Buc harest – 18/9/2013

1. Recommendations on procedural steps needed to conclude the procurement contracts within projects financed by the Joint Operational Programme Black Sea Basin 2007-2013Secondary Procurement Bucharest– 18/9/2013

2. Annex IV_Procurement by grant Beneficiaries in the context of European Union external actions Procurement procedure of the awarding contracts by the Beneficiaries / Partners shall be in compliance with the procedural procurement steps by type and value of the contract in line with the specification of the grant contract, and PRAG 2011. Tender dossiers must be drawn in accordance with the best international practices in field of procurement. The Beneficiary/Partners could follow the models published on the EC website.

3. General procurementprinciples General principles applicable to the procurement procedures: • Economy • Efficiency • Effectiveness • Transparency • Equal Treatment • Impartiality

4. Generalrules • Compliance with the eligibility rules on nationality and origin for the ENPI financed projects: • Rule of nationality and origin: provider to belong to one of the States as referred in EC Regulation No 1638/2006; Special Conditions Art.7.2.20 by derogation from Article 2.2 , Annex IV_Procurement by grant Beneficiaries in the context of European Union external actions • Avoiding any conflict of interest; [e.g. Project Manager shall not be engaged in the selection process] • Contracts shall follow the best ratio of Quality – Price value; • Contract shall not be divided into several contracts with less value (pursuing the same object) in order to apply an inadequate procedure; [e.g. when bidding office equipment, both PC and laptop, the contract shall NOT be divided into lots, each lot may lead to the award of a separate contract] • Compliance with thresholds specified in PRAG 2011. Depending on the type of contract and value thresholds, accordingly shall be followed the evaluation methodology as specified in PRAG 2011.

5. TransparencyandNon-discrimination • Maximum publicity of the tender procedure (in national language OR English if appropriate); • Opening the competition to as many tenderers as possible; • Availability of tender documents - for all the tenderers (at the local premises, website, OR submitted directly to any interested part); • Equal level of information for all tenderers – when clarifications/supplementary information are required;

6. EqualTreatment • Transparency of information - all tenderers should receive the same information; • Absence of restrictive conditions - Terms of Reference (ToR) / technical specifications (equipment and goods) as widely accessible as possible; • Selection and award criteria – provided at the start of the procedure and kept unchanged until the end of the process; • Equal conditions in financial offers – stay away from any preferential discounts or preferential conditions of any nature. • [e.g. the correct price shall be submitted as the final price, without occurring any other rewarding bonus OR discount]

7. Recommendations When selecting a procedure, do not split the budget just to avoid a complex procurement procedure !!! Use visibility rules of the programme even in the tender documents and contracts!!! Nationality rule and origin rules are mandatory !!!

8. Procurementprocedure • Submitting tender documents: tenders received are recorded in chronological order, specifying the exact date and time; • Evaluation is performed by a committee consisting of at least three voting members; • Successful tender: drawing up the awarding / rejection report of the contract (standard template available); • Communicating the result of evaluation process, consequently; • All members must be informed regarding the outcomes of evaluation in same day;

9. Amount of procurement

10. Rulescommonto all tender procedures (1) DOCUMENTS– to be drafted in accordance with best international practice Beneficiaries may use the models published on the European Commission’s web site relating to external actions. TIME LIMITS – to be long enough to allow interested parties a reasonable and appropriate period to prepare and submit their tenders AWARD PRINCIPLE–ccontracts always shall follow the best ratio of Quality – Price value;

11. Rules common to all tender procedures (3) Compliance with the eligibility rules on nationality and origin for the ENPI financed projects: Rule of nationality: provider to belong to one of the States as referred in EC Regulation No 1638/2006, Rule of origin: document/certificate from Provider/ authorized economic operator certifying the origin OR document issued by the competent authority in this respect, Avoiding any conflict of interest, Contracts shall follow the best ratio of Quality – Price value, Contract shall not be divided into several contracts with less value (pursuing the same object) in order to apply to inadequate procedure where the threshold value were initially classified, therefore, Compliance with thresholds specified in PRAG 2011. Depending on the type of contract and value thresholds, accordingly shall be followed the evaluation methodology as specified in PRAG 2011.

12. Publicityrules • Providers to whom are sent invitations must have included in the objects of activity services / supplies for which they apply, • Any modification / clarification regarding the purchasing of supplies / services shall be communicated to all tenderers to ensure necessary transparency (needed website updating and publishing in national/international media, as appropriate), • Depending on the thresholds applied to the contract, invitations will be published in national and/or international media.

13. TenderProcedures • International open tender procedure • International restricted tender procedure • Open tender procedure published locally • Negotiated procedure without publication • Single tender

14. International OPEN TENDER – steps to be followed • Publication of the procurement notice – in all appropriate media (web site, international press, national press, specialized publications) • Submission of tenders – any candidate who meets the selection criteria published

15. International OPEN TENDER- Steps • Eligibility verification • Evaluation of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of the each tenderer • Evaluation of the technical and financial offer • Conclusion of the evaluation report • Contract signature When to use this procedure? supplies over 150,000 €

16. INTERNATIONAL RESTRICTED TENDER - Steps • Publication of the procurement notice - in all appropriate media (web site, international press, national press, specialized publications) • Number of candidates: 4-8 (see PRAG 2011) • Submission of tenders - any candidate who meets the published selection criteria and is invited in writing by the beneficiary

17. INTERNATIONAL RESTRICTED TENDER - Steps • Eligibility verification • Evaluation of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of each tenderer • Evaluation of the technical and financial offer • Conclusion of the evaluation report • Contract signature When to use this procedure? Services - 200,000 € or more [following publication of a tender notice in the international and the national press, when 4-8 candidates are invited to submit tenders]

18. OPEN TENDER PROCEDURE PUBLISHED LOCALLY – Steps • Publication of the procurement notice -in all appropriate media (only in the country where the Action is carried out) • Eligibility verification • Evaluation of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of each tenderer • Evaluation of the technical and financial offer • Conclusion of the evaluation report • Contract signature When to use this procedure? supplies between 60,000 € and 150,000 €

19. NEGOTIATION WITHOUT PUBLICATION – Steps • At least 3 service providers are consulted of Beneficiary choice and the terms of the contract are negotiated with one or more of them • Eligibility verification • Evaluation of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of each tenderer • Evaluation of the technical and financial offer • Conclusion of the evaluation report • Contract signature When to use this procedure? services between 10,000 € and 200,000 € supplies between 10,000 € and 60,000 €

20. SINGLE TENDER – Steps When to use this procedure? The contract value does not exceed 10,000 € Recommendation Request more than one tender to prove transparency and non-discrimination and to select “the most economically advantageous tender (ie, the tender offering the best price-quality ratio)” (annex IV) !!

21. Rules to be applied in evaluation stage • Members shall be given access to the principle of equal treatment, • Only offers submitted within the period mentioned in the invitation will be evaluated, • In case NO acceptable offer is received at the moment of time communicated, the procedure must be cancelled, thus tendering procedures relaunchedin compliance with all procedural steps, • Tenders received will be considered eligible in case they meet the requirements in terms of value and technical performance, • During the evaluation stage clarification may be required.

22. PROCUREMENT CONTRACT The following requirements are mandatory for a contract: • Number of registration and date • General and special provisions • Name of the project and the contract code • Purpose of the contract • Total cost and unit cost (it should not exceed unit rate provided by Annex III) • Costs in EURO (with and without VAT) and in the national currency • Duration of the contract (within the implementation period of the contract) • Signatures and stamps of the both parties

23. PROCUREMENT FILE • Tender documentation – proving basis on which the procedure was followed • Proofs of publication – in media, on the web • Any correspondence with the tenderers – invitations, request for clarifications, answers • Evaluation reports, including tenders – reports, notes of the evaluation committee, a copy of each offer • Contracts

24. Thank you for your attention