EU First Level Controller for Sustainable and Resilient Coastal Cities (SARCC), PlastiCity & EMPOWER

Southend on Sea Borough Council (SBC) is a dynamic and forward thinking Unitary Local Authority in South Essex, located in the Thames Gateway Growth Area, on the north side of the Thames Estuary, 40 miles east from Central London.

Sustainable Energy Investments are embedded in the corporate strategy through Southend Borough Council's 2015-2020 Low Carbon Energy & Sustainability Strategy (LCESS), an annual Sustainability Report that publishes the Council's yearly progress on energy reduction. Senior Management is also bound to report on the Council's carbon emissions of qualifying buildings under the UK Government's Carbon Reduction Commitment Scheme. In addition, a section in the Council's annual Corporate Report is dedicated to highlighting energy and sustainability achievements.

To achieve its objectives, SBC is participating as a Partner and Lead Partner in a number of EU funded projects. In accordance with EU procurement regulations, SBC is required to procure a First Level Controller (FLC) through open competition to conduct an audit of all EU financial expenditure in accordance with specific EU funding programme rules.

We are inviting bid submissions to provide FLC audit services for the listed SBC EU funded project claims set out in Table 1 (as per the attached specification). Audit requirements will vary between different projects and programmes and the number of project claims may vary from one year to the next. The successful bidder will need to verify that the expenditure incurred to implement the projects complied with the relevant EU, national, regional, institutional and programme rules as well as with the provisions of the subsidy contracts and the project application forms.