PROCUREMENT MANDATORY PRINCIPLES

The Annex III establishes that, when procuring properties, supplies, works or services necessary for the implementation of Union-funded humanitarian aid actions, the partners have to respect the following mandatory principles.

They should apply to all humanitarian actions, regardless of the value of the procurement contract, or the percentage of Union funding, and should be interpreted in the light of the humanitarian aid principles.

These principles are:

• Principle of Ethical Procurement

• Principle of Sound Financial Management

• Principles of Equal Treatment, Non-Discrimination and Untied Aid

• Principle of Transparency and Right of Access

• Principle of Proportionality

• Principle of Avoiding Conflicts of Interest

• Principle of Supporting the Local Economy

• Principle of Due Diligence

There is a strong interdependence between the different Mandatory Principles.
The compliance with one principle reinforces or is a condition for the compliance with another. Just as the Mandatory Principles are interdependent, they may sometimes overlap and result in an apparent conflict.

There is no hierarchy between the Mandatory Principles of procurement and an integrated and coherent application is necessary to overcome the potential conflicts among them. Therefore, a certain degree of flexibility and reaction capacity should be built into the system to overcome any conflict between procedures and priorities.

Being responsible for the entire procurement chain, the partners are responsible for ensuring the respect of the mandatory principles, including by contractors. It is therefore advisable to keep the procurement chain as short as possible.
To ensure respect of principles by the contractors the partner may:

• Mention the principles in the TOR or specifications

• Mention them in the contractual documents

• Carry out appropriate checks (e.g. Visits, check website, request a declaration on honour, etc.)

Particular attention should be paid when the partners maintain long term relations with contractors, or enter into framework contract. In such cases, it is expected that the partners apply more due diligence in verifying that contractors and sub-contractors respect the mandatory principles. Such verification should however be proportional to the volume of the procurement.