Legal Basis:
Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2018/1046
Section I: Contracting authority
I.3)CommunicationAdditional information can be obtained from the abovementioned address
I.4)Type of the contracting authorityEuropean institution/agency or international organisation
I.5)Main activityEconomic and financial affairs
Section II: Object
II.1)Scope of the procurement
II.1.1)Title:
Provision of External Audit Services to the European Court of Auditors
Reference number: AO 758
II.1.2)Main CPV code79210000 Accounting and auditing services
II.1.3)Type of contractServices
II.1.4)Short description:
This call for tenders is aiming to award a service contract related to provision of external audit services to the European Court of Auditors: audit of annual accounts of the Court of the following years: 2021-2025 and examination of some sample transactions randomly selected and carried out by the Court.
II.1.5)Estimated total valueValue excluding VAT: 375 000.00 EUR
II.1.6)Information about lotsThis contract is divided into lots: no
II.2)Description
II.2.2)Additional CPV code(s)79212300 Statutory audit services
79212000 Auditing services
II.2.3)Place of performanceNUTS code: LU LUXEMBOURG
Main site or place of performance:
II.2.4)Description of the procurement:
The subject of the contract is audit of annual accounts of the Court of the following years: 2021-2025 and examination of some sample transactions randomly selected carried out by the Court.
The contractor shall examine the truth and fairness of the annual accounts of the Court and whether the resources assigned to the Court have been used for their intended purpose and in accordance with the principles of sound financial management, and that the control procedures put in place provide the necessary guarantees concerning the compliance of financial operations with the applicable rules and regulations such as:
• Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget (hereafter the ‘Budget’) of the Union and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 as amended in the future (hereafter the ‘FR’);
• Decision No 2-2019 of 24 January 2019 of the European Court of Auditors laying down the internal rules for the implementation of the budget;
• The audit shall be carried out in conformity with international standards on auditing.
II.2.5)Award criteriaPrice is not the only award criterion and all criteria are stated only in the procurement documents
II.2.6)Estimated valueValue excluding VAT: 375 000.00 EUR
II.2.7)Duration of the contract, framework agreement or dynamic purchasing systemDuration in months: 60
This contract is subject to renewal: no
II.2.10)Information about variantsVariants will be accepted: no
II.2.11)Information about optionsOptions: no
II.2.13)Information about European Union fundsThe procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: yes
Identification of the project:
General budget of the European Union.
II.2.14)Additional information
Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information
III.1)Conditions for participation
III.1.1)Suitability to pursue the professional activity, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registersList and brief description of conditions:
Tenderers that are in one of the situations described in Articles 136 and 141 of the Financial Regulation shall be excluded from participation in this open call for tenders and not be awarded the contract.
Tenderers must be legally capable of performing the service contract they apply for. A declaration on honour on the exclusion and selection criteria (Annex 3 of the invitation to tender — Form 5), dated and duly signed by an authorised representative of the tenderer, shall be provided with the tender. The following documents as regards the legal capacity shall be requested from the tenderers to whom the award of the contract might be proposed:
(a) proof of entry on the professional or trade register under the conditions laid down by legislation in the country in which the tenderers reside;
(b) a legible copy of the notice of appointment of the person(s) authorised to represent the tenderer in concluding contracts, if it is not included in the above-mentioned document.
III.1.2)Economic and financial standingList and brief description of selection criteria:
Tenderers must have the necessary economic and financial capacity to perform the contract in compliance with the contractual provisions, taking into account its value and scale. If, in the light of the information supplied by the tenderer, the Court has doubts about his financial capacity, or if it is clearly insufficient for performance of the contract, the tender may be rejected without the tenderer being able to claim any financial compensation.
A declaration on honour on the exclusion and selection criteria (Annex 3 of the invitation to tender — Form 5), dated and duly signed by an authorised representative of the tenderer, shall be provided with the tender. The following documents as regards the economic and financial capacity shall be requested from the tenderers to whom the award of the contract might be proposed:
(a) a statement of overall turnover and a specific turnover concerning the services covered by this call for tender (statutory audit), realised over the past 3 financial years, for which accounts have been closed;
(b) audited financial statements (balance sheets and profit and loss accounts) for at least the last three financial years for which accounts have been closed, or equivalent documentation (e.g. where company law in the country in which the tenderer is established does not require publication of balance sheet);
(c) proof of relevant professional risk indemnity insurance.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:
In respect of the contract, which is the subject of this invitation to tender, the Court requires tenderers to have the following minimum levels of economic and financial capacity:
(a) the average annual turnover in the field of statutory audit of accounts in the past 3 financial years for which accounts have been closed must be at least EUR 150 000.
III.1.3)Technical and professional abilityList and brief description of selection criteria:
Tenderers must have the necessary technical and professional capacity to enable them to perform the contract in compliance with the contractual provisions, taking into account its value and scale. If, in the light of the information supplied by the tenderer, the Court has doubts about a tenderer's technical and professional capacity, or if it is clearly insufficient for performance of the contract, the tender may be rejected without the tenderer being able to claim any financial compensation.
A declaration on honour on the exclusion and selection criteria (Annex 3 of the invitation to tender — Form 5), dated and duly signed by an authorised representative of the tenderer, shall be provided with the tender.
The following documents as regards the technical and professional capacity shall be provided with the tender:
(a) copy of the authorisation to carry out the statutory audit of accounts issued by the relevant authority of the member state in which the tenderer is established;
(b) a list of at least 5 relevant contracts/projects carried out in the last 3 years concerning the statutory audit of accounts, proving at least 3 years of experience in the audit sector (statutory audit of accounts and in audit of Internal Control Systems (including IT and IT security)). At least one of the contracts/projects must refer to statutory audit of accounts carried out in a national or international public body;
(c) a description of CAATS packages or other IT applications supporting the audit process;
(d) a description of the quality control and quality assurance procedures for the provision of statutory audit of accounts;
(e) a declaration and description of data protection assurance measures in place to show compliance with the data protection Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:
(a) the tenderer must be duly authorised to provide statutory audit of accounts;
(b) the tenderer shall have at least 3 (three) years' proven experience in statutory audit of accounts and in audit of Internal Control Systems (including IT and IT security);
(c) the tenderer shall have executed in the last 3 years at least 5 (five) similar contracts/projects (similar in terms of scope ‘Statutory audit’);
(d) at least one of the contracts/projects must refer to statutory audit of accounts carried out in a national or international public body;
(e) the tenderer shall dispose IT applications supporting the audit process (CAATS or other);
(f) the tenderer shall have quality control and quality assurance procedures in place for the provision of statutory audit of accounts;
(g) the tenderer shall have data protection assurance measures in place to show compliance with the data protection Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
III.2)Conditions related to the contract
III.2.2)Contract performance conditions:
In accordance with Art. 41.1 of Decision No 2-2019 of 24 January 2019 of the European Court of Auditors laying down the internal rules for the implementation of the budget, the current external auditor (contractor of Service Contract no SG 276 ‘Provision of external audit services to the European Court of Auditors’) will be not allowed to participate in the present procurement procedure. In accordance with Art. 41.2 of the above mentioned decision, in order to avoid any conflict of interests, the tenderer awarded the contract for external audit services (subject of the present procurement procedure) cannot have any other commercial relationships with the Court Auditors for the whole duration of the service contract. The tenderer awarded the contract for external audit services must be fully independent of the Court. Moreover, the auditors who will perform the external audit must not have either a real or apparent conflict of interest.
III.2.3)Information about staff responsible for the performance of the contractObligation to indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff assigned to performing the contract
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1)Description
IV.1.1)Type of procedureOpen procedure
IV.1.3)Information about a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system
IV.1.8)Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: yes
IV.2)Administrative information
IV.2.2)Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participateDate: 31/03/2021
Local time: 16:00
IV.2.3)Estimated date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates
IV.2.4)Languages in which tenders or requests to participate may be submitted:Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish, French, Irish, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Maltese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish
IV.2.6)Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tenderDuration in months: 9 (from the date stated for receipt of tender)
IV.2.7)Conditions for opening of tendersDate: 01/04/2021
Local time: 11:00
Place:
European Court of Auditors, L-1615 Luxembourg, 12 rue Alcide de Gasperi.
This session may take place online using the platform Microsoft Teams. In this case a link will be provided to the tenderers in due time in reply to your email registering for participation.
Information about authorised persons and opening procedure:
A maximum of one representative per tender may attend the opening session. For organisational and security reasons the tenderer must provide the full name and nationality of the representatives at least two working days in advance to eca-procurement.service@eca.europa.eu.
The representatives will be required to present the submission receipt generated by eSubmission and to sign an attendance sheet
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.1)Information about recurrenceThis is a recurrent procurement: yes
VI.3)Additional information:
Any additional information including that referred to above will be available only on eTendering (https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-display.html?cftId=7788), so the tenderers are strongly advised to consult it at regular intervals as additional information may be added at any time up to the closing date for submission of tenders.
VI.4)Procedures for review
VI.4.1)Review bodyOfficial name: General Court of the European Union
Postal address: rue du Fort Niedergrünewald
Town: Luxembourg
Postal code: 2925
Country: Luxembourg
Telephone: +352 4303-1
Fax: +352 4303-2100
Internet address:
http://curia.europa.eu/ VI.4.2)Body responsible for mediation proceduresOfficial name: The European Ombudsman
Town: Strasbourg
Postal code: 67001
Country: France
Telephone: +33 388172313
Internet address:
http://ombudsman.europa.eu/ VI.4.3)Review procedurePrecise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
Appeal to the General Court of the European Union within 2 months of the plaintiff being notified on the success or not of its tender or, failing this, of the day on which it became known to them. A complaint made to the European Ombudsman neither suspends this period nor opens a new period for lodging appeals.
VI.4.4)Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:29/01/2021