The mandatory principles govern the award of procurement contracts, irrespective of the applicable control mechanism and regardless of the estimated value of the contract, in the framework of the implementation of Humanitarian Aid Actions which receive the financial assistance of the European Union.
Annex IV to the FPA identifies the following main Mandatory Principles which imply respect for certain related concepts and procedures which must all be observed by all actors at every stage of the procurement processes:
There is a strong interdependence between the different Mandatory Principles. The compliance with one principle reinforces or is a condition for the compliance with another. Just as the Mandatory Principles are interdependent, they may sometimes overlap and result in an apparent conflict. There is no hierarchy between the Mandatory Principles of procurement and an integrated and coherent application of all the Mandatory Principles is necessary to overcome the potential conflicts among them. Therefore, a certain degree of flexibility and reaction capacity should be built into the system to overcome any conflict between procedures and priorities.
References and useful links