules
Commission financing decision
¾ Financing decision
The choice of the method of implementation shall be reflected in the corresponding financing
decision (e.g. action fiche of the relevant financing decision/(Annual) Action Programme). The
method of implementation is an essential element of the financing decision.
The revenues for an action (i.e. names of other co-donors and amounts) are mentioned in the
corresponding financing decision.
¾ Arrangements amongst donors in cases of co-financing

Note that the above-mentioned agreements (Delegation, Contribution, Financing and Transfer
Agreements) govern only the bilateral relation between the Commission and the entity to which
budget-implementation tasks are delegated. In cases where the action is co-financed by several
donors, the rules governing the relation amongst donors with regard to, for instance, governance,
reporting, control, etc, are often reflected in a written arrangement (e.g. a Memorandum of
Understanding). See section 7.3 for further information.
The Commission does not have a pre-established model for such an arrangement; its contents
would be discussed on a case-by-case basis. Before entering into such arrangements, the
Commission should make sure that the conditions agreed amongst donors are compatible with the
applicable EU requirements. Further, the Commission's service in charge of the action must ensure
that all documents applicable to the co-financed action are consistent (i.e. Transfer, Delegation,
Contribution or Financing Agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding).
¾ Compatibility between the EU eligibility rules and jointly co-financed actions

The Commission's contributions are subject to a number of specific requirements (e.g. EU rules on
nationality and origin, restrictions on eligibility of local taxes, geographical scope of the
instruments governing the EU funds, etc.) which do not necessarily apply to the other donors of the
jointly co-financed fund/action. Since the compliance with these requirements would require some
degree of traceability, it would be difficult to conciliate these requirements with the nature of joint
co-financed actions, whose funds are fungible by nature.
These requirements could render more difficult the participation of the Commission in a number of
jointly co-financed actions, particularly if one argues that the Commission could not guarantee that
every single euro contributed by it was used on costs eligible under EU rules.
It is however possible to apply a more pragmatic approach (referred to as "notional approach"),
according to which the relevant authorising officer may decide to consider that the Commission
requirements are met as long as the amount contributed by other donors to the co-financed
fund/action is sufficient to pay for the activities which are ineligible under EU rules.
2008 Page 113 of 137

For instance, if the EU finances 40% of a given action under a basic act not allowing the finance of
taxes, and the managing entity estimates that it will use 5% of its funds to reimburse costs of local
taxes, the Commission could assume that this 5% (non eligible under EU rules) will be funded by
the 60% contributed by other donors that do not impose such restriction on the eligibility of taxes.
The same goes if, for instance, the Commission finances 20% of the action under EDF and, say,
60% of the estimated expenditure of the action is allocated to ACP countries. In those cases, the
Commission could assume that all its contribution will exclusively cover ACP countries.
In this manner, the Commission could participate in jointly co-financed actions without actually
earmarking its contribution (as such earmarking is contrary to the very idea of joint co-financing).
Note that this possibility needs to be carefully applied. For instance, it is important that, before
deciding to participate in a joint co-financed action applying this approach, the concerned
authorising officer needs to obtain a good understanding of the nature of costs defined in the budget
of the action, whether such costs can by regarded as eligible under EU rules, the number and
amount of contributions from other donors which can finance such non-eligible costs, etc. It is also
recommended to include a provision in the special conditions of the concerned agreement
(Delegation, Contribution Agreement) by which the managing entity ensures that there would be
sufficient funds from other donors covering the costs that are non eligible according to the
conditions of eligibility provided for in that agreement.
All the conditions of the concerned agreement, in particular the eligibility of costs, shall be
respected. Therefore, when the agreement establishes, for example, a maximum percentage for the
contribution of the Commission, this maximum percentage should not be exceeded during the
implementation of the said agreement. The application of "notional approach" will be decided on a
case-by-case basis and should not be applied where the circumstances (in terms of relative
percentage of funds actually disbursed by other donors, for instance) could not guarantee that no
conflict with the EU requirements could arise (e.g. the amount of the EU contribution exceeds the
costs of the jointly co-financed action which could be regarded as eligible under the agreement).
The Commission's services would monitor the application of this approach through the relevant
reports and, in case of important deviation (e.g. withdrawal of other donor which would change the
ratio of the contribution of the Commission so other donors' contribution which would not ensure a
sufficient coverage of ineligible costs under EU rules) shall adopt the appropriate measures.
¾ Monitoring of delegated cooperation

Subject to the instructions given by the relevant authorising officer by delegation24, for actions
delegated to an entity to which implementation tasks have been delegated, the Commission's
services shall perform a monitoring of the management of the said action by the concerned entity in
order to assess its efficiency/operability and to provide constructive feedback to improve
management operations and associated internal control systems. This assessment should be
undertaken at least once during the life of the action. In the event that, during the implementation
of the action, serious problems would be detected, the Commission's services might take
appropriate corrective measures including, where necessary, the modification of the management
mode initially chosen for this action and/or of the agreement concluded with such entity.
7.1. Relations with international organisations :

Joint management
Pursuant to Article 43 of the Implementing Rules of the Financial Regulation for the General
Budget, international organisation means international public-sector organisations set up by
intergovernmental agreements, and specialised agencies set up by such organisations - these
organisations may have worldwide or regional scope. Organisations created under national law are
not international organisations (e.g. national NGO with several regional/country offices).
24
As far as EuropeAid Cooperation Office is concerned, this assessment shall be performed according to an
instruction note from the Director General, being developed by Directorate E.
2008 Page 114 of 137
For instance, organisations such as the United Nations and its agencies and specialised entities, the
World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Word Trade
Organisation, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International
Organisation for Migration clearly fall under the definition of international organisation. In cases of
doubt, to ascertain whether an organisation is covered by the above-mentioned definition, it is
necessary to assess the nature of the organisation mainly on the basis of the legal instruments of the
organisation (for instance, its statutes and/or the intergovernmental agreement setting-up the
organisation).
The following organisations are explicitly declared by article 43 of the Implementing Rules to be
international organisations:
- the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation
of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (note that national organisations of
the Red Cross or Red Crescent are not regarded as international organisations);
- the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund.
7.1.1. Basic rules: Method of implementation

There are two ways for the Commission to finance an action implemented by an international
organisation:
9 The international organisation may be the beneficiary of a grant awarded by the Contracting
Authority under centralised or decentralised management in accordance with Chapter 6 of
this Guide.
or
9 the Commission may decide to delegate budget/financial-implementation tasks to an
international organisation using a method of implementation of the budget specifically
envisaged for international organisations: joint management25 (see article 53d of the
Financial Regulation and article 29 of 10th EDF Financial Regulation). In this manner, the
international organisation becomes the delegatee of the Commission (not the beneficiary); so
this organisation could implement the EU/EDF funds to launch call for tenders or proposals,
award grants, carry out payments, etc, according to its rules.
Joint management should be only envisaged where the international organisations apply
accounting, audit, internal control and procurement procedures (the so-called "four pillars") which
offer guarantees equivalent to internationally accepted standards. The Commission must thus
ensure that suitable arrangements exist for the control and audit of the action in its entirety.
All the international organisations which comply with these conditions will be allowed to use their
own procedures. Unless otherwise provided for in the applicable basic act, the rules of nationality
and origin of the international organisation are applicable provided that they do not exclude any of
the nationalities eligible under EU/EDF rules, care being taken to ensure equal treatment of all
donors.
¾ When may joint management be used?

The use of joint management with international organisations offering the above guarantees is
possible when at least one of the following non cumulative conditions is met:
9 where the action is to be financed involves the pooling of resources of a number of donors
and it is not reasonably possible or appropriate to assign the share contributed by each donor
to each type of expenditure ("multi-donor actions" or "joint co-financing"), or
25
The expression "joint management" does not imply that the action shall be implemented jointly by the
European Commission and the international organisation.
2008 Page 115 of 137
9 where the action to be financed is implemented with an organisation with which the
Commission has concluded long-term framework agreement (see 7.1.2 below), or
9 where the action to be financed is jointly elaborated between the Commission and the
international organisation.
The international organisation and the actions to be financed under joint management shall be
chosen in an objective and transparent manner. This means in practice that the decision of the
authorising officer needs to be reasoned and duly documented.
The chosen method of implementation (or management mode) needs to be specified in the
financing decision, as indicated above.
7.1.2. Contractual arrangements and implementation

As a rule, the cooperation between the Commission and international organisations for specific
actions are based on the conclusion of a standard contribution agreement with an international
organisation (see model in annex F1).
In some cases, the contribution agreement is completed by a long term Framework agreement. A
number of these Agreements have been concluded between the Commission and some international
organisations, notably the World Bank ("Trust Fund and Co-financing Framework Agreement" of 8
November 2001, see Annex F2) and the United Nations ("Financial and Administrative Framework
Agreement" of 29 April 2003, see Annex F3)26. The existence of these agreements allows a wider
use of joint management (see previous point) and may contain provisions complementing,
clarifying or adapting the contribution-specific agreements to be concluded with the organisation
concerned, in light of the specific requirements of this organisation27.
Framework agreements are sometimes complemented by interpretative letters, specific agreements
or joint guidelines on visibility, reporting, verification, etc. These documents are available on
Website of the EuropeAid Cooperation Office at the following address:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/international_organisations/index_en.htm.
The standard contribution agreement with an international organisation should be used with all
international organisations offering the guarantees relating to the "four pillars", unless otherwise
agreed with the international organisation concerned (for instance specific standard contracts, so
called "Administration Agreement", apply for contributions to the World Bank). The standard
contribution agreement is to be used both for awarding a grant to international organisations or to
use the joint management mode.
For use of the standard contribution agreement for grants, please also refer to Section 6.9 above.
¾ Budget, description of the action, reporting and control

The standard contribution agreement does not impose a budget template and hence international
organisations are free to use its own format (except whenever they respond to a call for proposal
where they have to use the format attached in annex to the Guidelines for applicants). The
concerned services of the Commission should however ensure that the budget and the description
of the action, both attached to the standard contribution agreement as annexes, are sufficiently
detailed to allow a good understanding of the content of the heading and items of the budget and
adequate monitoring of the action in its entirety by the services of the Commission.
26
See also the Framework agreements signed with the Council of Europe (August 2004), the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE – July 2007) the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD - April 2006) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO – August 2007).
27
A procedure to conclude this sort of framework agreements is available at the following site:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/international_organisations/other_internation
al_organisations/index_en.htm
2008 Page 116 of 137
It should be reminded that the level of detail in these documents determines the level of detail of
the subsequent progress and final reports and would allow a first scrutiny of the compliance of the
budget with the provisions of the contribution agreement (e.g. allocation and qualification of costs
as direct and indirect).
The description of the action shall contain the detailed arrangement for its implementation,
including the principles for the award of procurement and grants.
For organisations covered by a framework agreement focusing on results, it should be reminded
that the scrutiny of the implementation of the action by the services of the Commission should
focus more on results. The contribution agreement should fix objectives and indicators of
achievement and the reports should reflect the evolution of such objectives to measure the results
attained.
In any case, the focus on results, however, does not exempt the services of the Commission from
their duty to scrutinise the expenditure related to the implementation of the action, within the
limits provided for in the contribution agreement and, if applicable, the agreement on
verification concluded with the international organisation concerned. This scrutiny is made at
different levels, notably i) through the assessment of the reports submitted by the international
organisation and the Commission's requests for additional information whenever such reports are
insufficient and, where necessary, ii) through verifications (i.e. checks of supporting documents
and on-spot verification missions).
The standard contribution agreement does not impose the use of a specific format for the narrative
and financial reports. However it establishes the minimal level of information that these reports
should contain. The concerned services of the Commission should make sure that the submitted
reports comply with i) this minimal level of information and ii) the necessary consistency between
the level of information of the budget and the description of the action and that of the reports.
¾ Obligations on ex post publication of beneficiaries/transparency

The standard contribution agreement specifies the requirements on ex-post publication and other
means of transparency:
- Adequate annual ex post publication of beneficiaries of funds deriving from the EU contribution.
This obligation is reflected in the general conditions of the standard contribution agreement
signed by the Commission with the international organisation , which states that the international
organisation shall published on an annual basis information on the entities (grant beneficiaries
and contractors) having signed a contract with it. When applying this obligation, the international
organisation may have regard to its own rules, procedures and in particular to its rules governing
the confidentiality, security and protection of personal data. The international organisation shall
provide the Commission with the internet address (i.e. the organisation's own website) where this
information may be found and will authorise the Commission to publish this website address in
the relevant Commission's website.
In case the international organisation delegates the implementation of the action to one of its
implementing partners, as provided for in the corresponding contribution agreement, the same
obligation relating to ex-post publication shall apply to the organisation's implementing partner
but not to the organisation's subcontractors and/or sub-grantees. The international organisation
signing the agreement with the Commission shall ensure the compliance of this obligation.
- The international organisation shall provide the Commission with detailed information on any
contractual arrangement concluded for the implementation of the action28 during the
implementation of the action and in any event this information shall be included in the final
report. If known at the date of signature of the contribution agreement, this information shall be
reflected in the description of the action.
28
See article 10.1 of the general conditions
2008 Page 117 of 137
¾ Signature of the agreement
Note that the joint management, being one of the methods of implementation, can only be used by
the Commission.
Therefore, agreements with international organisations under joint management must be
concluded by the Commission (Headquarters or Delegations). As a consequence, when at the
level of the financial proposal it is envisaged that parts of an action or programme under
decentralised management is to be managed and implemented by an international organisation and
not by the beneficiary country, joint management (and not decentralised management) would be the
method of implementation for that part of the action. It is therefore necessary to clearly identify in
the financing decision and in the financing agreement the (part of the) action(s) that will be
implemented under joint management by the international organisation(s) and those of the actions
that will be implemented under decentralised management by a beneficiary country.
For the signature of agreements following the award of a grant to an international organisation
under centralised or decentralised management, see point 6.9 above.
7.2. Delegation of budget implementation tasks to national

bodies : Indirect centralised management
7.2.1. Basic rules: Method of implementation

The Commission may, under indirect centralised management, delegate tasks involving the
exercise of public authority to national public-sector bodies or bodies governed by private law with
a public-service mission providing adequate financial guarantees, such as national agencies or
Ministries in charge of the development aid (see articles 52(2)(c) and 56(1) of the Financial
Regulation and 38 of its Implementing Rules and 25 to 28 of the 10th EDF Financial Regulation)29.
Although co-financing is not a precondition for the use of the indirect centralised management,
some basic acts (such as DCI, EIDHR) state that this management mode should as a rule be used
only in the event of co-financing except in duly justified cases. In general, the main reason for the
Commission to choose indirect centralised management as a method of implementation in the field
of EU external cooperation would be to ensure enhanced donor coordination and aid effectiveness
by entrusting one of the co-donors of a given action the management of an action co-financed by
the Commission. Hence, it should be primarily used in cases of co-financing and large
programmes. Services aiming at using this tool are discouraged from designing small stand alone
projects funded only by the Commission.
In principle, this method of implementation (which, by its nature, implies the delegation of
budget/financial implementation tasks, e.g. management of procurement and grant procedures,
contracts…by the delegatee body) should not be seen as an alternative to a grant or service contract
and, as a rule, it should not be used to implement an activity which, in the past, was implemented
via a service or grant contract.
Delegation is only possible where provided for in the legal basis.
The Commission shall inform annually the legislative authority of the cases and bodies that have
been entrusted implementing tasks by providing commensurate justification of the use of such
bodies.
29
Note that, for actions financed under the 9th EDF, the conditions provided for in the 9th EDF Financial
Regulations is limited to cases of co-financing and with participation of EU Member States only.
2008 Page 118 of 137
¾ Choice of the delegatee body
The choice of the delegatee body by the Commission is subject to a number of conditions:
• The bodies concerned must be chosen in an objective and transparent manner, following a
cost-effectiveness analysis, to match the performance requirements identified by the
Commission.
• The delegation must comply with the principle of non-discrimination and the choice of the
body to which the executive tasks will be delegated may not entail any discrimination
between the various Member States or countries concerned.
• In cases of management by a network, requiring the designation of at least one body or entity
by Member State or by country concerned, the body or entity shall be designated by the
Member State or the country concerned in accordance with the provisions of the basic act. In
all other cases, the delegatee body is designated by the Commission in agreement with the
Member States or countries concerned.
• The delegation must meet the requirements of sound financial management, in particular the
principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
The financing decision must reflect the grounds for choosing this method of implementation and
the delegatee body, having in mind the criteria mentioned above.
The choice of the delegatee body, particularly in cases of co-financing, may require the prior co-
ordination between the main entities in the field (e.g. different national agencies/donors from EU
Member States present in the country and/or sector concerned). Also, it is necessary to involve as
soon as possible the Member State of the delegatee body.
Note that the choice of the entity (and the reasons for it) must be reflected in the financing decision,
which will be discussed by the relevant committee for its approval.
In cases of co-financing, the agreement amongst co-donors on a number of elements, such as rules
on the governance of the action, reporting, etc, is often reflected in a written arrangement (e.g a
memorandum of understanding), which would ensure an appropriate coordination between donors
and complement the delegation agreement (see section 7.3 for further guidance).
Where the action is to be implemented in a specific country or region, the concerned beneficiary
country must also be adequately involved.
¾ Conditions to be met by the delegatee body

To be chosen, the delegatee body needs to comply with a number of criteria:
– The bodies concerned must offer adequate financial guarantees. Such guarantees must be
underwritten by a public authority and allow full recovery of amounts owed to the
Commission.
– The delegation must comply with the rules on the visibility of EU actions.
– Performance of the delegated implementation tasks must not give rise to conflicts of
interests.
– Bodies performing implementation tasks must conduct regular checks to ensure that
actions financed from the EU budget or EDF have been implemented correctly.
– The bodies concerned must take appropriate measures to prevent irregularities and fraud
and, if necessary, bring legal proceedings to recover funds wrongly paid or incorrectly
used.
2008 Page 119 of 137

Furthermore, before signing a delegation agreement with a delegatee body, the Commission shall
perform an institutional assessment of this body (which will be reflected in the corresponding
financing decision) to obtain evidence of the existence and proper operation within the delegatee
body of the following ("6-pillar assessment"):
– transparent procurement and grant- procedures which are non-discriminatory and exclude
any conflict of interests and which are in accordance with the provisions of Titles V and VI
of the Financial Regulation and of the relevant rules applicable to EDF;
– an effective and efficient internal control system for the management operations, which
includes effective segregation of the duties of authorising officer and accounting officer or
the equivalent functions;
– an accounting system that enables the correct use of EU funds/EDF to be verified and the
use of funds to be reflected in the EU/EDF accounts;
– an independent external audit;
– public access to information at the level provided for in EU regulations;
– adequate annual ex post publication of beneficiaries of funds deriving from the
budget/EDF, with due account of the requirements of confidentiality and security.
The ex-ante assessment of the above elements (so-called "pillars") shall be initiated by the
Commission on the basis of the would-be delegatee body's expression of interest or the invitation to
cooperate received from the Commission. The would-be delegate body shall provide a general
information form as well as a declaration of acceptance to undergo the assessment. The ex-ante
assessment shall be performed by the Commission30 once received the delegatee body's signed
declaration of acceptance.
¾ Procedures to be used by the delegatee body and tasks that may be delegated
The Commission may recognise audit, accounting and procurement systems as equivalent to its
own, taking due account of internationally accepted standards.
The outcome of the ex ante assessment and the compliance of the pillars by the delegatee body
(allowing, where applicable, the use of its own procedures and systems) will be reflected in the
corresponding financing decision.
BUDGET
When the delegation involves the award of grants to third parties, the delegatee body shall apply
the Commission's grant award procedures (Chapter 6 of the present Guide).
10th EDF
When the delegation involves the award of grants to third parties, the use by the delegatee body of
its own grant award procedures may be allowed provided that they comply with international
standards.
An example of the tasks that may be delegated to bodies eligible under indirect centralised
management for delegated tasks are those named "residual tasks" of the Commission in the
framework of decentralised management (ex-ante control and, as the case may, be payments
towards the beneficiary third country - see section 7.3).
30
This analysis shall be performed under AIDCO G2's responsibility as far as EuropeAid Cooperation Office
is concerned. The outcome of this assessment will be disseminated by this Unit to all AIDCO Directors
and Head of delegations.
2008 Page 120 of 137
7.2.2. Contractual arrangement and implementation
A delegation agreement may only be signed with the delegatee body (see model of delegation
agreement in annex F4) when the outcome of the aforementioned assessment is positive. This
agreement shall define the procedures to be followed by this body while implementing the
project/programmes under indirect centralised management will be either the Commission's
procedures (i.e. accounting, internal control, audit and procurement) or the procedures of the
delegatee body.
¾ Commission's deadline for signing the delegation agreement

The delegation agreement between the Commission and the delegatee body shall be concluded by
31 December of year n +1 at the latest, year n being the one in which the budgetary
(BUDG)/financial (EDF) commitment was made.
¾ Delegatee body's deadline for contracting

The individual procurement and grant contracts implementing the project/programme shall be
concluded by the delegatee body by 31 December of year n +1 at the latest, year n being the one in
which the delegation agreement is signed Notwithstanding the above, in the event a financing
agreement with a beneficiary country is signed and such financing agreement foresees that budget
implementation tasks will be entrusted to the delegatee body under indirect centralised
management, then the individual procurement and grant contracts may be concluded by the
delegatee body no later than three (3) years following the date of signature of the financing
agreement ("d+3"),.
¾ Other issues
Unless otherwise provided for the in the applicable basic act, in case of co-financing, procurement
contracts and grants awarded by the delegatee body(ies) shall follow its own eligibility rules
(and/or those of other donors), provided that these do not exclude any of the nationalities eligible
under the applicable EU/EDF rules, care being taken to ensure equal treatment of all donors.
The delegatee body will report on the carrying out of the delegated tasks and shall to that end
submit to the Commission the implementation and final reports set forth in the model of the
delegation agreement.
Transfer of funds between the Commission and the delegatee body shall be made in one or several
payment(s) pursuant to the provisions of the delegation agreement
The Commission is responsible for the supervision, evaluation and scrutiny of the delegated tasks.
Without prejudice to any evaluation mission that the Commission, as a donor, may wish to
perform, the Commission, OLAF and the Court of Auditors of the European Union, or any other
representative designated by the Commission may conduct documentary and on-the-spot checks on
the use made of the EU funding under the Delegation Agreement (including procedures for the
award of procurement and grant contracts) and to carry out a full audit of the project/programmes,
if necessary.
The delegatee body will be subject to similar conditions on visibility, transparency and ex post
publication as international organisations (see section 7.1 above).
7.3. Relations with beneficiary countries :

Decentralised management
The Commission may delegate its budget-implementation task to beneficiary countries under
decentralised management, as provided for in Section 2.2 (see also article 53c and 56 of the
Financial Regulation and 21 to 24 of the 10th EDF Financial Regulation).
2008 Page 121 of 137

Before deciding the degree of decentralisation, the concerned authorising officer should:
BUDGET
- obtain assurance that the conditions of Article 56(2) of the Financial Regulation are met. Before a
financing agreement is concluded for an action to be implemented under decentralised
management, the authorising officer responsible shall ensure, by means of document checks and
on-the-spot checks, that the management and control system set up by the beneficiary third
country to manage the EU funds comply with Article 56 of the Financial Regulation.
EDF
- strive to encourage the concerned beneficiary country to adhere to the principle of sound
financial management, notably in progressively applying the conditions provided for Article
24/13 of the 10th / 9th EDF Financial Regulation.
¾ Conditions for decentralised management

Articles 56 of the Financial Regulation and 22 and 24 of the Financial Regulation of the 10th EDF
contain the criteria allowing the concerned authorising officer to assess whether the management
and control system of the beneficiary country guarantee an adequate management of the delegated
tasks ("5-pillar assessment"). These criteria are:
• transparent procurement and grant- procedures which are non-discriminatory and exclude
any conflict of interests and, for the EU budget, which are in accordance with the
provisions of Titles V and VI of the Financial Regulation;
• an effective and efficient internal control system for the management operations, which
includes effective segregation of the duties of authorising officer and accounting officer or
the equivalent functions;
• an accounting system that enables the correct use of EU funds/EDF to be verified and the
use of funds to be reflected in the EU/EDF accounts;
• an independent external audit; in the case of EDF this must exercised by a national
institution for independent external audit;
• adequate annual ex post publication of beneficiaries of EU funds/EDF, with due account of
the requirements of confidentiality and security.
EDF
• in case of direct labour operations, adequate provisions for the management and scrutiny of
local imprest accounts and for the definition of the responsibilities of the local imprest
manager and the local accounting manager.
In addition, the beneficiary country undertakes to check regularly that the operations financed by
the General Budget or EDF have been properly implemented, to take appropriate measures to
prevent irregularities and fraud, and, if necessary, to take legal action to recover unduly paid funds.
When analysing whether the beneficiary country complies with the criteria listed in Articles 56 of
the Financial Regulation and 22 and 24 of the 10th EDF Financial Regulation, the relevant
Authorising Officer will determine the degree of decentralisation that may be granted to the
beneficiary country and the possibility for this latter to apply its own procedures31.
31
As far as EuropeAid Cooperation Office is concerned, also see internal instructions and relevant intranet
pages (e.g. Financial Guide, models of Annual Action Programme). When it is decided that the degree of
decentralisation would be partial and the beneficiary country will only use EC procedures (i.e. those
contained in the present Guide and that of Programme Estimates), the ex ante assessment of such EC
procedures would not be necessary.
2008 Page 122 of 137
¾ Procedures to be used by the beneficiary country
In principle, beneficiary countries will apply the procedures for procurement and grant contracts of
the EU as reflected in the present Practical Guide. Nevertheless, it may be possible for the
Commission to authorise beneficiary countries the use other procedures (local procedures or those
agreed amongst donors in case of co-financing). This decision remains the exclusive competence of
the Commission, which will take its decision on a case-by-case basis after having duly assessed the
relevant aforementioned criteria and as long as the following conditions are met:
BUDGET
Pursuant to article 56(2) of the Financial Regulation, when an action to be implemented by a
beneficiary country under decentralised management is jointly co-financed (either by the
beneficiary country or other donors), the procurement and grant procedures to be applied may be
those of the Commission, those of the beneficiary country, or those agreed among donors.
In other cases, the Commission may accept:
- that the procurement procedures of beneficiary countries are equivalent to its own, with due
account for internationally accepted standards, as provided for in articles 56(1), last paragraph, of
the Financial Regulation and 35.3 and 237.4 of the Implementing Rules
- that rules on grants different to those of the Commission are applied, as long as they are specified
in the Financing Agreement and these are based on the rules on grants of Chapter 6 of this Guide,
as provided for in article 169(a) of the Financial Regulation.
Before allowing the use of procedures other than those of the Commission, it is necessary first to
obtain evidence on a case-by-case basis that such procedures satisfy the principles of transparency,
equal treatment and non discrimination, prevent any conflict of interest, offer guarantees equivalent
to internationally accepted standards and ensure compliance with the provisions of sound financial
management which requires effective and efficient internal control.
EDF
The possibility to use local procedures or those agreed amongst donors is provided for in article
19c of Annex IV of the Cotonou Agreement. Moreover, article 65 of the Cotonou Agreement states
that, in case of co-financing, measures shall be taken to coordinate and harmonise operations of the
Commission and those of other co-donors in order to minimise the number of procedures to be
undertaken by the beneficiary countries and to render these procedures more flexible.
In light of the partenariat with ACP countries, it is important that the prior assessment carried out
by the Commission to analyse the procedures to be used by the beneficiary country will be made in
close cooperation of the concerned ACP country (joint evaluation).
In general, before allowing the use of procedures other than those of the Commission, it is
necessary first to obtain evidence on a case-by-case basis that such procedures satisfy the principles
of transparency, proportionality, equal treatment and non discrimination, prevent any conflict of
interest, offer guarantees equivalent to internationally accepted standards and ensure compliance
with the provisions of sound financial management which requires effective and efficient internal
control.
The use of local procedures is possible as long as the above-mentioned conditions exists; if the
control of the Commission shows that the respect to these principles are no longer guaranteed, the
Commission should adopt the necessary measures (namely, request the beneficiary country to
apply EU procedures).
¾ Legal instruments to be signed or adopted by the Commission

The method of implementation (decentralised management), the degree of decentralisation and,
where the use of local procedures are authorised, the reasoning and compliance with be above
criteria will be specified in the financing decision.
2008 Page 123 of 137

The delegation of budget-implementation tasks will be subject to a financing agreement
concluded with the beneficiary country, which will detail inter alia the applicable procedures and
administrative and technical arrangements etc.
See models in the following link:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/financing/financing_agreement/index_en.htm
In cases of co-financing, co-donors and beneficiary countries usually conclude arrangements
(usually called memorandum of understanding) to establish the rules governing the relation
amongst them. These arrangements should normally contain elements such as i) provisions on
governance (e.g. existence of an steering committee32, role, obligations and rights of co-donors and
beneficiary countries), ii) description of the management structures able to guarantee the conditions
mentioned above on internal control, audit, accounting system, etc, iii) description/plan of the
actions to be undertaking and their related budget as well as how they are approved and modified,
iv) rules on disbursement, including pre-financing and information on bank accounts; v) applicable
procurement and grant award rules complying with the requirements indicated above; vi) rules on
reporting, audit, monitoring and evaluation (including planning of these activities) vii) rules on
visibility and transparency (e.g. publication of beneficiary of funds) viii) measures to prevent
irregularities and fraud as well as possibility to recover ix) dispute settlement, termination and
withdrawal clauses, etc :
Consistency between these arrangements and the financing agreement and applicable EU rules
must be ensured
¾ Residual tasks
Under decentralised management, the Commission may decide to delegate to a body from a
different country (e.g. an agency of an EU Member State) any or all of its residual tasks (ex-ante
control of the contractual procedures and/or the execution of the payments). In this case, the tasks
entrusted to this body will be implemented under indirect centralised management (see section 7.2.
above) and shall give rise to the signature of a delegation agreement between the Commission and
the delegatee body, in addition to the financing agreement signed between the Commission and the
beneficiary country. The nature of the tasks delegated as well as the practical modalities of
communication, payments, and/or control between the beneficiary country and the delegatee body
shall be specified in the financing agreement concluded between the Commission and the
Beneficiary country. Note that, in such cases, the provisions of the financing agreement and the
delegation agreement shall refer to each other and consistency between these documents should
be ensured.
32
The rules governing the steering committee should allow the effective participation of the representative of
the Commission (for instance, the relevant documents should be distributed with sufficient notice so the
Commission could adequately participate in the meetings)
2008 Page 124 of 137

7.4. Implementation by the Commission of external actions
co-financed by other donors
The possibility for the Commission to receive funds from other donors33 is foreseen in the
Financing Regulation and in the10th EDF Financial Regulation. This form of co-financing is only
possible for an action governed by a basic act which explicitly authorises this possibility (e.g.
articles 17(3) ENPI, 27(3) DCI, article 9 of the Regulation implementing the 10th EDF, etc)34.
For the purpose of implementing joint measures, such funds shall be treated as assigned revenue, in
accordance with Article 18 of the Financial Regulation and Article 9.1 and 9.2 of the Regulation on
the implementation of the 10th EDF35 and article 16 of the 10th EDF Financial Regulation.
The implementation of the jointly co-financed action by the Commission will follow the normal
Commission procedures: approval of the financing decision by the College, after comitology,
where the sources of co-financing, the method of implementation, etc, will be specified, and, where
appropriate conclusion of a financing agreement, etc.
The normal steps leading to entrusting the Commission with the responsibility for managing funds
received from other donors for the implementation of a specific action will be as follows:
• launch of call for contributions / voluntary expression of interest from a donor;
• signature of the Transfer Agreement (see model in Annex F5) by the donor(s);
• comitology and adoption of the EU financing decision (normally in the form of the Annual
Action Programme) which shall include an empowerment of the Authorising Officer by
delegation to accept the funds from the donors and to sign the relevant Transfer Agreement
(note that, in case of additional contributions during the implementation of the co-financed
action, the financing decision should be amended consequently);
• signature of the Transfer Agreement by the Commission according to the procedures
applicable to EDF/General Budget 36;
• effective transfer of the contributions by the donor(s).
The Transfer Agreement shall indicate the percentage of the contribution covering the
administrative overheads incurred by the Commission for the management of the contribution. For
the Commission, this percentage would represent an average of 4% but, depending on the nature of
the action, may exceed this percentage in duly justified cases.
The Transfer Agreement may also foresee the content and frequency of the reporting to be
provided by the Commission to the donor(s).
The contribution shall be used by priority to other EU fund sources for financing the action, and the
possible accrued interests will be considered as part of the contribution itself.
33
According to Article 18(1) aa) of the EC Financial Regulation and 16(1) of the 10th EDF Financial
Regulation, the "donory" may be an EU Member State, any other donor country (including in both cases
their public and parastatal agencies) or an international organisation with the meaning of Article 43 of the
Implementing Rules.
34
This possibility was not foreseen under the 9th EDF Financial Regulation and hence the Commission
cannot receive funds for actions funded under the 9th EDF.
35
Council Regulation (EC) n°617/2007 of 14 may 2007 on the implementation of the 10th EDF funded under
the ACP-EC Partnership agreement.
36
When appropriate, and provided that a empowerment decision has been taken in that respect, the
Authorising officer by delegation might sign the Transfer Agreement before the financing decision is
adopted.
2008 Page 125 of 137
7.5. Joint procurement with a Member State (BUDGET only)
Where a public contract or framework contract is necessary for the implementation of a joint action
between one institution and a contracting authority from a Member State, the procurement
procedure may be carried out jointly by the institution and this contracting authority. In this case,
the procedural provisions applicable to the Commission shall apply37. Nevertheless, in some
specific cases, it may be decided that the procedural rules applicable to the contracting authority
from a Member State shall apply provided that they can be considered as equivalent to those of the
institution.
37
See article 91 of the EC Financial Regulation.
2008 Page 126 of 137
8. Legal Texts
8.1. Legal framework for the procurement procedures
8.1.1. BUDGET
The following legal framework applies to contracts for services, supplies and works financed by
the general budget of the European Union, concluded in the course of EU cooperation with third
countries and awarded by a Contracting Authority of the beneficiary country, or by the
Commission for and on behalf of the beneficiary:
• Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial
Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (and in particular
Chapter III of Title IV of Part Two thereof, which concerns special provisions for
procurement in external actions), as amended by Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No
1995/2006 of 13 December 2006 ;
• Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down
detailed rules for the implementation of the abovementioned Financial Regulation, (and in
particular Chapter III of Title III of Part Two thereof, which concerns special provisions for
procurement in external actions), as amended by:
- Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1261/2005 of 20 July 2005;
- Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1248/2006 of 7 August 2006;
- Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 478/2007 of 23 April 2007;
• The Regulations38 and other specific basic acts relating to the various cooperation
programmes.
The following are also applicable:
• The Framework Agreement signed by the EU and the beneficiary country concerned, if such
an agreement exists. This agreement contains the rules for administrative cooperation
between the two bodies for the implementation of External Aid.
• The Financing Agreement signed by the EU and the beneficiary country concerned for each
EU-funded programme. This sets out the programme objectives and budget.
• Rules and procedures for service, supply and works contracts financed from the general
budget of the European Communities in the course of cooperation with third countries [C
(2007) 2034], adopted by the European Commission on 24 May, 2007.
• This Practical Guide with its standard documents and templates in the annexes to it.
8.1.2. EDF
The following legal framework applies for contracts for services, supplies and works financed by
the European Development Fund:
• the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement signed at Cotonou on 23 June 2000 ; as amended by the
Agreement amending the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement signed in Luxembourg on 25 June
2005 and its Annex IV;
38
Such as the Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community
Customs Code that defines the rules regarding the origin of the products, and the Regulations on access to
Community external assistance.
2008 Page 127 of 137
• Council Decision 2001/822/EC of 27 November 2001, on the association of the overseas
countries and territories with the European Community (Overseas Association Decision) as
amended by Council Decision 2007/249/CE of 19 March 2007;
• Annex V of Decision No 3/90 of the ACP-EEC Council of Ministers of 29 March 1990
concerning the procedural rules on conciliation and arbitration ;
• The Council Regulation (EC) No. 617/2007 OF 14th of May 2007 on the implementation of
the 10th EDF under the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement
• the Council Regulation (EC) No. 215/2008 of 18th of February 2008 on the Financial
Regulation applicable to the 10th European Development Fund.
• The Financing Agreement signed by the EU and the beneficiary country concerned for each
EU-funded programme. This sets out the programme objectives and budget
• This Practical Guide and the standard documents and templates in the annexes to it.
8.2. Legal framework for grant procedures
8.2.1. BUDGET
The following legal framework applies to grant contracts financed by the European Union and
concluded in the course of cooperation with third countries:
• Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial
Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (and in particular
Title VI of Part One thereof, on grants, and Chapter IV of Title IV of Part Two thereof,
which concerns special provisions for grants in external actions), as amended by
Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1995/2006 of 13 December 2006;
• Commission Regulation No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for
the implementation of the abovementioned Financial Regulation (and in particular Title VI
of Part One thereof, on grants, and Chapter IV of Title III of Part Two thereof, which
concerns special provisions for grants in external actions), as amended by:
- - Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1261/2005 of 20 July 2005;
- - Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1248/2006 of 7 August 2006;
- - Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 478/2007 of 23 April 2007;
• the regulations or decisions of the Council, referred to as “basic acts” in the Financial
Regulation and this Practical Guide, and other specific instruments relating to the various
cooperation programmes.
8.2.2. EDF
The following legal framework applies to grant contracts concluded under the 10th EDF:
• The ACP-EC Partnership Agreement signed at Cotonou on 23 June 2000 as amended by the
Agreement amending the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement signed in Luxembourg on
25/06/05.
• Council Decision 2001/822/EC of 27 November 2001 on the association of the overseas
countries and territories with the European Community (Overseas Association Decision).
• The Council Regulation (EC) No. 215/2008 of 18th of February 2008 on the Financial
Regulation applicable to the 10th European Development Fund, in particular Title VII of
Part One on grants.
2008 Page 128 of 137

• The Financing Agreement signed by the EU and the beneficiary country concerned for the
programme, where such an agreement exists. This sets out the programme objectives and
budget ;
• The standard documents and templates in the annexes to this Practical Guide, which include
the standard grant contract for external actions (see Annex E3), and standard documents for
Calls for Proposals (see Annexes E1, E2 and E3).
The rules and procedures established by the European Commission for grant management under
the 10th EDF are consolidated in this Practical Guide and must be applied whenever such grants are
concerned.
2008 Page 129 of 137

9. List of Annexes
A General
A1 Glossary of terms a1_glossary_en.doc
A2 EU external aid programmes a2_ecprogrammes_en.doc

a2_eligibilityprogrammes2007-
2013.doc
a2_eligibilityprogrammesbefore
2007_en.doc
A3 Declaration of objectivity and confidentiality a3_decl_ob-conf_en.doc
A4 Declaration of impartiality and confidentiality a4_decl_imp_conf_en.doc
A5 Cancellation notice a5_cancnotice_en.doc
A6 Explanatory note a6_explnote_en.doc
A7 Receipt for hand delivered applications / tenders/ a7_receipt_en.doc

proposals
A8 Notification Letter a8_notifletter_en.doc
A9 Cover letter for submission of contract/addendum a9_coverletter_en.doc
A10 Negotiation report a10_negotiationreport_en.doc
A11 Guidelines
A11a Guidelines on contractual procedures to be used in cases a11_a_guidelines_crisis_en.zip

of crisis situations under the General Budget and EDF
A11b Guidelines for the drafting of IT tenders' technical a11_b_it_guidelines_en.doc

specifications in the field of external actions
A11c Guidelines for the drafting of technical specifications for a11_c_guidelines_furniture_en.doc

office furniture tenders in the field of external actions
A11d Guidelines for the drafting of technical specifications for a11_d_guidelines_vehicles_en.doc

vehicle tenders in the field of external actions
A12 Annex V to Decision No 3/90 of the ACP-EEC Council a12_conciliationandarbitration_en.pdf

of Ministers of 29 March 1990 adopting the general
regulations, the general conditions and the rules
governing the conciliation and arbitration procedure for
works, supply and service contracts financed under the
EDF
2008 Page 130 of 137

B Services
B1 Individual contract forecast b1_forecast_en.doc
B2a Procurement notice b2_procnotice_en.doc
B2b Summary Procurement Notice – Local Publication b2_b_summarypn_en.doc
B3 Standard application form b3_applform_en.doc
B4 Long list b4_longlist_en.doc
B5 Shortlist Report b5_shortreport_en.doc
B6 Shortlist notice b6_shortnotice_en.doc
B7 Letter to candidates who have not been short-listed b7_letternotshort_en.doc
B8 Standard tender dossier (including standard contract)
B8 Letter of invitation to tender b8_invit_en.doc
B8 Instructions to tenderers b8_itt_en.doc
B8 Draft contract: Special conditions b8_contract_en.doc
B8 Draft contract: General conditions (Annex I) b8_annexigc_en.pdf
B8 Draft contract: Terms of reference Fee-based (Annex II) b8_annexiitorfee_en.doc
B8 Draft contract: Terms of reference Global (Annex II) b8_annexiitorglobal_en.doc
B8 Draft contract: Organisation & methodology (Annex III) b8_annexiiiom_en.doc
B8 Draft contract: List and CV's of key experts (Annex IV) b8_annexivexperts_en.doc
B8 Draft contract: Budget (Annex V) b8_annexvbudgetglobal_en.doc
• Budget for a global-price contract; b8_annexvbudgetfee_en.xls
OR
• Budget breakdown for a fee-based contract
2008 Page 131 of 137

B8 Draft contract: Forms and other relevant documents
(Annex VI)
• Bank account notification form b8_annexvifif_en.pdf

• Financial guarantee template b8_annexviguarantee_en.doc
• Legal Entity File (individual) b8_annexvilefind_en.pdf
• Legal Entity File (private companies)) b8_annexvilefcompany_en.pdf
• Legal Entity File (public bodies) b8_annexvilefpublic_en.pdf

B8 Draft contract: Expenditure verification: Terms of
b8_annexviiexpverif_en.doc
Reference and Report of factual Findings (Annex VII)
B8 Shortlist notice b6_shortnotice_en.doc
B8 Administrative compliance grid b8_admingrid_en.doc
B8 Evaluation grid b8_evalgrid_en.doc
B8 Tender submission form b8_tenderform_en.doc
B8 Simplified tender dossier (for the competitive negotiated b8_simplified_en.zip

procedure and below)
B8 Tax and Custom arrangements b8_taxcustonsarrangements_en
B9 Tender opening checklist b9_openchecklist_en.doc
B10 Tender opening report b10_openreport_en.doc
B11 Evaluation report b11_evalreport_en.doc
B12 Evaluation grid b12_evaluatorsgrid_en.doc
B13 Letter to unsuccessful tenderers b13_letterunsuccessful_en.doc
B14 Contract award notice b14_awardnotice_en.doc
B15 Contractor assessment form b15_assessment_en.doc
B16 Addendum to contract b16_addendum_en.doc
B17 Budget modification b17_budgetmodif_en.xls
C Supplies
C1 Individual contract forecast c1_forecast_en.doc
C2 Procurement notice c2_procnotice_en.doc
C3 Summary Procurement Notice – Local Advertisement c3_summarypn_en.doc
2008 Page 132 of 137

C4 Standard tender dossier (including standard contract)
C4 Letter of invitation to tender c4_invit_en.doc
C4 Instructions to tenderers c4_itt_en.doc
C4 Draft contract c4_contract_en.doc
C4 Draft contract: Special Conditions c4_specialconditions_en.doc
C4 Draft contract: General Conditions (Annex I) c4_annexigc_en.doc
C4 Technical Specifications (Annex II) & Technical Offer c4_annexiitechspeciiitechoffer_en

(Annex III) .doc
C4 Financial Offer (Annex IV) c4_annexivfinoffer_en.doc
C4 Performance Guarantee (Annex V) c4_perfguarantee_en.doc
C4 Pre-financing Guarantee (Annex V) c4_prefinanceguarantee_en.doc
C4 Administrative Compliance Grid c4_admingrid_en.doc
C4 Evaluation Grid c4_evalgrid_en.doc
C4 Tender submission form c4_tenderform_en.doc
C4 Tax and Custom Arrangements C4_taxcustomarrangements_en.d

oc
C4 Tender Guarantee c4_tenderguarantee_en.doc
C4 • Bank account notification form c4_fif_en.pdf
• Legal Entity File (private companies) c4_lefcompany_en.pdf
• Legal Entity File (public bodies) c4_lefpublic_en.pdf
C4 Simplified dossier (for the competitive negotiated c4_simplified_en.zip

procedure and below)
C5 Tender opening checklist c5_openchecklist_en.doc
C6 Tender opening report c6_openreport_en.doc
C7 Evaluation report c7_evalreport_en.doc
C8 Letter to unsuccessful tenderers c8_letterunsuccessful_en.doc
C9 Contract award notice c9_awardnotice_en.doc
C10 Contractor assessment form c10_assessment_en.doc
C11 Provisional and Final Acceptance c11_provfinalaccept_en.doc
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C12 Addendum to contract c12_addendum_en.doc
C13 Budget modification c13_budgetmodif_en.doc
D Works
D1 Individual contract forecast d1_forecast_en.doc
D2 Procurement notice d2_procnotice_en.doc
D3 Summary Procurement Notice – Local Advertisement d3_summarypn_en.doc
D4 Standard tender dossier (including standard contract)
D4 Letter of invitation to tender d4_invit_en.doc
D4 Instructions to tenderers d4_itt_en.doc
D4 Draft contract d4_contract_en.doc
D4 Draft contract: Special Conditions d4_specialconditions_en.doc
D4 Draft contract: General Conditions d4_annexgc_en.doc
D4 Technical Specifications d4_techspec_en.doc
D4 Technical Offer Questionnaire d4_techofferquestion_en.doc
D4 Technical Offer Form 4.1 d4_techofferform4.1_en.doc
D4 Technical Offer Form 4.5 d4_fif_en.pdf
d4_lefcompany_en.pdf
d4_lefpublic_en.pdf
D4 Financial Offer d4_finoffer_en.doc
D4 Design Drawings d4_designdrawing_en.doc
D4 Administrative Compliance Grid d4_admingrid_en.doc
D4 Evaluation Grid d4_evalgrid_en.doc
D4 Tender Form d4_tenderform_en.doc
D4 Tender Guarantee d4_tenderguarantee_en.doc
2008 Page 134 of 137

D4 Pre-financing Guarantee d4_prefinanceguarantee_en.doc
D4 Performance Guarantee d4_perfguarantee_en.doc
D4 Retention Guarantee d4_retentionguarantee_en.doc
D5 Tender opening checklist d5_openchecklist_en.doc
D6 Tender opening report d6_openreport_en.doc
D7 Evaluation report d7_evalreport_en.doc
D8 Letter to unsuccessful tenderers d8_letterunsuccessful_en.doc
D9 Contract award notice d9_awardnotice_en.doc
D10 Contractor assessment form d10_assessment_en.doc
D11 Addendum to contract d11_addendum_en.doc
D12 Budget modification d12_budgetmodif_en.xls
E Grants
E1 Work programme e1_workprogr_en.doc
E2 Local publication e2_localpub_en.doc
E3 Guidelines for grant applicants
E3a Guidelines for Applicants e3_a_guidelines_en.doc
E3b Application form e3_b_applicform_en.doc
E3c Budget e3_c_budget_en.xls
E3d Logical Framework e3_d_logfram_en.xls
E3e • Legal Entity File (individual) e3_e_lefind_en.pdf
• Legal Entity File (private companies)) e3_e_lefcompany_en.pdf
• Legal Entity File (public bodies) e3_e_lefpublic_en.pdf
E3f Financial identification form e3_f_fif_en.pdf
E3h_1 Special conditions e3_h_1_speccond_en.doc
E3h_2 General conditions (annex II) e3_h_2_gencond_en.pdf
E3h_3 Contract-award procedures (annex IV) e3_h_3_awardproc_en.doc
E3h_4 Request for payment (annex V) e3_h_4_requestpay_en.doc
E3h_5 Interim narrative report (annex VI) e3_h_5_interreport_en.doc
2008 Page 135 of 137

E3h_6 Final narrative report (annex VI) e3_h_6_finalreport_en.doc
E3h_7 Financial report (annex VI) e3_h_7_financialreport_en.xls
E3h_8 Expenditure verification (annex VII) e3_h_8_expendverif_en.doc
E3h_9 Financial guarantee (annex VIII) e3_h_9_finguarantee_en.doc
E5a Concept note evaluation grid e5_a_conceptevalgrid_en.doc
E5b evaluation grid full application form e5_b_propevalgrid_en.doc
E6a Opening session and administrative check e6_a_opening_en.doc
E6b Evaluation report of the concept note e6_b_conceptevalrepoc_en.doc
E6c Evaluation report of the full application form e6_c_capplicevalrep_en.doc
E6d Final Evaluation report e6_d_finalevalrep_en.doc
E8 Letter to Delegation evaluation e8_note_delegation_evaluation_e

n.doc
E9a Letter to applicants after opening session e9_a_letter_submission_admin_c

heck_en.doc
E9b Accept letter to applicants after concept note evaluation e9_b_letter_cn_preselection_en.d

oc
E9c_1 Reject letter to applicants after concept note e9c_1_letter_negative_evaluation

evaluation/evaluation of full proposal _en.doc
E9c_2 Reject letter to applicants after evaluation of full e9c_2_letter_negative_evaluation

proposal – reserve list __reserve_en.doc
E9d Accept/reject letter after eligibility check e9_d_letter_final_check_rs_en.do

c
E9e Award letter e9_e_letter_award_en.doc
E10 Addendum e10_addendum_en.doc
E11 Publication e11_publication_en.doc
F Relations with international Organisations, Member States and other donors
F1
F1a Standard Contribution agreement-Special conditions f1_contr_agreement_sc_en.doc
F1b Standard Contribution agreement -General conditions f1_contr_agreement_gc_en.doc

(annex II)
F1c Standard Contribution agreement- Financial f1_fif_en.pdf

Identification Form (annex IV)
2008 Page 136 of 137

F1d Standard Contribution agreement - Request for payment f1_req_paym_en.doc
(annex V)
F2a Trust Fund and co-financing Framework Agreement f2_wb_agreement_en.pdf

(World Bank)
F2b Request for payment (World Bank) f2_wb_request_en.doc
F3 FAFA (United Nations) f3_un_fafa_en.pdf
F4 Delegation Agreement- Special Conditions f4_deleg_agreement_sc_en.doc
F4 Delegation Agreement – General Conditions f4_deleg_agreement_gc_en.doc
F5 Transfer Agreement f5_trans_agreement_en.pdf
2008 Page 137 of 137


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Practical Guide

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9. LIST OF ANNEXES ..............................................................................................130

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What does the Practical Guide not cover?

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2.2. Management modes

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2.3. Eligibility criteria and other essentials

2.3.1. The rule on nationality and origin

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2.3.2. Exceptions to the rule on nationality and origin

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2.3.3. Grounds for exclusion

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2.3.4. Administrative and financial penalties

2.4. Procurement procedures

2.4.1. Which procurement procedure to apply?

< € 150,000 but ≥

2.4.2. Open procedure

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2.4.4. Competitive negotiated procedure

2.4.5. Framework contracts

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2.4.7. Competitive dialogue

2.4.8. Negotiated procedure

2.4.9. Fair and transparent competition

2.4.10. Preferences (EDF only)

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2.4.11. Selection and award criteria

2.4.11.1. Selection criteria

2.4.11.1.1. General principles

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2.4.11.1.2. Verification of the eligibility of tenderers or candidates

2.4.11.1.3. Verification of the financial and economic capacities of tenderers or

2.4.11.1.4. Verification of the technical and professional capacities of tenderers,

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2.4.11.2. Award criteria

2.4.12. Procedure with “suspensive clause”

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2.4.14. Ethics clauses

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2.5. Contract size

2.6. Terms of reference and technical specifications

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2.8. The Evaluation Committee

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2.8.3. Responsibilities of the Evaluation Committee members

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2.8.5. Period of validity

2.9. Award of the contract

2.9.1. Notifying the successful tenderer