Tenders in the European Union

Subject: Tenders in the European Union

Companies established in the European Union have the right to apply for public tenders throughout the EU. These must be officially announced by the authorities in the ‘S’ series of the Official Journal of the European Communities or on the TED website. It makes sense for there to be this kind of central location for publishing EU-wide public tenders and harmonised minimum requirements for tenders above a certain value.

However, the fact that tenders are generally announced in one language only, with just brief summaries in all official languages of the EU, is a problem, particularly for small companies. Tenders must be drawn up in the language of the invitation to tender. Having documents translated and, as is often necessary, certified is an expensive undertaking, especially for small companies.

(1) Is the Commission aware of this problem?

(2) Will the Commission take action on this matter, particularly in order to reduce the burden on small, EU-based companies?

(3) It has been suggested that invitations to tender might be published in English as well as in the language of the country where they originate. What is the Commission’s assessment of this proposal?

Answer given by Mr Navracsics on behalf of the European Commission

(25 March 2019)

1. The Commission is aware of this problem. The Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) website allows for the multilingual publication of procurement notices. Contracting authorities can choose to announce tenders in one language only or in more EU languages and decide on the language of the tender.

2. To overcome the fact that contracting authorities often choose to publish procurement notices in the official language(s) of their country only, the TED website provides for (1) summaries in all official languages of the EU, and (2) the possibility to request a translation of the full notice via a built-in machine translation service. Upon translation request by a button-click, the machine- translated documents are delivered to the TED user by email and made available on the TED website for all other visitors.

3. The Commission cannot enforce Member States to provide English translations of the descriptions. The TED website offers the possibility to translate the notices in all official languages using machine translation offered by the Commission. In addition, the Commission would like to draw the attention of the Honourable Member to the fact that with a view to facilitating cross-border tendering and reducing language issues:

— The Commission provides and manages the electronic system e-Certis (1) whose mission is to facilitate the exchange of certificates and other documentary evidence frequently required by contracting authorities. E-Certis is currently updated and verified on a voluntary basis by national authorities.

— The Commission established the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD), which is a formal statement by the economic operator that the relevant ground for exclusion does not apply and/or that the relevant selection criterion is fulfilled. It provides for preliminary evidence in replacement of certificates issued by public authorities or third parties. The ESPD is drawn up based on a standard form and is available in all official languages.

⋅1∙ https://ec.europa.eu/tools/ecertis/search | | ( | | )