Provision of audit services, namely accounting, management control and tax services (SECTION B)

1. The Management and Control System for the Actions and Projects of the Recovery and Resilience Fund, issued and in force with Number 119126 EX 2021 (Government Gazette B' 4498/29.09.2021), has been issued and is in force. It is mandatory for the bodies involved in the management and control of the actions and projects of the Recovery and Resilience Fund, as well as in their implementation at the appropriate level under the supervision of the Special Coordination Service of the Recovery Fund of the Ministry of Finance and the responsible Ministries. According to this, "Independent Auditor" is defined as the chartered accountant or auditing company as defined in Article 2 of Law 4449/2017 (GG 7) which is registered in the Public Register of Article 14 of Law 4449/2017, and "Milestone/Target Achievement Report" is defined as the report drawn up by the Independent Auditor, following an audit, and includes data and information regarding the certification of the achievement of Milestones/Targets related to Payment Requests and the implementation of Actions and Projects, as well as the certification that the management of funds has been carried out in accordance with all applicable rules, particularly the rules regarding the avoidance of conflicts of interest, the prevention of fraud, corruption and double financing, and in accordance with the principle of sound financial management. It should be noted that for the purposes of drawing up the management statement and subsequently the Payment Request, the Coordination Service initially receives and evaluates, based on the provisions of the Procedural Manual, the Milestone/Target Achievement Reports of the Independent Auditors. 2. According to the Management System, the Independent Auditor checks and certifies in writing the achievement of each Milestone and Target associated with a Payment Request, as well as the non-hindrance of already achieved Milestones and Targets of the audited project, in accordance with the provisions of the Procedural Manual, the completion of the Project and compliance with the principle of sound financial management and applicable national and EU law, particularly the rules regarding the avoidance of conflicts of interest, the prevention of fraud, corruption and Double Financing during the implementation of the Project and the management of funds, as well as the compliance of Actions and Projects with the principle of "do no significant harm" and with climate and digital objectives, where required, based on the Regulation. The Independent Auditor draws up and submits, via OPS TA, a sufficiently substantiated Milestone/Target Achievement Report, accompanied by a Checklist, to the Coordination Service, the implementing body, and the responsible Ministry, where with reasonable certainty it ascertains and certifies the matters stated herein and/or any weaknesses identified and/or financial corrections/recoveries to be imposed by the Coordination Service, where required, as detailed in the Procedural Manual. For the implementation of its work, the Independent Auditor collaborates with individuals of other professional specializations, where required, such as lawyers, IT specialists, depending on the specific characteristics of each audited Project and/or the Milestones/Targets to be verified, who draw up and submit their findings to the Independent Auditor for joint submission, which accompany the Milestone/Target Achievement Report. In any case, the auditor must submit a declaration of independence to the entity for which the audit was carried out, as its content is specified in the Procedural Manual. Therefore, it is possible to award audit packages for projects/milestones/targets under implementation to chartered accountants or auditing companies as defined in Article 2 of Law 4449/2017 (GG 7) registered in the Public Register of Article 14 of Law 4449/2017 through this procedure.