1.   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 contracts which may be awarded during a given period, in particular with regard to price and, where appropriate, the quantities envisaged. Where a framework contract is concluded with several economic operators, the latter must be at least three in number, insofar as there is a sufficient number of economic operators who satisfy the selection criteria and/or of admissible tenders which meet the award criteria.

A framework contract with a number of economic operators may take the form of separate contracts but concluded in identical terms.

The term of a framework contract may not exceed four years, save in exceptional cases duly justified in particular by the subject of the framework contract.

Contracting authorities may not use framework contracts improperly or in such a way that the purpose or effect is to prevent, restrict or distort competition.

Framework contracts shall be treated as procurement contracts for the purposes of the award procedure, including advertising.

2.   Specific contracts based on framework contracts shall be awarded in accordance with the terms of the framework contract, only between the contracting authorities and the economic operators originally party to the framework contract.

When awarding specific contracts, the parties may not make substantial amendments to the terms laid down in that framework contract, in particular in the case referred to in paragraph 3.

3.   Where a framework contract is concluded with a single economic operator, the specific contracts shall be awarded within the limits of the terms laid down in the framework contract.

For the award of those specific contracts, contracting authorities may consult in writing the economic operator party to the framework contract, requesting it to supplement its tender if necessary.

4.   Specific contracts based on framework contracts concluded with a number of economic operators shall be awarded in accordance with the following arrangements:

For every specific contract to be awarded in accordance with the arrangements in point (b) of the first subparagraph, contracting authorities shall consult in writing the economic operators capable of performing the contract, fixing a time limit which is sufficiently long to allow tenders to be submitted. Tenders shall be submitted in writing. Contracting authorities shall award each specific contract to the tenderer who has submitted the best tender on the basis of the award criteria set out in the specification for the framework contract.

5.   Only specific contracts based on framework contracts shall be preceded by a budgetary commitment.

1.   Publication for contracts with a value equal to or above the thresholds laid down in Articles 157 and 158 shall consist in a pre-information notice, a contract notice or simplified contract notice and an award notice.

2.   The pre-information notice is the notice by which the contracting authorities make known, by way of indication, the estimated total value of contracts and framework contracts, by category of service or groups of products, and the essential characteristics of works contracts which they intend to award during a budgetary year, but excluding contracts under the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice. The pre-information notice shall be compulsory only where the estimated total value of the contracts is equal to or above the thresholds laid down in Article 157 and the contracting authority intends to make use of the possibility of shortening time limits for receipt of tenders in accordance with Article 140(4).

The pre-information notice shall be published either by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities (OPOCE) or by the contracting authorities themselves on their buyer profile as referred to in point (2)(b) of Annex VIII to Directive 2004/18/EC.

The pre-information notice shall be sent to OPOCE or published on the buyer profile as soon as possible and in any event by no later than 31 March of each budgetary year in the case of supply and service contracts and, in the case of works contracts, as soon as possible after the decision approving the programme for those contracts.

Contracting authorities which publish the pre-information notice on their buyer profile shall send to OPOCE, electronically and using the format and transmission procedures specified in point (3) of Annex VIII to Directive 2004/18/EC, a notice announcing the publication of a pre-information notice on a buyer profile.

3.   The contract notice is the means by which the contracting authorities make known their intention to launch a procedure for the award of a contract or framework contract or to set up a dynamic purchasing system in accordance with Article 125a. The contract notice shall be compulsory for contracts with an estimated value equal to or above the thresholds laid down in points (a) and (c) of Article 158(1), without prejudice to contracts concluded after a negotiated procedure, as referred to in Article 126. It shall not be compulsory for specific contracts based on framework contracts.

Contracting authorities which wish to award a specific contract based on a dynamic purchasing system shall make known their intention by means of a simplified contract notice.

In an open procedure the contract notice shall specify the date, time and, where appropriate, place of the meeting of the opening committee, which shall be open to the tenderers.

Contracting authorities shall state whether or not they authorise variants and shall specify the minimum capacity levels they demand if they make use of the possibility provided for in the second subparagraph of Article 135(2). They shall set out the selection criteria referred to in Article 135 that they intend to use, the minimum number of candidates they plan to invite to tender and, where appropriate, the maximum number, and the objective and non-discriminatory criteria they intend to apply in order to limit the number, in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 123(1).

Where there is unrestricted, direct and full access to the call for tenders by electronic means, in particular in the dynamic purchasing systems referred to in Article 125a, the Internet address at which these documents can be consulted shall appear in the contract notice.

Contracting authorities wishing to organise a contest shall issue a notice announcing their intention.

4.   The award notice shall give the outcome of the procedure for the award of contracts, framework contracts or contracts based on a dynamic purchasing system. In the case of contracts with a value equal to or above the thresholds laid down in Article 158, the award notice shall be compulsory. It shall not be compulsory for specific contracts based on framework contracts.

The award notice shall be sent to the OPOCE no later than 48 calendar days after the procedure is closed, that is to say, from the date on which the contract or framework contract is signed. However, notices relating to contracts based on a dynamic purchasing system may be grouped together on a quarterly basis. In such cases, they shall be sent to the OPOCE no later than 48 days after the end of each quarter.

Contracting authorities which have held a design contest shall send the OPOCE a notice of the results of the contest.

5.   The notices shall be drawn up in accordance with the standard forms adopted by the Commission pursuant to Directive 2004/18/EC.’;

1.   The dynamic purchasing system, as referred to in Articles 1(6) and 33 of Directive 2004/18/EC, is a completely electronic process for making commonly used purchases, which is open throughout its duration to any economic operator who satisfies the selection criteria and has submitted an indicative tender that complies with the specification and any additional documents. The indicative tenders may be improved at any time provided that they continue to comply with the specification.

2.   For the purposes of setting up the dynamic purchasing system, contracting authorities shall publish a contract notice stating that a dynamic purchasing system is being used and containing a reference to the Internet address offering unrestricted, direct and full access to the specification and to any additional documents from the time of publication of the notice up to the expiry of the system.

They shall indicate in the specification, amongst other matters, the nature of the purchases envisaged under that system, and all the necessary information concerning the purchasing system, the electronic equipment used and the technical connection arrangements and specifications.

3.   Contracting authorities shall give any economic operator, throughout the duration of the dynamic purchasing system, the possibility of submitting an indicative tender with a view to being admitted to the system under the conditions referred to in paragraph 1. They shall complete evaluation within a maximum of 15 days from the date of submission of the indicative tender. However, they may extend the evaluation period provided that no invitation to tender is issued in the meantime.

The contracting authority shall inform tenderers at the earliest possible opportunity that they have been admitted to the dynamic purchasing system or that their tender has been rejected.

4.   Each specific contract shall be the subject of an invitation to tender. Before issuing this invitation, contracting authorities shall publish a simplified contract notice inviting all interested economic operators to submit an indicative tender, within a time limit that may not be less than 15 days from the date on which the simplified notice is sent. Contracting authorities may not proceed with tendering until they have completed evaluation of all the indicative tenders received by that deadline.

Contracting authorities shall invite all tenderers admitted to the system to submit a tender within a reasonable time. They shall award the contract to the tenderer who has submitted the tender offering best value for money on the basis of the award criteria set out in the contract notice for the establishment of the dynamic purchasing system. Those criteria may, if appropriate, be formulated more precisely in the invitation to tender.

5.   A dynamic purchasing system may not last for more than four years, except in duly justified exceptional cases.

Contracting authorities may not resort to this system to prevent, restrict or distort competition.

No charges may be billed to the interested economic operators or to parties to the system.

1.   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 make-up of the project.

2.   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.

3.   Contracting authorities shall open a dialogue with the candidates satisfying the selection criteria set out in Article 135 in order to identify and define the means best suited to satisfying their needs.

During the dialogue, contracting authorities shall ensure equality of treatment among all tenderers and confidentiality of the solutions proposed or other information communicated by a candidate participating in the dialogue unless he/she 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.

4.   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.

5.   The contracting authorities may specify prices or payments to the participants in the dialogue.’;

1.   The contracting authority shall accept, as satisfactory evidence that the candidate or tenderer is not in one of the situations described in point (a), (b) or (e) of Article 93(1) of the Financial Regulation, 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 point (d) of Article 93(1) of the Financial Regulation, a recent certificate issued by the competent authority of the State concerned.

2.   Where the document or certificate referred to in paragraph 1 is not issued in the country concerned and for the other cases of exclusion referred to in Articles 93 and 94 of the Financial Regulation, it may be replaced by a sworn or, failing that, a solemn statement made by the interested party before a judicial or administrative authority, a notary or a qualified professional body in his country of origin or provenance.

For contracts with a value of less than EUR 50 000, the contracting authority may, depending on its analysis of risks, ask candidates or tenderers to provide only a declaration on their honour that they are not in one of the situations referred to in Articles 93 and 94 of the Financial Regulation.

3.   Depending on the national legislation of the country in which the tenderer or candidate is established, the documents referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall relate to legal persons and/or natural persons including, where considered necessary by the contracting authority, company directors or any person with powers of representation, decision-making or control in relation to the candidate or tenderer.

4.   Where they have doubts concerning the personal situation of candidates or tenderers, contracting authorities may themselves apply to the competent authorities referred to in paragraph 1 to obtain any information they consider necessary about that situation.’;

1.   In open, restricted or negotiated procedures in the case referred to in Article 127(1)(a), the contracting authorities may decide that the award of a public contract shall be preceded by an electronic auction, as referred to in Article 54 of Directive 2004/18/EC, when the contract specifications can be established with precision.

In the same circumstances, an electronic auction may be held on the reopening of competition among the parties to a framework contract as referred to in Article 117(4)(b) of this Regulation and on the opening for competition of contracts to be awarded under the dynamic purchasing system referred to in Article 125a.

The electronic auction shall be based either solely on prices, in which case the contract is awarded to the lowest price, or on the prices and/or the values of the features of the tenders indicated in the specification, in which case the contract is awarded to the tender offering best value for money.

2.   Contracting authorities which decide to hold an electronic auction shall state that fact in the contract notice.

The specification shall include the following details:

3.   Before proceeding with an electronic auction, contracting authorities shall make a full initial evaluation of the tenders in accordance with the award criteria set and with the weighting fixed for them.

All tenderers who have submitted admissible tenders shall be invited simultaneously by electronic means to submit new prices and/or new values; the invitation shall contain all relevant information concerning individual connection to the electronic equipment being used and shall state the date and time of the start of the electronic auction. The electronic auction may take place in a number of successive phases. The electronic auction may not start sooner than two working days after the date on which invitations are sent out.

4.   When the contract is to be awarded on the basis of the tender offering best value for money, the invitation shall be accompanied by the outcome of a full evaluation of the relevant tender, carried out in accordance with the weighting provided for in the first subparagraph of Article 138(3).

The invitation shall also state the mathematical formula to be used in the electronic auction to determine automatic re-rankings on the basis of the new prices and/or new values submitted. That formula shall incorporate the weighting of all the criteria fixed to determine the tender offering best value for money, as indicated in the contract notice or in the specification; for that purpose, any ranges shall, however, be reduced beforehand to a specified value.

Where variants are authorised, a separate formula shall be provided for each variant.

5.   Throughout each phase of an electronic auction the contracting authorities shall instantaneously communicate to all tenderers at least sufficient information to enable them to ascertain their relative rankings at any moment. They may also communicate other information concerning other prices or values submitted, provided that that is stated in the specification. They may also at any time announce the number of participants in that phase of the auction. In no case, however, may they disclose the identities of the tenderers during any phase of an electronic auction.

6.   Contracting authorities shall close an electronic auction in one or more of the following ways:

When the contracting authorities have decided to close an electronic auction in accordance with point (c), possibly in combination with the arrangements laid down in point (b), the invitation to take part in the auction shall indicate the timetable for each phase of the auction.

7.   After closing an electronic auction, contracting authorities shall award the contract in accordance with Article 138 on the basis of the results of the electronic auction.

Contracting authorities may not have improper recourse to electronic auctions nor may they use them in such a way as to prevent, restrict or distort competition or to change the subject-matter of the contract, as put up for tender in the published contract notice and defined in the specification.’;

1.   Where duly substantiated urgency renders impracticable the minimum time limits laid down in Article 140(3) for restricted procedures and negotiated procedures where a contract notice is published, contracting authorities may set the following time limits, expressed in calendar days:

2.   In restricted procedures and fast-track negotiated procedures, additional information on the specifications shall, provided it has been requested in good time, be communicated to all candidates or tenderers no later than four calendar days before the deadline for receipt of tenders.’;

1.   The thresholds referred to in Article 105 of the Financial Regulation shall be:

1.   An annual work programme for grants shall be prepared by each authorising officer responsible and adopted by the Commission. It shall be published on the grants Internet site of the Commission as soon as possible at the start of the year and by no later than 31 March each financial year.

The work programme shall specify the basic act, the objectives, the schedule of calls for proposals with the indicative amount and the results expected.

2.   Any substantial change in the work programme in the course of the year shall also be adopted and published as provided for in paragraph 1.’;

1.   In addition to cases of scholarships and prizes, the Commission may authorise the use of contributions of a flat-rate amount of EUR 10 000 or less, or of scales of unit costs. It may also, on the basis of the scale annexed to the Staff Regulations or as approved each year by the Commission, authorise daily allowances for mission costs.

2.   The various forms of funding referred to in paragraph 1 may be combined for a single beneficiary to cover different categories of eligible costs.

The Commission decision referred to in paragraph 1 shall determine the maximum amount for the total of such funding authorised by grant or type of grant.

3.   The grant agreement may authorise flat-rate funding of the beneficiarys indirect costs up to a maximum of 7 % of total eligible direct costs for the action, save where the beneficiary is in receipt of an operating grant financed from the Community budget. The 7 % ceiling may be exceeded by reasoned decision of the Commission.

4.   In order to ensure compliance with the principles of co-financing, no-profit and sound financial management, the forms of funding referred to in paragraph 1 and the conditions on which they may be combined shall be assessed and determined by the Commission. They shall be reviewed at least every two years by the authorising officer responsible. The Commission shall confirm or amend accordingly its initial decision as referred to in paragraph 1.’;