Activities/EUMicrosoftContracts

Introduction

On this wiki page, we attempt to provide an overview of the contracts between the EU institutions and Microsoft, as well as of those between the EU member states and Microsoft, mainly in administration level, but also for public health, education, state security, etc. The initial question that triggered our research was “How much money do the EU institutions pay for Microsoft products and licenses?”. Since an explicit answer was somehow difficult to be drafted, on this wiki page there will also be information concerning the respective value of some of these agreements, based on the available data.

Back in 1992, the European Commission Directorate General for Informatics (EC DIGIT) claimed that it must enter a private arrangement with Microsoft under the excuse that there was no-one else who could supply the required software. Since then, Microsoft has managed to remain the main partner of the European institutions, when it comes to software.

In particular, in 1996 and 1999 the European Commission confirmed once again with uncontested deals Microsoft's position as the sole supplier of desktop operating systems and office productivity applications. In 2003, 2007 and 2011 the Commission used the incompatibility justification for its new deals with Microsoft, claiming that any alternative software would be technically incompatible and migration especially burdensome, which comes in contrast with Commission's commitment to interoperability standards and establishes a case of technical captivity. New contracts with Microsoft or brands solely using Microsoft software were signed in 2014 and 2015. However, it is also interesting to observe the relations EU member states have with Microsoft, following in most of the cases, despite some bright exceptions, the EC' s lead.

This page is still a draft. Please help us improve it and complete the picture! Do you know about Microsoft contracts we're missing? Have we overlooked an aspect of the budget in your country or in a European institution? If yes, please include a link to the relevant publication whenever possible, ideally along with a (rough) translation of the relevant passages.

This is a work in progress. Please help us make this overview the best it can be!

Microsoft contracts with EU institutions

In short, the European Commission, as a regular practice, resumes Inter-institutional Framework Contracts, either directly with Microsoft or its Large Account Resellers (eg. Fujitsu), on behalf of all the EU institutions, agencies and bodies, sometimes even on behalf of future institutions, which may be created during the contract's duration. Subsequently, based on the clauses and budget limits of these framework agreements, the EU institutions, depending on their needs, award Specific Contracts.

Negotiated procedures (NPs)

The procedure usually chosen for the award of these contracts has the negotiated type. In other words, no open call for tenders is held. Instead, the European Commission can select a company directly, if the latter is considered able to satisfy all the needs by itself within the framework of a negotiated procedure, as specified in the Financial Regulation, the main point of reference for the principles and procedures governing the establishment and implementation of the EU budget and the control of the European Communities’ finances. In the graph published by the EC DIGIT in its 2015 Annual Activity Report, the number of negotiated procedures in comparison to the other types of procedures and the total costs for the purchase of hardware and software can be found. A slow tendency for the reduction of negotiated procedures, as means for choosing contract partners may be observed.

Inter-institutional Framework Contracts

Hereby, a short description of the latest contracts between the European Commission, on behalf of all the EU institutions, with Microsoft can be found. The total amount, based on the available information for the period 2011 – 2016, is estimated approx. 9 million Euros.

The EC DIGIT, after an open call for tenders, has selected a consortium of Accenture, Comparex and Microsoft to provide public cloud services to institutions in the European Union, enabling access to new cloud and digital capabilities for public services. The contract is for two years with the option for two one-year extensions. Accenture and Comparex lead the consortium, with Microsoft as subcontractor. The consortium will provide the public cloud services under two lots – one for infrastructure as a service (IaaS) capabilities, and a second for platforms as a service (PaaS) capabilities – using the Accenture Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure technologies. Total value: 10 360 350 EUR

The subject of the contract is the acquisition of Microsoft licenses — the purchase itself is not conducted via this framework contract but a framework contract with licensing solutions provider (large account reseller). The award took place through a negotiated procedure without a call for competition and the justification for this choice of procedure lays in the Directive 2004/18/EC. Furthermore, according to the official explanation, “the works/goods/services can be provided only by a particular tenderer for reasons that are technical, connected with the protection of exclusive rights”. No final total value of the contracts is included. ( The reason why this contract has no associated financial value can be detected in the fact that the contracts covered by it, will not be acquired directly from the contractor, but by a large account reseller. Therefore, the present notice of contract award was published on the European Commission website exclusively for transparency purposes. What's the problem about it? As can be seen from the justification, this contract is a type of empty shell: While the EU does not purchase anything, it enters an agreement that grants exclusive rights to providers of Microsoft licenses.)

This notice involves the establishment of a framework agreement and its subject is the purchase of Microsoft high-level services and consultancy. Once again, the award took place through negotiated procedure without a call for competition and the justification for this choice of procedure lays in the Directive 2004/18/EC. According to the official explanation, “the works/goods/services can be provided only by a particular tenderer for reasons that are technical, connected with the protection of exclusive rights”. Total value: 44 000 000 EUR (excluding VAT)

53 EU institutions and bodies participate in this contract, while it includes also 5 % for future institutions, agencies and other bodies created during the contract' s duration. The objective of this call for tender, CFT-LAR 2011, is to establish a framework contract for a single source purchase channel, covering the acquisition of Microsoft software products and licenses under an inter-institutional licensing agreement, with a large account reseller (LAR). An Open Procedure was followed for the award. According to the award criteria, this was the most economically advantageous tender in terms of price (Weighting 96) and quality (Weighting 4). Total value: 50 033 804 EUR (excluding VAT)

The subject of this contract is to increase the consumption ceiling of DI/05950 framework contract, which does not exceed 50 % of the original ceiling, i.e.: 5 368 000 EUR. Α negotiated procedure without a call for competition was followed. Justification for the award of the contract for these additional works/deliveries/services without prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union is given under the strict conditions stated in the Directive 2004/18/EC. The conditions set in there for the use of the negotiated procedure are met as follows: 1. the present ceiling increase procedure aims at acquisition of additional services not included in the project initially envisaged and indeed through unforeseen circumstances these have become necessary for the abovementioned projects, whereas the use of Microsoft tools was decided after the signature of the present contract; 2. the ceiling increase concerns the acquisition of additional services, which cannot be economically separated from the main contract; 3. this procedure has the objective to increase the ceiling of the framework contract DI/05950 by 1 920 000EUR, which does not exceed 50 % of the original ceiling, i.e.: 5 368 000 EUR. Total value: 1 920 000 EUR (excluding VAT)

Specific Contracts between EU institutions and Microsoft

In brief, EU consists up to day of the following core institutions.

Except for them, there is also a big number of EU authorities, specialized agencies and decentralized bodies, with a range of technical, scientific and management tasks. European Commission signs on behalf of all of these institutions in the framework agreements. The list of the specific contracts, signed by the EU institutions under the terms of a framework agreement must be published, in accordance with Article 124 of the new Rules of Application (RAP 2016). The RAP contain more detailed and technical rules, which are essential for the implementation of the Financial Regulation. Hereinafter follows indicative data on Specific Contracts and amounts spent on Microsoft products by a few EU institutions.

European Commission (EC)

Detailed information about the specific contracts that the European Commission resumed with Microsoft can be found in the EC Financial Transparency System. All in all, the European Commission within 2007 – 2015 spent for Microsoft products the amount of 22 651 864,505 EUR. Nevertheless, the available data is not necessarily representative, mostly because there is no information on procurement contracts under 15 000 EUR as for 2012 and the Financial Transparency System (FTS) provides access to granular open data about spending, but only concerns about 20% of total spending.

EU Parliament

Specific contracts of 2015 in comparison with those of 2014.

European Police College (CEPOL)

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

European Union's Judicial Cooperation Unit (EUROJUST)

2011, 2011/EJ/N-7/126.1.e DI/05950, Microsoft NV/S.A, Provision of additional High-level Services support, consultancy and additional on-site services for Microsoft products related to the framework contract with Microsoft NV/S.A. (increase of the budget ceiling of the contract DI/05950, 35 300 EUR.

European Aviation Security Agency (EASA)

2011, DI/05950-00-EASA.SU01, Microsoft, Microsoft Services, 2 000 000 EUR.

Microsoft contracts with EU member states

Procurement notices in the EU's Official Journal, concerning IT-related products and/or services often refer to a specific make or source, or to trademarks or patents, such as, for example, Microsoft's products, when it comes to the technical, functional and other performance standards, which are required by the contracted authorities (the so-called "Technical Specifications"). Such practices are legally dubious, in particular, because the contracting authorities must treat economic operators equally and transparently, as well as in a non-discriminatory way, in a sense that they should not set out such technical specifications standards even products that meet their requirements. There are several examples of such practices. For instance, Hungary, as contracting part in a 2008 procurement process referred numerous times to traders of "Microsoft or equivalent" software. The European Commission often takes action against such practices. Nevertheless, many EU governments continue this way, giving preference to the path of negotiated procedure.

Austria

Software contracts of the Austrian government with Microsoft since 2005.

Belgium

In 2001 and 2002, the Belgian Federal Office of Purchases spent for Microsoft licences 5 304 824 EUR (excluding VAT), but the amount could be estimated bigger since pre-installed software was also included in contracts for the purchase of hardware.

Moreover, out of the 11 Microsoft contracts with the Belgian state since 2012, 6 were awarded in the form of negotiated procedures.

Bulgaria

No available information.

Czech Republic

No available information.

Croatia

In 2013, the Croatian government signed a massive agreement with Microsoft which supplements the existing curriculum with IT tools and solutions. Part of the agreement refers to around 550,000 students in schools and universities, teachers and professors, who can have access to the Office 365 system.

Cyprus

In 2016, the Ministry of Education and Culture, renewed the Agreement with Microsoft, “Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES)”, which provides all school students of higher education with Microsoft software products for free till August 2017.

Denmark

In 2001, the Danish public sector procurer “Statens og Kommunernes Indkobs Service (SKI)” awarded a major three-year framework contract for software to Microsoft Danmark. This framework agreement could be used by approximately 800 organizations of the Danish public sector and is said to cover the major part of the Danish public sector's annual DKK 0.25bn ( approx. 33.6 million EUR ) software needs.

Estonia

Here follow the contracts that the Estonian state signed with Microsoft since 2007.

Last but not least, Estonia participates in a joint project with Microsoft within the aim to move its critical information systems and databases into a state cloud with supporting “data embassies” all over the world. The first virtual data embassy is due to be opened in Luxembourg in the early 2018.

Finland

In 2006, Microsoft signed a three-year cooperation contract with 18 Finnish universities. This contract covered 24 500 university employees, their home computers, and the computers that are in common use at the universities.

France

In 2009, after a negotiated procedure, the French Ministry of National Defense signed a Framework Contract with Microsoft Ireland, for a value of 5 150 000 EUR.

In 2011, the French state paid 53.9 million EUR for software, from which 10.2 m was paid for pre-installed software, mostly Microsoft products.

Germany

In 2003, the Microsoft Office 2003 software was installed in 110,000 PCs in North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), Germany's largest and most populated federal state. In 2014, the German state paid 119 000 EUR for upgrading the XP to a newer version for the 7300 computers used in the German Parliament.

Greece

In 2006, an agreement between the Greek state and Microsoft for strategic cooperation was signed. It became law of the state in 2008 and was into force till 2012. The amount of the contract was meant to be decided in specific subcontracts between Microsoft and the respective authorities. The cost of all the possible contracts is estimated between 9 and 36 million EUR.

A big number of contracts signed between Microsoft and the Greek public sector since 2010 can be found online (in Greek).

Hungary

In 2009, the Hungarian government’s procurement agency – Directorate General for Central Services (KSZF) allegedly spent around 9.5bn Hungarian forints (35 million EUR) on Microsoft software and 6.3m EUR on educational licenses and millions more on consultation and services.

Ireland

In 2015, the Irish government signed 2 framework contracts with Microsoft, as seen below. These framework contracts can be used by the Ministers of the Government of Ireland, the Central Government Departments, the Offices and non-commercial Agencies and Organisations which have a formal reporting and legal relationship to Central Government Departments, including all local authorities in Ireland (themselves including Town Councils, regional assemblies, county enterprise boards and library bodies), Contracting authorities in the Irish health sector including but not limited to the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) and HSE funded agencies delivering health and personal social services funded by more than 50% from Exchequer funds; contracting authorities which are third Level Education Institutions (including but not limited to universities and institutes of technology), HEAnet, its member institutions and subsidiaries, Educational and Training Boards (ETB), ETB schools, primary, special and secondary schools, groups and clusters of schools and youth centres, An Garda Siochána, the Irish Prison Service and the Defence Forces.

Valid from: 02 October 2015, Expiry Date: 01 October 2016

Valid from: 02 January 2015, Expiry Date: Does Not Expire

Italy

No available information.

Latvia

No available information.

Lithuania

No available information.

Luxembourg

No available information.

Malta

In 2014, the Maltese government signed the n. 057/08 Premier Support Agreement with Microsoft Malta.

In 2016, the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA), on behalf of the Maltese government, extended its partnership with Microsoft for another five years. Through this agreement the government will invest 12.5 million EUR in software licences.

The Netherlands

In 2014, the Dutch state had to go through an agreement with Microsoft, for the extension of support for its Windows XP systems. Although unclear, the deal allegedly costed between 6.8m and 8m EUR. As part of the migration deal, Microsoft required that the government PCs would be upgraded to a newer version of its Windows operating system - either Windows 7 or Windows 8 - before the support contract has ended.

Moreover, since 2014 the Netherlands publishes data on ministry spending. This data is not very detailed but gives some impression. The spending for 2015 has not been published yet. Direct spending by all ministries concerning Microsoft products was in the wide range of 6 860 007 EUR – 16 550 000 EUR. This amount is a small fraction of the money paid indirectly to Microsoft. For instance, many software licenses are bought via Comparex.

Poland

No available information.

Portugal

In 2009, the Portugal’s National Association for the promotion of Free Software (Ansol) accused the government Office of Construction and Property (INCI) of having broken procurement rules after the latter admitted that it signed a 268 000 Euros contract with Microsoft for the government’s website on Public Expenses, Base, without holding an open procedure.

Romania

In 2014, a major Microsoft licensing corruption scandal resulted in a criminal investigation in Romania, involving allegedly large bribes paid to Romanian government members in exchange for approving increases in license fees for Microsoft products. The bribes were estimated at more than 50 million USD (approx. 44.7m EUR).

Slovakia

In 2011, the Slovak government agreed that the multi-million Euro licence agreement between the state and Microsoft would be extended for another three years. The state paid 17.53 million EUR in 2012, 16.83 million in 2013 EUR and 17.18 million EUR in 2014 for Microsoft's services.

Slovenia

In 2009, the Slovenian Ministry of Public Administration concluded an umbrella agreement with Microsoft for the period 2009-2011, under the title "Microsoft Enterprise Agreement". The total value of the agreement was 6 976 280,38 EUR.

In 2011, a study showed that a potential transition of the Slovenian public administration to free or open source software solutions would mean financial losses for Microsoft over 2.5m EUR per year.

Spain

In 2011, Microsoft Iberica agreed upon the implementation of the Spanish Security System, with the use of Microsoft technology in the e-administration. In 2014, the public administration services of the state were upgraded without the prerequisite of an open call, to Windows 8.1.

Sweden

No available information.

United Kingdom

In 2003, Microsoft contracts with the British government were worth of £100m (approx. 116.2m EUR a year). According to the National Audit Office, government departments spent by 2003 £610m (approx. 709m EUR ) a year on software. Some 95% of departments use Microsoft operating systems.

In November 2004, NHS Connecting for Health negotiated renewal of the Department’s NHS-wide licence for Microsoft desktop products, which NHS Connecting for Health estimated would save £330 million (approx. 383.5m EUR) over nine years with a firm commitment only for the first three years. Microsoft agreed that the price paid by the NHS would continuously match the lowest it charged anywhere in the world. The agreed price for their committed volume was substantially lower than that previously negotiated by the Office of Government Commerce (on a non-commitment basis) on behalf of UK government users. Microsoft also committed to spend £40 million (approx. 46.4m EUR) on developing an NHS user interface to help standardise healthcare applications for clinicians, increasing efficiency and reducing the risk of clinical error. NHS Connecting for Health also considered open source solutions for NHS IT, but decided against doing so for two reasons, according to them: a.The NHS already had an installed base of over 500 000 Microsoft environments and users were familiar with Microsoft; and b. Open source solutions are not necessarily cheaper: they may be free to acquire but the total cost of ownership is material when ongoing support, maintenance and training for users are taken into account. In 2013, according to the findings of a report from a cross-party committee of MPs that the NHS £11.4bn (approx. 13.2bn EUR) programme (this amount is not attributed exclusively to Microsoft) had proved "beyond the capacity of the Department of Health to deliver" and in the end, it was cancelled.

In 2010 and 2011, the costs for running the Government Gateway contract technology, based on Atos Origin and Microsoft extended to £22 million (approx. 25.6m EUR).

In 2014, as many other EU member states, UK had to pay 5.5 m (approx. 6.4m EUR) for the extension of the Windows XP support.

In 2015, a new Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Microsoft and the Crown Commercial Service following the expiration of PSA12, the previous discounts agreement for software purchase with Microsoft. The new memorandum, namely Cloud Transformation Agreement (CTA), provides a suite of special terms and pricing for UK Public Sector customers to purchase Microsoft on-premises, private cloud and public cloud licences and services. This is either via an Enterprise Agreement Subscription (EAS), Server and Cloud Enrolment or the Enterprise Cloud Suite, the Microsoft missive states. CTA runs from 1 May until 30 June 2017, but where customers are unable or unwilling to move to the cloud, Microsoft claimed that it will "work with those customers to determine and support their requirements". But in practice, there are no formal alternatives on the table.

Microsoft contracts with Non-EU European Economic Area Member States

Iceland

In 2015, the Reykjavik Procurement Department renewed the EAS contract, concerning Microsoft software licenses, for 13 714 689,44 NOK (excluding VAT) - approximately 1.5 million EUR, in an open procedure.

Liechtenstein

No available information.

Norway

No available information.

Switzerland

In 2009, the Swiss federal government granted a maintenance contract over CHF 42 million to Microsoft, approximately 38.6 million EUR — however, without a prior tender.

Activities/EUMicrosoftContracts (last edited 2017-07-25 15:05:39 by polina)