| Work Detail |
In 2016 and 2017, the Court of Audit examined a series of government contracts that
eight federal departments or institutions had allocated for the purchase
of goods or services. After all, these purchases must comply with strict
rules of public procurement law and budgetary legislation
to ensure that all economic operators have equal access to
public contracts and that public funds
are used optimally. In addition, it also investigated
public contracts relating to the fleet of federal
departments and the expenses for foreign missions of the federal government.
departments. In its report, it formulates a series of general recommendations to ensure
that the federal departments
better comply with the legal and regulatory provisions on public procurement.
In his report, the Court examined the legality of a number of government assignments
that were allocated by Fedict, the FPS Health,
Food Chain Safety and Environment, the FPS Social Security, the FPS Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, the Buildings Agency, Fedasil , the
Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products and the Central Service
for Social and Cultural Action of Defense.
In the first place, it notes that it was difficult
to obtain complete and orderly purchasing files for several studies .
With regard to the award of contracts, it found infringements in the application of
certain rules on competition, the justification of the choice of
negotiated procedure, the estimate, the maximum duration of the contracts, the right of
access, the qualitative selection, the analysis of the regularity of the offers and
the waiting period. The award decisions are also not always adequately motivated and
communicated.
In the area of ??the execution of orders, the general rules are not always
observed, especially with regard to the bail, the delivery and the change of orders.
With respect to certain departments, the Court of Audit also emphasizes the importance of complying with
the rules on verification and payment periods and default interest
.
It formulates a series of general recommendations to achieve better compliance with
public procurement rules.
In addition, the Court also investigated public procurement for the purchase of
vehicles from the federal departments. The State does not have a centralized,
reliable and exhaustive inventory of its fleet because there are many
reporting methods that are not uniform and have shortcomings. The current
data do not, however, give a true and fair view of the environmental situation of the vehicle fleet. The
Court recommends coordinating the applicable texts,
rationalizing the existing instruments and centralizing that data as much as possible. Moreover, the
Court encourages the departments to appeal to central purchasing centers and points out it
that all framework agreements should be available on the e-Catalog platform.
In order to meet the needs of the federal administration,
purchasing centers must expand their range of ecological vehicles and make
leasing contracts available as soon as possible . The Court also found a few shortcomings
in compliance with the applicable legislation. Some of his observations
stem from the many and complex texts that apply in this domain. The Court of Audit
therefore recommends that it be standardized.
Finally, the Court of Audit also included an audit in its report on the expenses for
foreign business trips of the federal departments. It is a follow-up audit
of his research in 2006. Most departments have been
working on internal instructions for foreign business trips since the 2006 study. However, they are not
uniform and differ in terms of content. The file checks did not reveal any serious
shortcomings. However, the Court of Audit recommends that the ministries pay even more
attention to the timely authorization of foreign business trips, their
justification, compliance with the procedures for booking tickets and hotels, and
accountability of additional expenses.
A large number of departments are now using a framework agreement to call on
a travel agent to book airline tickets and accommodation. In addition, the federal
government also worked on a new system of allowances and allowances for the
staff of the federal public office. Uniform
tariffs for the flat-rate reimbursement for accommodation costs and the additional
reimbursement for accommodation costs were imposed for all departments .
The replies from the federal departments and ministers involved are included in the report |
