Both tenders and grants are awarded following strict rules. These rules apply to the management and nature of calls for proposals/tenders.

There are three possible approaches to managing the procedures relating to actions financed under the external aid programmes of the EC:

1) Centralised procedure:
Grants/tenders are awarded by the European Commission acting for and on behalf of the beneficiary country. The Commission is responsible for publishing work programmes, issuing Calls for Proposals, receiving proposals, chairing evaluation sessions, deciding on the results of Calls for Proposals and signing the contracts.

2) De-centralised procedure: ex-ante
Grants/tenders are awarded by the Contracting Authority designated in the financing agreement, i.e., the government or an entity of the beneficiary country with legal status with which the European Commission establishes the financing agreement.
The Contracting Authority is responsible for publishing annual work programmes, issuing calls for proposals, receiving proposals, chairing evaluation sessions and deciding on the results of calls for proposals. The Contracting Authority submits the Evaluation Report, details of the proposed grants and, where appropriate, the draft contracts to the European Commission for endorsement. Once the grant has been approved, the Contracting Authority will sign the contract and notify the European Commission accordingly. The Contracting Authority submits the annual work programmes, Guidelines for Applicants and grant award notices to the European Commission for publication.

3) De-centralised procedure: ex-post
Grants/tenders are awarded by the Contracting Authority designated in the financing agreement, i.e., the government or an entity of the beneficiary country with legal status with which the European Commission establishes the financing agreement. It is responsible for publishing annual work programmes, issuing Calls for Proposals, receiving proposals, chairing evaluation sessions, deciding on the results of Calls for Proposals and signing the contracts. No prior approval from the European Commission is required. The Contracting Authority must submit the annual work programmes, Guidelines for Applicants and grant award notices to the European Commission for publication.

The nature of a call is regulated by the standard procurement procedures summarised in the table below.



1) Open procedure
Calls for tender are open if all interested operators may submit a tender. The contract is given maximum publicity via the publication of a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union and in any other appropriate media.

Under the open procedure, any natural or legal person wishing to tender receives upon request the tender dossier (which may have to be paid for), in accordance with the procedures laid down in the procurement notice. When the tenders received are examined, the contract is awarded by conducting a selection procedure (i.e., verification of the eligibility and of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of tender applicants) and the procurement procedure (i.e., comparison of tenders).

2) Restricted procedure
Calls for tender are restricted if all operators may ask to take part, but only candidates satisfying the selection criteria may submit a tender. Under the restricted procedure, the Contracting Authority invites a limited number of candidates to tender. Before launching a tender procedure, it will draw up a shortlist of candidates selected as a result of their qualifications. The selection procedure, by which the long list (all candidates responding to the published notice) is cut down to a shortlist, involves examining responses to a procurement notice, in which the selection criteria and a general description of the tasks to be undertaken are set out. In the second stage of the procedure, the Contracting Authority invites the short-listed candidates and sends them the tender dossier. In order to ensure fair competition, tenders must be submitted by the same service provider or consortium, which submitted the application form on the basis of which it was short-listed and to which the letter of invitation to tender is addressed. The successful tender applicant is chosen by the procurement procedure once the tenders have been analysed.

3) Competitive negotiated procedure
Under the competitive negotiated procedure, the Contracting Authority invites tenders from candidates of its choice. At the end of the procedure, it selects the most economically advantageous tender in case of service tenders and the cheapest compliant offer in case of supplies or work tenders.

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