Audit of the purchasing process and the public procurement contracts of the administrative service with accounting autonomy in charge of consular affairs

The Belgian Court of Audit performed an audit of the purchasing process of the administrative service in charge of consular affairs. It evaluated the internal control of the purchasing process and examined whether a selection of public procurement contracts, such as the concessions relating to visas and public procurement contracts for passports, complied with the legal and regulatory provisions. The Court found that the service does not have any tool to monitor and manage its public procurement contracts, and that it suffers from a lack of coordination between the FPD Foreign Affairs departments acting on its behalf. There is room for improvement in expressing needs, establishing and checking selection and award criteria, and setting out technical requirements as they have an impact on the competition quality and the proper execution of the contracts.