| Work Detail |
In 2016 and 2017, the Court of Auditors monitored a series of public procurement of goods
and services awarded by eight federal departments or agencies. These purchases
must comply with the strict rules of the
public procurement legislation and the budget laws in order to guarantee, on the one hand, the equal access of all
economic operators to public contracts and, on the other hand, , the
optimal use of public funds. The Court also examined the public procurement contracts
for the car fleet and the expenses related to
foreign service travel of the federal departments. In its report, it makes various
cross-cutting recommendations to help federal departments better
comply with the legal and regulatory provisions on public procurement.
The Court of Auditors report examines the legality of a series of public contracts
awarded by Fedict, the FPS Public Health, Food Chain Safety and
Environment, the FPS Social Security, the FPS Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and
Development Cooperation , the Régie des bâtiments, Fedasil, the Federal Agency for
Medicines and Health Products and the Central Office for Social and Cultural
Defense.
The Court first points out that it has encountered difficulties in obtaining
complete and clear purchasing records in the context of several checks.
With regard to procurement, it found infringements in the application of
certain rules of competitive bidding, the motivation to use the
negotiated procedure , the estimation, the maximum duration of contracts, the right of access,
qualitative selection , analysis of the regularity of offers and the waiting period. She also observed
that award decisions were not always sufficiently motivated or
communicated.
As
regards the execution of contracts, the general rules are not always respected, especially as regards guarantee, provisional acceptance and modification of markets.
The Court of Auditors also points out to certain departments that it is important to
respect the rules on verification and payment deadlines and default interest
.
It makes a series of cross-cutting recommendations to improve compliance
with government procurement regulations.
The Court also controlled public procurement for the purchase of vehicles for
federal departments. The state does not have a centralized, reliable and comprehensive inventory
of its fleet, as there are many forms of
inconsistent and deficient reporting. In addition, the current data do
not provide a true picture of the environmental impact of the fleet. The Court of
Auditors recommends coordinating the applicable texts, rationalizing the instruments
used and centralizing these data as much as possible. It also encourages
departments to use central purchasing bodies and specifies that all framework contracts
should be offered on the e-Catalog platform. To meet the needs of
the federal administration, central purchasing bodies must expand their range of
environmentally friendly vehicles and offer leasing contracts as soon as possible. The Court also noted a
number of shortcomings in respect of the applicable law. Part of
his findings can be explained by the multitude of confused texts that apply in this
area. The Court recommends standardizing these texts.
Finally, the Courts report also contains an audit of the expenditure relating to
foreign service travel by federal departments. This is a follow-up to its 2006 audit.
Most departments have now developed internal instructions
for overseas service travel. These are however not uniform and their
content is variable. The file checks did not reveal any serious breaches. However, the
Court of Auditors recommends that departments give more importance to
the timely authorization of overseas travel, their motivation, the respect
of the procedures for booking tickets and hotel rooms, and the justification of expenses
additional.
Many departments now go through a travel agent via a framework contract
for the reservation of airline tickets and stays. In addition, the federal government has put
in place a new system of allowances and benefits for
federal public service employees . Uniform tariffs have been imposed on all
departments in respect of the flat-rate allowance for subsistence expenses and the
supplementary allowance for housing costs.
Responses from the relevant federal departments and ministers are included in the
report.
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