Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (repealed)Show full title

Section 3 U.K. Information content and means of transmission

Article 40 U.K. Invitations to submit a tender, participate in the dialogue or negotiate

1. In restricted procedures, competitive dialogue procedures and negotiated procedures with publication of a contract notice within the meaning of Article 30, contracting authorities shall simultaneously and in writing invite the selected candidates to submit their tenders or to negotiate or, in the case of a competitive dialogue, to take part in the dialogue.

2. The invitation to the candidates shall include either:

• a copy of the specifications or of the descriptive document and any supporting documents, or

• a reference to accessing the specifications and the other documents indicated in the first indent, when they are made directly available by electronic means in accordance with Article 38(6).

3. Where an entity other than the contracting authority responsible for the award procedure has the specifications, the descriptive document and/or any supporting documents, the invitation shall state the address from which those specifications, that descriptive document and those documents may be requested and, if appropriate, the deadline for requesting such documents, and the sum payable for obtaining them and any payment procedures. The competent department shall send that documentation to the economic operator without delay upon receipt of a request.

4. The additional information on the specifications, the descriptive document or the supporting documents shall be sent by the contracting authority or the competent department not less than six days before the deadline fixed for the receipt of tenders, provided that it is requested in good time. In the event of a restricted or an accelerated procedure, that period shall be four days.

5. In addition, the invitation to submit a tender, to participate in the dialogue or to negotiate must contain at least:

(a) a reference to the contract notice published;

(b) the deadline for the receipt of the tenders, the address to which the tenders must be sent and the language or languages in which the tenders must be drawn up;

(c) in the case of competitive dialogue the date and the address set for the start of consultation and the language or languages used;

(d) a reference to any possible adjoining documents to be submitted, either in support of verifiable declarations by the tenderer in accordance with Article 44, or to supplement the information referred to in that Article, and under the conditions laid down in Articles 47 and 48;

(e) the relative weighting of criteria for the award of the contract or, where appropriate, the descending order of importance for such criteria, if they are not given in the contract notice, the specifications or the descriptive document.

However, in the case of contracts awarded in accordance with the rules laid down in Article 29, the information referred to in (b) above shall not appear in the invitation to participate in the dialogue but it shall appear in the invitation to submit a tender.

Article 41 U.K. Informing candidates and tenderers

1. Contracting authorities shall as soon as possible inform candidates and tenderers of decisions reached concerning the conclusion of a framework agreement, the award of the contract or admittance to a dynamic purchasing system, including the grounds for any decision not to conclude a framework agreement or award a contract for which there has been a call for competition or to recommence the procedure or implement a dynamic purchasing system; that information shall be given in writing upon request to the contracting authorities.

2. On request from the party concerned, the contracting authority shall as quickly as possible inform:

• any unsuccessful candidate of the reasons for the rejection of his application,

• any unsuccessful tenderer of the reasons for the rejection of his tender, including, for the cases referred to in Article 23, paragraphs 4 and 5, the reasons for its decision of non-equivalence or its decision that the works, supplies or services do not meet the performance or functional requirements,

• any tenderer who has made an admissible tender of the characteristics and relative advantages of the tender selected as well as the name of the successful tenderer or the parties to the framework agreement.

The time taken may in no circumstances exceed 15 days from receipt of the written request.

3. However, contracting authorities may decide to withhold certain information referred to in paragraph 1, regarding the contract award, the conclusion of framework agreements or admittance to a dynamic purchasing system where the release of such information would impede law enforcement, would otherwise be contrary to the public interest, would prejudice the legitimate commercial interests of economic operators, whether public or private, or might prejudice fair competition between them.