Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union in the cases listed below
- Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive
Explanation
Arising out of the unfolding humanitarian crisis and displacement of Ukrainians as a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine since 24 February 2022 and the numbers of Ukrainian refugees arriving in to Ireland, the Contracting Authority in order to accommodate such refugees as beneficiaries under the Temporary Protection Directive 2001/55/EC, as activated by EU Council Decision 2022/382, has entered into a number of arrangements to provide accommodation for these beneficiaries in the short to medium term.
Given the large number of refugees seeking accommodation and the urgency involved, the Contracting Authority was not in a position to procure the necessary contract(s) by advertising openly. Rather, the Contracting Authority has formed the view that in view of such urgency and in furtherance of the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 of 4 March 2022 that it was open to the Contracting Authority to rely on the exception under the applicable EU procurement Directive 2014/24 to negotiate directly without prior publication to put in place a number of short service contracts.
The Department’s reliance on this derogation was confirmed by two separate communications from the European Commission 8 and 23 March 2022 which states that “Member States that need to ramp up reception capacity to provide shelter, supplies and services can make use of the rules foreseen for urgent public procurement, as was the case during the migration crisis of 2015-16 and the COVID-19 pandemic”.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52022DC0107&from=EN
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52022DC0131&from=EN
On this basis the Department has chosen to enter into short term contracts with the providers listed, in the context of an ongoing emergency response to a humanitarian crisis.
It is intended that a formal procurement competition will be run for any long term service requirements needed.
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement
: no