2007 discharge: European Aviation Safety Agency EASA

PURPOSE: to present the report of the Court of Auditors on the 2007 accounts of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditor’s report includes a detailed section on the European Aviation Safety Agency’s expenditure and an analysis of the expenditure, as well as the Agency’s replies.

• Analysis of the accounts by the Court: in its report, the Court makes a number of observations, particularly with regard to expenditure forecasts. The 2007 establishment plan consisted of 467 temporary posts, which was an increase of 139 posts compared with the 2006 plan. As the appropriations for staff expenditure did not cover actual staff costs, the Agency reduced its recruitments and agreed with the Commission to reduce the number of posts to a maximum of 342. However, the establishment plan was not amended accordingly. The Agency should therefore carefully check the consistency of the expenditure forecasts. Moreover, the Court notes that, according to the new fees and charges regulation, the Agency considered EUR 14.9 million as assigned revenue to cover future certification costs. This amount, however, is overestimated as it also includes fees levied under the rules of the former regulation. In one procurement procedure, the absence of clear and complete information on the award criteria and their respective weightings, on the one hand, and the financial evaluation method, on the other hand, led to a situation of non-transparency for the bidders. The Court notes that in three other cases the restricted procedure after a call for expressions of interest was applied although the overall value of the services to be awarded exceeded the threshold requiring an open procedure;
• The Agency’s replies: the Agency notes that, During the first two years of the implementation of the fees and charges regulations, the revenue of the Agency was insufficient to cover its forecasted overall costs. For the sake of prudence, the Agency decided to slow down recruitment. This was reflected in the Staff Policy Plan 2008-2010 which has been agreed with the Commission. Moreover, it notes that the year 2007 was a transition phase for which both old and new fees and charges regulations were applied. Lastly, the Agency notes that it is fully aware of the necessity to comply strictly with the procurement rules of the Commission. It will pay particular attention to clearly informing the potential bidders on the award criteria and their evaluation.