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Belgium : DEAL allows ATHENA administrator to call on EDA for infrastructure procurement support
Publish Date : 20-Mar-2015
The European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European Union (EU)'s Athena mechanism have inked a deal to allow the Athena administrator or any EU operation/mission commander to request the EDA for technical and management aid for infrastructure procurement.
The budget of the Athena Mechanism, which administers the funding of the shared costs of EU operations with defense implications was around EUR 90 million (US $95.3 million) in 2014. EU operations and missions leaders and the Athena administrator implemented procurement processes separately, prior to the arrangement, and can continue to do so if they wish. An EDA official said the deal acknowledges the prospective role of the Agency in supporting procurement for EU-led military missions and activities.
Operation EUFOR Althea urged EDA's support for a procurement, for the first time, in 2014. The EDA had then provided support for the procurement of air-to-ground surveillance and reconnaissance services. The official said : "It took some time to clarify respective roles, responsibilities and processes and have the agreement of the 'Athena Special Committee'. This arrangement aims to clarify these points and thus speed up the process of providing support."
But, he added :"the aim of this support is not primarily to speed up the procurement but rather to minimize the risks associated with procurement by relying on EDA industry knowledge, experienced procurement personnel and increased legal scrutiny. Previous experience has shown that operations sometimes lack the time, personnel and knowledge to conduct a successful tender procedure due to issues of rotating staff, lack of experience and urgency at the beginning of new operations."
