PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of
Auditors report on the annual accounts of the European
Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) for the year 2016, together with the
Agencys reply.
CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the
Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the
Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of
Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each
institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and
regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an
independent external audit.
This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual
accounts of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The
Agency's tasks are to ensure a high level of maritime safety and to
prevent pollution by ships, provide the Commission and the Member
States with technical assistance, and monitor the implementation of
Union legislation, as well as to evaluate its
effectiveness.
Statement of assurance:
pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has
audited:
- the annual accounts of the Agency, which comprise the
financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the
budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2016,
and
- the legality and regularity of the transactions
underlying those accounts.
Opinion on the reliability of the
accounts: in the Courts
opinion, the Agencys annual accounts present fairly, in all
material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2016
and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year
then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial
Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the
Commissions accounting officer.
Opinion on the legality and regularity of the
transactions underlying the accounts:
in the Courts opinion, the transactions underlying the annual
accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016 are legal and regular
in all material respects.
The report also makes a series of observations
regarding the Agency, accompanied by the latters response.
The main observations may be summarised as follows:
The Courts observations:
- internal controls: the
Court noted that in 2014, the Agency concluded a framework contract
amounting to EUR 3.5 million for the purchase of IT-related goods
and services over a 6-year period. The Agency underestimated the
needs and likely contract value, leading to an 80 % consumption
of the contract at the end of 2016. A new procurement procedure has
to be launched 4 years earlier than expected, resulting in
additional administrative costs. In addition, in 2016, the Agency
concluded seven framework contracts for the purchase of oil
pollution response systems. The procurement procedure was launched
under the assumption that the total value of the seven frameworks
contracts would be EUR 7 million. However, this assumption
underestimated the Agencys needs and seven framework
contracts for an amount of EUR 7 million each were signed, leading
to a total value of the contracts of EUR 49 million.
The Agencys replies:
- internal controls: as
regards the IT contract, the Agency replied that defining the needs
related to this contract was particularly challenging as at the
time of the procurement the negotiations on the Delegation
Agreement for Copernicus were still ongoing and, more importantly,
it was not clear if and to which extent IT costs would be eligible
under this agreement, mainly because of the issue how to deal with
Copernicus specific needs in a hybrid and combined IT environment
at EMSA. The fact that Copernicus would consume a substantial part
of the above mentioned framework contract could not be foreseen at
the time the contract was concluded. As regards the framework
contracts, the Agency stipulated that it was originally foreseen to
launch a six-lot procurement procedure with an overall estimated
budget of EUR 7 million excluding VAT. However, in the period
between the initial estimation of the needs and the actual launch
of the tender the forecasted needs evolved and as a result the
tender was launched with a different number of lots and
different budget ceiling per lot. The whole package of tender
documentation was adapted accordingly and published in a coherent
way indicating EUR 7 million per lot.
Lastly, the Court of Auditors report contains a
summary of the Agencys key figures in 2016:
- Budget: EUR 71.1
million.
- Staff: 246 including
officials, temporary and contract staff and seconded national
experts.