1999 TACIS workplan supervision on site

The responsibility for implementation of the TACIS programmes - and the follow-on programmes of the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC) - lies with a Directorate General of the European Commission. Over time this has changed from DGIA through SCR and then DG AIDCO (EuropeAid Cooperation Office). In carrying out this responsibility, the regulations covering the implementation of the instruments allow for Community financing to cover expenditure associated with various kinds of assistance for the preparation, follow up, monitoring, auditing and evaluation activities directly necessary for the implementation of the programmes and the achievement of their objectives. This may include, for example, studies, meetings, information, awareness-raising, training and publication activities and any other administrative or technical assistance that the Commission may require for the management of the programmes.

Due to its status as a DG of the European Commission, DG-JRC is able to provide DG-AIDCO with scientific and technical advice in support of programme implementation that is completely independent and free from any commercial interests. This support is complementary to various other support mechanisms such as the on-site Consultants at NPPs, the Regulatory Authorities Management Group (RAMG), OSA Peer Group and dedicated support Consultants contracted by the Commission, all of which together provide the elements that allow programme and project preparation to proceed in a quick and effective manner, project tendering and contracting to be carried out efficiently and successfully and problems arising during project implementation to be managed and solved effectively.

In the framework of the TACIS 1998 programme, the Commission decided to continue and extend the services entrusted to DG JRC for the provision of professional support to the implementation of the TACIS programmes. These services concerned the provision of expertise, know-how and other forms of technical assistance for the preparation and implementation of the activities, projects and programmes in the field of nuclear safety.

The objective of this contract was the provision of technical support to the DGs (SCR and then AIDCO) for the preparation and implementation of projects in the areas of On-Site Assistance.
The specific tasks to be executed by JRC/IE under the present contract were dedicated to the supervision of the On-site Assistance in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and in particular in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine.

The tasks were as follows:

Task 1 - Terms of Reference and Technical Specifications

• Terms of Reference (ToR)
• Review of Terms of Reference (ToRs) for contracts where EU nuclear operators provided on-site technical assistance to the NPPs in Beneficiary countries in the CIS.
• Technical Specifications

The task was to review Technical Specifications (TS) regarding the content (in line with the Project Description in the approved Annual Programme), conformity with EU regulations, technical consistency, clarity and neutrality. These Technical Specifications for specific equipment supply projects were prepared by the consultants contracted for the provision of on-site assistance to the different NPPs in the Beneficiary countries.

Additionally, it was necessary to review Evaluation Criteria corresponding to the TS. The Technical and Commercial Evaluation Criteria for evaluation of tenders were also prepared by the OSA Consultants.

Task 2 - Evaluation process

JRC was requested to provide one or two experts as voting members for tender evaluation committees. These tender evaluations were for equipment supply projects as well as on-site assistance service contracts.

Task 3 - Analysis of tender evaluation reports and the corresponding technical and financial offers

In all cases where JRC did not participate in the technical and financial evaluation of tenders, JRC was requested to review the corresponding tender evaluation reports, prepared by the evaluation committee, taking into account the respective technical and financial offers.

Task 4 - Assessments of OSA contractual reports and contract deliverables

This task involves the technical and scientific evaluation of deliverable reports produced by the OSA Consultants as part of the TACIS Nuclear Safety On-Site Assistance projects.

Task 5 - Preparation of Terms of Reference for OSA contracts

Task 6 - Management and evaluation of the OSA programme

This task allowed JRC to respond to ad hoc requests from project managers of DG SCR/AIDCO for all kinds of technical support and assistance for the management of the implementation of the OSA projects.

Task 7 - Participation to the 2 + 2 licensing approach for equipment supply projects

In the "2 + 2" approach, the OSA Consultant assists the beneficiary NPP in the implementation of safety improvements. In addition, he also provides support to the beneficiary for the licensing of the related modifications to the NPP.

In a separate contract, an EU Technical Safety Organization (TSO) assists the beneficiary Regulatory Authority in performing the technical safety assessments of the proposed safety improvements.
In case of difficulties in the licensing process, JRC could be requested to provide technical assistance to the respective DG SCR/AIDCO project managers to resolve difficulties and facilitate the progress of the projects.

The contract was signed on 3 July 1999, initially for a period of three years. It was extended by DG AIDCO and had a final duration of five years.

The work was performed in accordance with the above objectives. At the beginning of the contract DG SCR decided that JRC should review all existing Technical Specifications and related Evaluation Criteria for equipment supply projects, which had not yet been published on the EuropAid Web site. DG SCR also requested JRC to review all existing tender evaluation reports of projects that had been tendered and evaluated but not yet contracted. This resulted in a very large workload but it had a positive effect on the success rate of the tendering process.

Later, DG AIDCO decided that JRC should provide experts to participate as voting members of tender evaluation committees for all tender evaluations. This effectively closed the loop and allowed JRC to feedback experience from tender evaluations into the process of preparation of Technical Specifications and Tender Dossiers.

Review of Technical Specifications and tender evaluation criteria, along with the participation in tender evaluations accounted for the majority of the work performed under the contract.