Industrial cost auditing at ESA

The industrial cost audit function is of vital importance for an organisation like ESA, which dispenses the majority of its annual budget in placing contracts with space-sector contractors.

As an intergovernmental organisation spending tax-payers’ money, ESA has an obligation to ensure that it has an effective procurement process and to obtain value for money, and the audit activity is an essential part of this process. By obtaining value for money, ESA not only obtains a proper return for its Member States’ investments, but also ensures that the maximum can be achieved in terms of the challenging missions that the Agency undertakes.