Can Croatian entrepreneurs use the EU funds:

Suppliers for EU projects?

The Croatian entrepreneurs have the following two general possibilities for using funding from the European Community funds:

The first option includes submitting the own project of an entrepreneur to those public calls that are open for SMEs, i.e. private companies as applicants (example: SAPARD or FP7; Ministry of Economy has one PHARE-funded project for exporters in preparation). For more information on this opportunity please visit the page on European funding or contact VG Poduzetnicki center.
The second and more interesting option, which is still under-utilized, is related to SMEs participation on public tenders for supplies, services and works required for implementation of some projects (won by other, i.e. third parties) co-funded by the European Union (i.e. from the budgets of the European communities).

Public tenders in EU: what they are and who is obliged to perform them?

The public tenders of EU are a group of activities performed by the public entities placing orders that are operating within EU-member states, whereas the orders refer to the activities of supplying goods, services or works to the EU-(co)funded projects. Generally speaking, the public entities placing orders are all organizations in which any public administration bodies have over 50%-influence and therefore may be defined as public legal entities. Besides the state, regional and local administration (towns, regions, communities, counties etc.), these are also all European (unions’) institutions, public bodies, agencies and other applicants - users of the EU programs.

In case the value of their supplies is above the EU-prescribed levels, the member states must publish all tenders for supplies, goods and services in the Official Journal of the European Union and perform the public tender procedure in accordance to the processes defined by the EU directives. The public tender shall be performed for all goods whose value is above EUR 154.000, for services – above EUR 473.000, and works – above EUR 5.923.000.

Which Croatian entrepreneurs may participate on public tenders of EU?

The Stabilization and Accession Agreement between the EU and the Republic of Croatia that came into force in February 2005 secured the access of the Croatian enterprises to the public tenders of EU. The Article 72 of the Agreement certifies that the participation is secured to all commercial companies, being founded and seated within the Community borders or not, with the date of the Agreement’s coming into force and effect, and under the similar conditions applicable to all the (other) companies (bidders) having been seated (registered) within the Community. Therefore, all Croatian companies may submit their offers for supplies, services or works as equal bidders to all other companies. Yet, there is only a small number of companies that is fully aware and using this opportunity – not being informed about it, or not being sufficiently informed on the public tenders that are open.

Where can I find the EU tenders and which terms you have to be familiar with?

The Croatian SMEs may opt to search the database by their own, but may as well use the information service system of the EURO INFO centre of Croatian Chamber of Commerce. All the information on this service is available on their web pages.

If you decide to do the research on your own, you would require a computer with an Internet connection and a solid knowledge of English language. Not only that the tenders are published in English, but the whole tender documentation you will need to submit within your offer should in most cases also be submitted in English. Before starting with your research under some of the links we are bringing below – please make sure you have understood the following terms:

Tender(s) and grant(s): tenders = public tenders for supply of goods, service or works that you are interested in within the scope of this texts; grants = the co-financing of projects
Supplies = EU public tenders for supply of equipment and goods
Works = EU public tenders for performing certain works (construction)
Services = EU public tenders for supply of certain services
Forecast = when applied in the list of tenders, it refers to the announcement of a prospective tender
Open = when applied in the list of tenders, it refers to the tender which is open and which one can apply to
Closed = when applied in the list of tenders, it refers to the public tender which has concluded with acceptance of offers and closed the tendering procedure
PRAG or “Practical Guide” = it is a set of rules applied for contracting in all the public tendering procedures financed from EU budgets (basic public tendering rules)
PHARE, ISPA, IPA, SAPARD, MEDA, TACIS, CARDS, CADSES, INTERREG etc. = of course, these are all different programs with diverse priorities. Sometimes there are certain differences among the regions that may apply to these programs depending on their priorities.

EU tender databases:

1. Main page of the European Commission with an approach to all tenders: This page brings forward both the tenders as well as the grants. Therefore, when entering, one has to choose the “tenders” area. Once opened, the area of tenders offers a scrolling list “Please select search type” on the upper-left, where one should choose “By Program", and then define the other parameters below, according to wishes. In order to search through the database of open tenders, one should go program by program. It is also possible to search by country (of residence of the body opening the tender procedure). This is the widest database, recommendable for the whole area of EU (the member states). The “Quick search (latest opportunities” option is also a useful tool.

2. Public tenders announced by the Croatian entities, funded by the EU budgets: The Central Financing and Contracting Unit (CFCU) of the Croatian Ministry of Finance lists the public tenders (and grants, that are shown all together!) for supplies, services and works that are announced by the Croatian entities whose projects have been co-funded from the EU budgets. Some of them are not falling above the minimum value levels prescribed by the EC, and therefore are announced only on the national level (not on the EU level).

3. The official web pages of CIP program: Not only can you search through the tenders for supplies, services and works, but you can also research through all the other grants and opportunities for SMEs. There are three program components of CIP (Competitiveness and Innovation Program) which you should distinguish and take into consideration while performing your research: entrepreneurship component (EIP – Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme), energy component (IEE – Intelligent Energy Europe) and information technology (ICT – Information and Communication Technology). Each of these components is listed separately. There are separate sections for “tenders” and for “grants”, as well as for other components. Croatia can participate in CIP program, which is going to be active in the period of 2007-2013.

How do the standard tender documents look like?

The public tenders and the tendering documentation one has to submit when applying have some standardized forms and contents. The number of forms and documents needed for application may vary depending on the type of supply (supplies, services or works), as well as on the technical complexity of the items purchased (drawings, technical specifications, performance studies etc.). The overall list of documents for application may be found on the web site of the European Commission related to the procedures in implementation of the EU-funded projects. On the list in the right-side of the screen one should choose among the “supplies”, “services” or “works”, since the list of tender documents differs for these three types of tenders. Once one has made his/her choice, the next page opened shall offer a choice among the following three links: a. PRACTICAL GUIDE (the standard PRAG with the guidelines for tenderers and applicants), b. the BUDGET (the tender documents for all projects funded under some specially prescribed project budgets deriving from EU funds) or c. EDF (abbreviation for the European Development Fund, which provides the co-funding exclusively for the projects of the EU-member states). The BUDGET and the EDF links shall open the list of tender documents.

Example: For applying to a certain tender for supply of goods (“supplies”) funded by the Croatian PHARE 2005 program (i.e. – NOT the EDF, but the BUDGET), you should choose the “supplies” link and then the “BUDGET” (or click this link). From the list of documents opened – in case you were the prospective applicant (enterprise), we would recommend reading through the following documents:

**C4 – Letter of invitation to tender (the standard call for tenders)
Within C4 pack – Instruction to tenderers
Within C4 pack – Draft contract (contains all main regulations between the supplier and the buyer)
Within C4 pack – Technical specifications and offer (Annex II and III)
Within C4 pack – Financial Offer (Annex IV)
Within C4 pack – Performance guarantee (Annex V)
Within C4 pack – Pre-financing guarantee (Annex V), which is also sometimes required
Within C4 pack – Tender submission form
Within C4 pack – Tender guarantee, together with the “Bank account notification form” and “Legal Entity File” for either private or public companies (depending on the ownership structure of the company submitting the offer)