for External Audit Services for Political Groups of the European Parliament 2021-2024

European Parliament, Directorate-General for Finance, Directorate for Political Structures Financing and Resources, Director Mr Eduard Reijnders, BRU — Martens 11Z084 European Parliament, Rue Wiertz B-1047, Brussels, BELGIUM email: fin.struc.pol@ep.europa.eu

Call for expression of interest for external audit services for European Political Groups.

The European Parliament invites applicants to submit applications with a view to drawing up a list of external auditors or auditing companies, from which European Political Groups (hereafter ‘the Groups’) may select their own ‘Auditor’(1). Contracts will be signed by the Groups and the Auditor that they select. In accordance with point 2.6.3 of the Rules on the use of appropriations from Budget Item 400 (hereafter ‘the Rules’), the Auditor shall be appointed on the basis of a standard letter of engagement, as specified in Annex 4 of the Rules and the maximum length of consecutive engagements of the same Auditor with the same group is five years.

Inclusion in the list entails no obligation on the part of the contracting authority with regard to the conclusion of contracts.

(1) The ‘Auditor’ for External Audit Services for European Political Groups 2021-2024 refers to either an auditor or an auditing company.

3.1 The responsibility of the Group

The Group is responsible to the European Parliament to ensure that the appropriations are used in accordance with the rules. A copy of these Rules is available on request at the e-mail address: fin.struc.pol@ep.europa.eu

3.2 The tasks of the external auditor

The auditor has the responsibility to plan and carry out the audit work in order to verify and confirm with reasonable assurance to the Group that:

(a) the statement of revenue and expenditure gives a true and fair view of the group's financial position for the financial year concerned;

(b) the balance sheet gives a true and fair view of the group's assets at the end of the financial year;

(c) the overall considerations on financial statements in the rules adopted by the Accounting Officer of the Commission referred to in article 80 of the Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 (2) (hereafter ‘the Financial Regulation’) have been observed in the preparation and presentation of the accounts or, where appropriate, a divergence from these overall considerations is adequately explained by a note to the financial statements;

(d) an effective and efficient internal control system for the management of operations, which includes effective segregation of the duties of authorising officer and accounting officer or of the equivalent functions, is in place;

(e) the accounts have been presented in accordance with the harmonised Accounting Plan in Part 2 of the Rules;

(f) the expenditure complies with the provisions of the rules;

(g) the expenditure has been charged to the correct item in the budget of the Group;

(h) the appropriations were available;

(i) the principles of sound financial management have been applied;

(j) payment orders are substantiated by original supporting documents (or certified true copies);

(k) the Group's internal rules have been observed.

At the end of the examination, the Auditor shall set out their views in an audit report addressed to the chair of the Group concerned. The audit report shall include the opinion on the Group's internal control systems.

The Auditor shall verify the risk management activities of the group, by issuing independent opinions on the quality of management and control systems and by issuing recommendations for improving the conditions of implementation of operations and promoting sound financial management. The Auditor shall be responsible in particular for:

(a) assessing the suitability and effectiveness of internal management systems and the performance of departments in implementing policies, programmes and actions by reference to the risks associated with them;

(b) assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of the internal control and audit systems applicable to every budget implementation operation.

The opinions and recommendations on the risk management activities shall be included in a management letter. This letter will address weaknesses of internal controls noted during the audit which, in his view, should be brought to the attention of the group's authorising officer. The letter will also address recommendations to mitigate these weaknesses.

The Auditor’s duties shall cover all of the Group's activities and departments. The Auditor shall enjoy full and unlimited access to all information required to perform the duties, if necessary on the spot, including in the Member States and in third countries.

3.3 Rights and obligations

The audit will be conducted independently by the Auditor in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) as issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB). Furthermore, it will be conducted in such a manner as the Auditor considers necessary to fulfil their responsibilities and will include such tests on transactions and also on the existence, ownership and valuation of assets and liabilities as considered necessary. It may include testing both in the Group premises and in the national delegations premises. The Auditor shall expect to obtain such relevant and reliable evidence as considered sufficient to enable drawing reasonable conclusions. The nature and extent of the audit procedures should be established in accordance with the assessment of the Group's accounting system and of the internal control system, and may cover any aspect of the Group's operations.

The Auditor may request that the Group provide written confirmation of oral statements given by the Group during the course of the audit on matters having a material effect on audit opinions.

The Auditor shall request to see all documents or statements which are considered to be necessary to the audit work.

3.4 Other services [other conditions]

The Auditor accepts not to carry out other work which may be seen as compromising either objectivity or independence. For this reason, the Auditor is obliged to sign the audit engagement in Annex 3.

Pursuant to article 74 paragraph 8 of the Financial Regulation: ‘[.....] Contracts with external auditors carrying out audits of the financial management of the Union shall provide for an obligation of the external auditor to inform the authorising officer by delegation [of the European Parliament] of any suspected illegal activity, fraud or corruption which may harm the interests of the Union’. The auditor or auditing company shall fulfil this obligation.

(2) Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012; available at this page https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/eu-accounting-rules_en

(a) the Groups are organs of the European Parliament. They have an autonomous administrative status and maintain separate accounting records. As recipients of financial contributions from the European Parliament budget, the Groups must prepare and submit Audited Financial Statements.

For all the Groups, the financial period is the calendar year, except during a European election year, which includes two financial periods (calendar semester). Groups' Financial Statements and the Audit Reports are to be submitted to the Administration before 30 April of the following year (and before 31 October for the first semester of an election year).

(b) as of July 2020, there were seven Groups.

— Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)

No. of Members: 187

— Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the EP

No. of Members: 146

— Renew Europe Group

No. of Members: 98

— Identity and Democracy Group

No. of Members: 76

— Group of the Greens/ European Free Alliance

No. of Members: 66

— European Conservatives and Reformists Group

No. of Members: 62

— Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left

No. of Members: 39

(c) in 2020, the initial annual budget of each Group varied from EUR 3.8 million to EUR 16.1 million.

Theses budgets are roughly proportionate to the number of Members of each Group.

(d) apart from the Rules mentioned under point 3.1, each Group has its own internal financial rules.

(e) Groups' financial reports include an income and expenditure statement and a balance sheet and explanatory notes to these documents.

(f) Although most Groups' accounting records are held in Brussels, Groups may maintain their records or supporting documents, partly or completely, at other places inside the EU.

(a) the Auditor may accept simultaneous mandates from different Groups.

b) The amount of the fee to be charged by the Auditor will be agreed between the Group and the Auditor. The fee will be payable by the Group from its own funds and in no way will the European Parliament be responsible for the payment of any fee to the Auditor (see Annex 3).

(c) the Auditor will submit its report to the President of the Group.

(d) When reporting, the Auditor is expected to adhere to the Model of Standard Audit Report. By way of example, the Model of Standard Audit Report with unqualified opinion is provided in Annex 1 of this document.

(e) the signed audit report will be published on the European Parliament website with the audited Group's financial report.

(f) the languages mostly used by the European Parliament are English, French and German. The auditor must be capable of supplying staff familiar with these languages. A Group to be audited may choose to apply other EU official languages. The Auditor is expected to cope with all language requirements of an audit.

Tenderers shall undertake to observe a policy on the promotion of equality and diversity in the performance of the contract, should it be awarded to them, by applying the principles of nondiscrimination and equality set out in the community treaties in full and in their entirety. More particularly, the tenderer awarded the contract shall undertake to establish, maintain and promote an open and inclusive working environment which respects human dignity and the principles of equal opportunities, based on three main elements:

— equality between men and women,

— employment and integration of disabled persons,

— the removal of all obstacles to recruitment and all potential discrimination based on sex, race or ethnic origin, religion or convictions, disability, age or sexual orientation.

Applicants shall be excluded from participation in the procedure if they are in one of the situations listed in Articles 136, 137 and 141 of the Financial Regulation. To that end, they shall provide a declaration on their honour concerning the exclusion criteria, duly dated and signed by the applicant (see Annex 2).

In application of Article 141, paragraph 1 of the Financial Regulation, applicants who, during the procedure, are found subject to an exclusion situation according to the articles 136 and 137 of the Financial Regulation or have failed to supply the information or have misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the procedure, shall be rejected.

(a) the Auditor must be able to prove that it is capable of carrying out audits in respect of the international standards on auditing. A list of the firm's 8 major clients over the past 5 years with a short description of the work performed shall be provided.

(b) the Auditor must be able to carry out a financial audit of an entity whose turnover is similar to the budget figures provided under point 4c.

(c) the Auditor must commit to supply staff familiar with the working language(s) mentioned in section 5f chosen by the Group to be audited.

(d) the Auditor must accept the proposed mandate without negotiation except in the case of the fee mentioned in section 5b.

The following supporting documentation must be sent with the application:

1) Name and trade name, address and legal status of the auditor or auditing company,

2) Proof that the applicant is duly authorised to apply on behalf of the auditing company,

3) VAT number and, in the case of self-employed auditors, statement and proof of social security cover,

4) Name, nationality and professional qualification of the auditor or, in the case of an auditing company, of two partners, one being the partner answering the call for expression of interest on behalf of the company,

5) A list of major clients as required under section 7a,

6) A declaration that the Auditor is capable of supplying staff familiar with the working language(s) chosen by the Group to be audited, mentioned in section 7c,

7) A recent extract from the judicial record or, failing that, a recent equivalent document issued by a judicial or administrative authority in the country in which it is established showing that the auditor or auditing company is not in one of the situations referred to in Article 136(1)(a), (c), (d) or (f) of the Financial Regulation. The same applies to the persons referred to in Article 136(4) (3),

8) A recent certificate issued by the competent authority of the State concerned proving that the applicant is not in the situation referred to in Article 136(1)(a) and (b) of the Financial Regulation,

9) The declaration on the applicant's honour concerning the exclusion criteria (Annex 2),

10) The declaration of acceptance of the audit mandate without negotiation, as mentioned under section 7d, and written statement concerning the commitment as described in Annex 3.

The European Parliament reserves the right to request any other document or clarification enabling it to verify the adequacy of the application to the selection criteria.

(3)

— Article 136 (1) of the Financial Regulation

1) The authorising officer responsible shall exclude a person or entity referred to in Article 135(2) from participating in award procedures governed by this Regulation or from being selected for implementing Union funds where that person or entity is in one or more of the following exclusion situations:

(a) the person or entity is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures, its assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court, it is in an arrangement with creditors, its business activities are suspended, or it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for under Union or national law;

(b) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the person or entity is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions in accordance with the applicable law;

(c) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the person or entity is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the person or entity belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional credibility where such conduct denotes wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the following:

(i) fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of eligibility or selection criteria or in the implementation of the legal commitment;

(ii) entering into agreement with other persons or entities with the aim of distorting competition;

(iii) violating intellectual property rights;

(iv) attempting to influence the decision-making of the authorising officer responsible during the award procedure;

(v) attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure;

(d) it has been established by a final judgment that the person or entity is guilty of any of the following:

(i) fraud, within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council (44) and Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995 (45);

(ii) corruption, as defined in Article 4(2) of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 or active corruption within the meaning of Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997 (46), or conduct referred to in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA (47), or corruption as defined in other applicable laws;

(iii) conduct related to a criminal organisation as referred to in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA (48);

(iv) money laundering or terrorist financing within the meaning of Article 1(3), (4) and (5) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council (49);

(v) terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, as defined in Articles 1 and 3 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA (50), respectively, or inciting, aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such offences, as referred to in Article 4 of that Decision;

(vi) child labour or other offences concerning trafficking in human beings as referred to in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (51);

[......]

(f) it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that the person or entity has committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95

— Article 136 (4) of the Financial Regulation

4) The authorising officer responsible shall exclude a person or entity referred to in Article 135(2) where:

(a) a natural or legal person who is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory body of the person or entity referred to in Article 135(2), or who has powers of representation, decision or control with regard to that person or entity, is in one or more of the situations referred to in points (c) to (h) of paragraph 1 of this Article;

(b) a natural or legal person that assumes unlimited liability for the debts of the person or entity referred to in Article 135(2) is in one or more of the situations referred to in point (a) or (b) of paragraph 1 of this Article;

(c) a natural person who is essential for the award or for the implementation of the legal commitment is in one or more of the situations referred to in points (c) to (h) of paragraph 1.

If processing applicant’s expression of interest involves the recording and processing of personal data (such as your name, address and CV), such data will be processed pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725(4) on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, Unless indicated otherwise, applicant’s reply to this notice and any personal data requested are required for the purpose of conducting the selection procedure based on the criteria indicated above in point 7 and will be processed solely for this purpose by the responsible for the procedure indicated in point 1.

(4) Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC.

(a) in order to establish a first list of applicants, applications must be submitted within 30 (thirty) calendar days of the date of publication of this notice in the Official Journal of the European Union, to the following address:

European Parliament, Official Mail Unit, Konrad Adenauer Building, Office 00D001, for Directorate-General for Finance, L-2929 Luxembourg.

Applications shall be submitted in one of the official languages of the European Union.

Applications must be sent under double cover. The two envelopes shall be sealed. The inner envelope shall bear the following:

— the recipient department:

European Parliament, Directorate-General for Finance, Directorate for Political Structures Financing and Resources, Office 05B038

— the reference of the application:

Expression of Interest for external audit services, for European Political Groups 2021-2024, EP/FINS 2020-109

Application may also be submitted by e-mail. In that case, it must be sent for the attention of Mr Eduard Reijnders, Director of the Directorate for Political Structures Financing and Resources, to the following e-mail address: fin.struc.pol@ep.europa.eu In order for the application to be considered, an original of the proposal must be sent within 15 days of the submission of the proposal by e-mail.

(b) additional applications may be submitted during the period of validity of the list, with the exception of the last 3 (three) months.

(c) further information may be obtained on request at the following e-mail address: fin.struc.pol@ep.europa.eu

Following the evaluation of the applications received, the applicants who fulfil the requirements will be included in a list which must be approved by the Bureau of the European Parliament. After approval by the Bureau, the contracting authority will notify applicants of their inclusion in a list in writing within not more than 30 (thirty) calendar days of the day of approval.

Rejected applicants will also be notified by the contracting authority in writing within not more than 30 (thirty) calendar days of the decision to reject them. The contracting authority will indicate the reasons for the rejection of their applications in that communication.

The list of approved external auditors or auditing companies will be valid for not more than 4 years from the date on which this notice is published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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