General questions on the outsourcing of Commission services

29 September 2014
E-007243-14
Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 130
Alfred Sant (S&D)

Question:

With regard to the outsourcing of Commission services to the private sector:

1. What is the rationale behind such outsourcing?
2. How is it proposed and authorised?
3. Have any studies, in-house or external, been carried out for the Commission to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of this outsourcing?

Answer:

4 December 2014

Answer given by Vice-President Georgieva on behalf of the Commission

The Commission refers to the reply given to Question E-007575/2014 on the same subject.

The concept of ‘outsourcing’ is not defined so the Commission interprets it as referring to public
contracts for services. The rationale behind the use of such contracts is to seek the provision of services to the Commission, respecting the relevant provisions of the Financial Regulation (FR(1) its Rules of Application (RAP(2)

Concerning the authorisation of the use of contracts for services in general, each Authorising Officer within the Commission is empowered to make decisions regarding contracting out the activities of the service for which he/she is responsible. [All public contracts above EUR 134 000 are published in award notices in the Official Journal(3). Besides, all contracts above EUR 15 000 shall be published on Europa in the Financial transparency system(4).]

No general studies have been carried out to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of outsourcing.

(1) Articles 101 to 120 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 (OJ L 298, 26.10.2012).
(2) Articles 121 to 172 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 (OJ L 362, 31.12.2012).
(3) http://ted.europa.eu/TED/main/HomePage.do
(4) http://ec.europa.eu/budget/fts/index_en.htm