Outcome tender, TED Reference: 2021/S 141-371596 (EP Reference: PE PERS 2021 027)
Dear European Parliament,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
The tender with TED Reference: 2021/S 141-371596 (EP Reference: PE PERS 2021 027) related the management of the "Full management of the European Parliament's early childhood centre in Brussels, located on Rue Wayenberg" closed on the 17th of September 2021.
I would like to receive a overview of the bids submitted to this tender, the bid that was selected by DG PERS, and the motivation for selecting this bid,
Yours faithfully,
Michiel C.
Our reference: A(2021)10729
Dear applicant,
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your application
for public access to documents, which was registered on 08/12/2021.
All requests for public access to documents are treated in compliance with
[1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
In accordance with the above-mentioned Regulation, your application will
be handled within 15 working days upon registration of your request.
Your personal data will be processed in accordance with [2]Regulation (EU)
2018/1725 of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with
regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions,
bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data.
The European Parliament reserves the right to ask for additional
information regarding your identity in order to verify compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the European Parliament’s implementing
measures.
Your attention is drawn to the fact that you have lodged your application
via the AsktheEU.org website, which is a private website not officially
related to the European Parliament. Therefore, the European Parliament
cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to
the use of this system.
In addition, please note that any personal data that you provide by using
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for such disclosure. Should you need to communicate directly to Parliament
any personal data and would like to avoid public disclosure, you may do so
from your private email address by using the following functional mailbox
address: AccesDocs(at)europarl.europa.eu
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[3][European Parliament request email]
[4]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
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1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
4. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: A(2021)10729
Dear applicant,
The deadline for replying to your application concerning public access to
documents under [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 registered on 08/12/2021
expires tomorrow, on 07/01/2022.
However, due to the fact that the detailed analysis of all legal aspects
linked to the possible disclosure of the requested documents is still
ongoing, in order to reply to your application Parliament exceptionally
needs to extend the time-limit provided for in Article 7(1) of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 by a further 15 working days, in accordance with Article
7(3) of the same regulation.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. We thank you for your
understanding.
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[2][European Parliament request email]
[3]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
2. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
3. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: A(2021)10729
Dear applicant,
The European Parliament is in the process of assessing your application.
We have noticed that you have not provided us with a postal address in
your application.
With a view to permitting the European Parliament to duly notify its
decision, once adopted, concerning your application, you are kindly
invited to provide us with your postal address, in accordance with Article
8(3) of the Bureau Decision of 28 November 2001 on rules governing public
access to European Parliament documents (OJ C 216, 22.7.2011, p. 19).
Notification by registered letter is required in order to ensure legal
certainty as regards due notification of Parliament's decision, pursuant
to the third subparagraph of Article 297(2) of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (OJ C 326, 26.10.2012, p. 47).
Therefore, Parliament will not be in a position to duly notify its
decision to you until you provide a postal address for notification.
Please note that any personal data that you may disclose by using
AsktheEU.org website will be visible via the Internet to the general
public. If you prefer to avoid this, you are invited to communicate your
postal address from your private email address. In that case, please
communicate your postal address to the following functional mailbox
address:
AccesDocs(at)europarl.europa.eu
We thank you for your understanding.
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Dear AccesDocs,
The EP requested my private address, so for a moment I had some hope to receive as much as a flock of the tender information requested. But the "transparency" unit just to send me a 4-page registered letter, to tell me that nothing could be disclosed with a lot of legal references to justify their decision and cover their behinds.
During the last tender in 2019 (that was awarded to Esedra) we already had the impression that an Italian buddy won it with some help, because nobody in his/her sane mind should have awarded this contract (google 'Esedra' and 'Bruxelles crèches' and observe the glorious 25-year track record for the EC). Now it seems that the new acting director on behalf of People and Baby (who won the tender to exploit the EP crèche in Brussels late 2021) is the spouse of an MEP. Any hint of transparency on the tender would have been more than welcome to stand corrected for having the same impression all over again.
Yours sincerely,
Michiel Christiaan
Our reference: A(2021)10729
Dear Mr Carbo,
Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your remarks and discontent and
informs you that your email has been forwarded to the relevant
Parliament's service in charge of the "crèches".
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Dear Mr. Welle,
In relation to my application for public access to documents under reference A(2021)10729 and in view of Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001, please find my application with reasoned request for the European Parliament position to be reconsidered outlined below.
According to the relevant case-law of the Court of First Instance(1), it is not possible to regard all information concerning a company and its business relations as requiring the protection which must be guaranteed to commercial interests under the first indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, without frustrating application of the general principle of giving the public the widest possible access to documents held by the institutions. As such, it is up to the European Parliament to demonstrate that the documents requested contain elements which may, as a result of the disclosure, seriously undermine the commercial interests of a legal person, as ruled by the General Court(2).
The European Parliament failed to substantiate this argument in their registered letter dated on 26 of January 2022, by merely defining all identified relevant information (bids and Evaluation Committee’s report) as either commercially sensitive or subject to the protection of private data in accordance with Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. This becomes painfully clear when stated that even granting partial access would be a “disproportionate burden compared to the final result derived from this exercise.” Therefore the European Parliament violates my rights as a citizen of the European Union to participate more closely in the decision-making process as laid out in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
How much intellectual property and highly sensitive business strategies can there possibly be involved in the operation of a childcare facility? And how is it that the quality and suitability of the tenderers’ operational structure is proprietary information, while these are prescribed by local legislation or defined by the European Parliament in the tender documents? This all to the extent that none of these can be made public under the European Parliament's consideration that there is no evidence that the public interest outweighs any of this information.
The overriding public interest within the meaning of the first indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is the immediate consequence that the tendering process has on the well-being and development of up to 320 babies and toddlers(3) (and the well-being of their families), as well as spending 27.3 M€(4) of public money within a timeframe of maximum 5 years. The two years that the crèche was under Esedra management turned out into a disaster(5), this illustrates that the 2019 tendering procedure(6) was a failure and that there is an obvious need for more transparency to avoid a similar thing from happening again this time.
Yours sincerely,
Michiel Christiaan
________________________________________
1 Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 30 January 2008, Terezakis v Commission, T-380/04, ECLI:EU:T:2008:19, paragraph 93.
2 Judgment of the General Court of 9 September 2014, MasterCard, Inc. and Others v European Commission, T 516/11, ECLI:EU:T:2014:759, paragraph 81 and 82.
3 DG Personnel, Specifications Invitation to Tender PE PERS 2021 027, published 29 July 2021.
4 Contract Award Notice, 2022/S 008-014724, published 12 January 2022.
5 Confirmed upon request by European Parliament Crèche Services during presentation of the tendering result to the parents, 15 December 2021.
6 Contract Award Notice, 2020/S 018-038345, published 27 January 2020.
Our reference: A(2021)10729C
Dear Mr Carbo,
The deadline for replying to your confirmatory application submitted under
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 expires tomorrow, on 08/03/2022.
However, the review process is taking more time than expected and the
legal assessment has not yet been completed. Unfortunately, Parliament
will exceptionally need more time to issue a final opinion on your
confirmatory application. Therefore, in accordance with Article 8(2) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the deadline for replying to your
confirmatory application is extended by 15 working days.
We thank you for your understanding and apologise for any inconvenience
caused,
Yours sincerely,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: A(2021)10729C
Dear Mr Carbo,
In reference to your confirmatory application of 15 February 2022 for
public access to Parliament's documents;
and in reference to our email of 7 March 2022 by which the time-limit for
replying to your application was extended for additional 15 working days
until 29 March 2022;
Parliament hereby informs you that, unfortunately, it is not possible to
respond within the deadline of 29 March, as the internal process leading
to the adoption of a decision by Parliament has not yet been finalised,
due to the legal complexity of the analysis of the documents identified as
falling within the scope of your application.
Parliament regrets this additional delay and sincerely apologises for any
inconvenience this may cause.
Please rest assured that Parliament is doing its utmost to provide you
with a reply as soon as possible and thanks you very much in advance for
your kind understanding.
Yours sincerely,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb