The European Commission (EC) has awarded for 18.089.698 euros the development of the external audit external audit of contractors financed by the European Commission under the 6th framework programme for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2002 to 2006) according to the Official Journal.

The Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union in the 8 th April 2009 edition published the award of the tender for three enterprises: Blömer accountants and advisers, KPMG Deutsch and Lubbock Fine Chartered Accountants

The external audit will be focused into two European Programmes

• 6th framework programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities, contributing to the creation of the European Research Area and to innovation (2002 to 2006).
• 6th framework programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for nuclear research and training activities, also contributing to the creation of the European Research Area (2002 to 2006).

The evaluation will be done in the context of the 6th framework programme of the European Community and of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) the Commission, in particular the 5 Directorates-General funding research actions and one European Agency:

• Research DG.
• Enterprise DG.
• Information Society DG.
• Fisheries DG.
• Transport and Energy DG.
• Agency GSA (European GNSS Supervisory Authority).

The awarded companies will procure audits on research contractors under 2 forms: batch and individual assignments:

• Batch assignments entail the performance of up to 100 audits on entities involved in cost-reimbursement contracts. The exact size of such batches is to be determined at the start of each assignment. The work will consist of audits on the premises of selected organisations within the Member States and associated countries. Price system: fixed all-inclusive price for an audit within a batch.
• Individual assignments consist of ad hoc auditing and related services for specific cases, ranging from a complete audit to particular questions on individual contractors and/or contracts. They are based on a fixed daily tariff with the reimbursement of the travel costs and subsistence and may take place all over the world.

The audit will improve the evaluation process according to the information from the European Court of Auditors on Special Report No 9/2007 concerning "Evaluating the EU Research and Technological Development (RTD) framework programmes - could the Commission's approach be improved?.