The basic principles of ESA's Tender Action approach

The rules governing ESA procurements are laid down in the ESA Convention and are implemented through the following regulatory instruments:

• ESA Contracting Regulations,
• General Clauses and Conditions for ESA Contracts,
• Industrial Policy Committee (IPC) Terms of reference.
• The ESA Contracting Regulations and the General Clauses and Conditions for ESA Contracts are documents made available to the public: ESA - Highlights of ESA rules and regulations; Contracting Regulations (ESA/REG/001, REV.6)
• The Contracting Regulations establish some fundamental principles such as:

Article 3 Principles (partial quote)

1. 'Provisions in these Regulations and in any other instructions concerning the placing of contracts shall always be interpreted so as to ensure:
2. Transparency and fair and equitable treatment of all economic operators;
3. That the participation of a Tendering Body does not cause any distortion of competition in relation to private economic operators;
4. The most economic and effective employment of the Agency’s resources;
5. The implementation of the defined industrial policy and to guarantee a distribution, of work among Member States provided in Article VII and Annex V of the Convention.'

Article 4 Competitive tendering(partial quote)

'Open competitive tender shall be the normal procedure for the placing of contracts'

'Restricted competitive tender may be applied [followed by the list of cases where this is possible]'

Article 5 Non Competitive tendering(partial quote)

• 'Competitive tendering may be waived in one or more of the following cases: [followed by the list of cases where this is possible]'
• The ESA Contracting  Regulations contain, as Annexes, various Implementing Instructions, and in particular:
• The General Conditions of Tender for ESA Contracts,
• The Procurement Review procedure.