Procurement Procedures – Contracting

OTE’s new Procurement Regulation has been in effect since 2009.
The Procurement Regulation conforms to the new trends prevailing in the supplier market, best practices applied by major telecommunications operators worldwide, as well as OTE's internal needs and business targets.
Specifically, the new Procurement Regulation complies with all environmental and social protection provisions, of both Greek and European Union legislation, while it introduces an array of new procedures and revisions to older procedures, aiming to:

• Decrease the required time between procurement demand and supply;
• Achieve significant discounts;
• Reduce overall procurement costs, taking into account all factors affecting costs;
• Improve procurement planning and, as a consequence, achieve a more rationalised use of the company's financial resources;
• Achieve greater flexibility in decision-making and supplier selection processes;
• More effectively manage suppliers and apply improved procedures for their monitoring and assessment;
•  Improve the company’s negotiating skills with suppliers;
• Determine the procurement purpose and the most suitable manner to meet the procurement need;
• Ensure the participation of new suppliers in the company’s procurement processes (tender procedures).

Subcontracted Projects

All company projects are implemented with the participation of external contractors, which are based on the tender procedure. They are supervised by OTE engineers in collaboration with the Handover Committee (which is established following a relevant decision for each project separately). OTE engineers are responsible for the qualitative and quantitative handover (temporary and final) of the project. Among others, they verify quantities, materials, dimensions and completion times of each project milestone, in view of ensuring that the procedures and technical specifications specified in the tender books are adhered to.
Moreover OTE, consistently honouring its commitments for supporting the growth of Rural Regions and among the local communities where it operates, assigned the implementation of various projects to 638 local contractors, for 2010.

Year	2009	2010
Projects Sub-Contracted following Tender Procedures	638	467