Proposal for a directive
Article 93
264. Member States shall appoint a single independent body responsible for the oversight and coordination of implementation activities (hereinafter "the oversight body"). Member States shall inform the Commission of their designation. All contracting entities shall be subject to such oversight. 265. The competent authorities involved in the implementation activities shall be organised in such a manner that conflicts of interests are avoided. The system of public oversight shall be transparent. For this purpose, all guidance and opinion documents and an annual report illustrating the implementation and application of rules laid down in this Directive shall be published. The annual report shall include the following: (a) an indication of the success rate of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in procurement; where the percentage is lower than 50 % in terms of values of contracts awarded to SMEs, the report shall provide an analysis of the reasons therefore; (b) a global overview of the implementation of sustainable procurement policies, including on procedures taking into account considerations linked to the protection of the environment, social inclusion including accessibility for persons with disabilities or fostering innovation; (c) centralized data about reported cases of fraud, corruption, conflict of interests and other serious irregularities in the field of public procurement, including those affecting projects cofinanced by the budget of the Union. 266. The oversight body shall be responsible for the following tasks: (a) monitoring the application of public procurement rules and the related practice by contracting entities and in particular by central purchasing bodies; (b) providing legal advice to contracting entities on the interpretation of public procurement rules and principles and on the application of public procurement rules in specific cases; (c) issuing own initiative opinions and guidance on questions of general interest pertaining to the interpretation and application of public procurement rules, on recurring questions and on systemic difficulties related to the application of public procurement rules, in the light of the provisions of this Directive and of the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union; (d) establishing and applying comprehensive, actionable 'red flag' indicator systems to prevent, detect and adequately report instances of procurement fraud, corruption, conflict of interest and other serious irregularities; (e) drawing the attention of the national competent institutions, including auditing authorities, to specific violations detected and to systemic problems; (f) examining complaints from citizens and businesses on the application of public procurement rules in specific cases and transmitting the analysis to the competent contracting entities, which shall have the obligation to take it into account in their decisions or, where the analysis is not followed, to explain the reasons for disregarding it; (g) monitoring the decisions taken by national courts and authorities following a ruling given by the Court of Justice of the European Union on the basis of Article 267 of the Treaty or findings of the European Court of Auditors establishing violations of Union public procurement rules related to projects cofinanced by the Union; the oversight body shall report to the European Anti-Fraud Office any infringement to Union procurement procedures where these were related to contracts directly or indirectly funded by the European Union. The tasks referred to in point (e) shall be without prejudice to the exercise of rights of appeal under national law or under the system established on the basis of directive 92/13/EEC. Member States shall empower the oversight body to seize the jurisdiction competent according to national law for the review of contracting entities' decisions where it has detected a violation in the course of its monitoring and legal advising activity. 267. Without prejudice to the general procedures and working methods established by the Commission for its communications and contacts with Member States, the oversight body shall act as a specific contact point for the Commission when it monitors the application of Union law and the implementation of the budget from the Union on the basis of Article 17 of the Treaty on the European Union and Article 317 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It shall report to the Commission any violation of this Directive in procurement procedures for the award of contracts directly or indirectly funded by the Union. The Commission may in particular refer to the oversight body the treatment of individual cases where the contract is not yet concluded or a review procedure can still be carried out. It may also entrust the oversight body with the monitoring activities necessary to ensure the implementation of the measures to which Member States are committed in order to remedy a violation of Union public procurement rules and principles identified by the Commission. The Commission may require the oversight body to analyse alleged breaches to Union public procurement rules affecting projects co-financed by the budget of the Union. The Commission may entrust the oversight body to follow- up certain cases and to ensure that the appropriate consequences of breaches to Union public procurement rules affecting projects co-financed are taken by the competent national authorities which will be obliged to follow its instructions. 268. The investigation and enforcement activities carried out by the oversight body to ensure that contracting entities' decisions comply with this Directive and the general principles of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union shall not replace or prejudge the institutional role of the Commission as guardian of the Treaty. When the Commission decides to refer the treatment of an individual case, it shall also retain the right to intervene in accordance with the powers conferred to it by the Treaty. 269. Contracting authorities shall transmit to the national oversight body the full text of all concluded contracts with a value equal to or greater than (h) 1 000 000 EUR in the case of supply contracts or service contracts; (i) 10 000 000 EUR in the case of works contracts. 270. Without prejudice to the national law concerning access to information, and in accordance with national and EU legislation on data protection, the oversight body shall, upon written request, give unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, to the concluded contracts referred to in paragraph 6. Access to certain parts of the contracts may be refused where their disclosure would impede law enforcement or otherwise be contrary to the public interest, would harm the legitimate commercial interests of economic operators, public or private, or might prejudice fair competition between them. Access to the parts that may be released shall be given within a reasonable delay and no later than 45 days from the date of the request. The applicants filing a request for access to a contract shall not need to show any direct or indirect interest related to that particular contract. The recipient of information should be allowed to make it public. 271. A summary of all the activities carried out by the oversight body in accordance with paragraphs 1 to 7 shall be included in the annual report mentioned in paragraph 2.Article 93 deleted Public oversight