The Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015

Restricted Procedure

29.—(1) In a restricted procedure, a contracting authority must permit any economic operator to submit a request to participate in response to a call for competition within the time period set in accordance with this regulation.

(2) A request by an economic operator referred to in paragraph (1) must be accompanied by the information for qualitative selection that is requested by the contracting authority.

(3) Subject to paragraph (11), the minimum time period for receipt of requests to participate shall be 30 days from the date on which—

(a) the contract notice was sent for publication; or

(b) where a prior information notice is used as a means of calling for competition, the invitation to confirm interest was sent.

(4) Only those economic operators invited to do so by the contracting authority following its assessment of the information provided may submit a tender.

(5) A contracting authority may limit the number of suitable candidates to be invited to participate in the procedure in accordance with regulation 66 (reduction of the number of otherwise qualified candidates to be invited to participate).

(6) Subject to paragraphs (7) to (11), the minimum time limit for the receipt of tenders shall be 30 days from the date on which the invitation to tender is sent.

(7) Where a contracting authority has published a prior information notice which was not itself used as a means of calling for competition, the minimum time period for the receipt of tenders referred to in paragraph (6), may be reduced to a minimum of 10 days provided that the prior information notice—

(a) included all the information required in section I of Part B of Annex V to the Directive, insofar as that information was available at the time the prior information notice was published; and

(b) was sent for publication between 35 days and 12 months before the date on which the contract notice was sent.

(8) A sub-central contracting authority may set the time limit for the receipt of tenders by mutual agreement between the contracting authority and the selected candidates, provided that all the selected candidates have the same time to prepare and submit their tenders.

(9) In the absence of such an agreement, the time limit must be at least 10 days from the date on which the invitation to tender was sent.

(10) The time limit for the receipt of tenders provided for by paragraph (6) may be reduced by 5 days where the contracting authority accepts that tenders may be submitted by electronic means in accordance with regulation 23 (rules applicable to communication).

(11) Where a state of urgency duly substantiated by the contracting authority renders impracticable the time limit laid down in this regulation, it may fix a time limit—

(a) for the receipt of requests to participate which shall not be less than 15 days from the date on which the contract notice was sent; and

(b) for the receipt of tenders which shall not be less than 10 days from the date on which the invitation to tender was sent.