A transition to fully digital tender applications, obligatory unique identification codes, and electronic implementation and reporting are just a few of the innovations featured in the EU’s Practical Guide to Procurement and Grant Award Procedures (PRAG). The new elements of the latest edition of PRAG as well as future requirements and systems have been presented in detail during a DevelomentAid-hosted webinar.
The changes in PRAG 2020 resulted in a series of uncertainties and questions from DevelopmentAid platform members. This led to the initiative by the platform to organize a webinar with the experts of the Directorate-General for International Partnership (DG INTPA) of the European Commission (EC) to shed some light on the subject. The “PRAG 2020. Major Сhanges in the EU External Actions Procurement” online event gathered together almost 300 participants willing to hear the answers to their pertinent questions. The webinar began with the experts’ presentation of the current status of EU aid funding and the latest updates that were included in PRAG 2020.
The European Union allocates 10% of its budget to external action in the form of grants, contracts, and budget support to the EU partner countries. According to the latest alignments, the new Contract Notices, including Prior Information Notices and Contract Award Notices and Calls for Tenders, will be published on TED and F&T, the European Commission’s portals, instead of the EuropeAid platform as they used to be. The EC experts suggest using both web platforms in order to gain access to information related to funding opportunities. They also revealed a completely new electronic instrument aimed at improving communication between the contract authority and the bidding companies.
“In the near future, we will move to an electronic tool that will facilitate the communication between contract authority and the contractors. It will facilitate the submission of reports, invoices, signature of the contract. It will become an electronic change in terms of management of the contracts. In order to make this change, all the organisations in the process of signing a contract financed by DG INTPA, DG NEAR or FPI, are strongly recommended to register in the Commission’s Participant Register. Without the Participant Identification Code (PIC), you won’t be able to manage your contract electronically, and especially, you will be unable for applying for funding”, stated Isabel Fajardo Soria, Legal Officer, Finance of Contracts, DG INTPA Legal Affairs, European Commission.
The transition to digital is practically a reality, Nicolas Provençal – Head of Sector, Finance and Contracts – DG INTPA Legal Affairs argued in his speech during the webinar.
“No more paper submission for tenders. In the near future, we are hoping that the submission of offers will go fully electronic. Actually, everything will go through a system designed to efficiently manage the whole EU external relations portfolio of interventions. OPSYS, the new IT programme, is a combination of interactive IT tools. It will cover the whole project cycle, from programming to final evaluation, including tendering, contracting and implementation phases.”
The EC experts listed the most common mistakes made by the contractors that should be avoided in order to obtain the required financial resources. In addition, they introduced some practical advices to be taken into consideration when applying for funding.
Sergiu Casu, Head of the Business Development at DevelopmentAid, the host of the event, reminded the participants of the utility of the platform.
“Development Aid collects all the information available from the European Commission from different sources, from F&T and TED. Some of the DGs publish Prior Information Notices related to projects or programs supported by European Union funds. These notices are being published more and more rarely.”
The DG INTPA specialists attempted to respond to all the questions and uncertainties regarding the PRAG 2020 and the next version will be finalized by September 2021 during the Q&A session.
PRAG, the Practical Guide to procurement and grant award procedures, explains the contracting procedures applying to all EU external actions financed by the EU budget and the European Development Fund (EDF). Last year the European Commission updated the PRAG requirements with the latest version available at: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag.
To stay up-to-date with the latest and future changes, follow the “PRAG 2020. Major Сhanges in the EU External Actions Procurement” webinar. Get free access by contacting us at membership@developmentaid.org. Stay tuned to the latest news and gain access to upcoming webinars on DevelopmentAid.
