The Utilities Contracts Regulations 1996

Award without a call for competition

16.—(1) A utility may seek offers in relation to a proposed contract without a call for competition in the following circumstances—

(a) in the absence of tenders or suitable tenders in response to a procedure with a call for competition but only if the original terms of the proposed contract have not been substantially altered;

(b) when the contract is to be awarded purely for the purposes of research, experiment, study or development but not where it has the purpose of ensuring profit or of recovering research and development costs and insofar as its award will not prejudice the competitive award of subsequent contracts which are, in particular, for the same purposes;

(c) when for technical or artistic reasons, or for reasons connected with the protection of exclusive rights, the contract may only be performed by a particular person;

(d) when (but only if it is strictly necessary) for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the utility the time limits specified in regulation 17(1) to (4) below cannot be met;

(e) when the contract to be awarded is a supply contract and the goods to be purchased or hired under the contract are required by the utility as a partial replacement for, or in addition to, existing goods or an installation when to obtain the goods from a person other than the person who supplied the existing goods or the installation would oblige the utility to acquire goods having different technical characteristics which would result in—

(i) incompatibility between the existing goods or installation and the goods to be purchased or hired under the contract, or

(ii) disproportionate technical difficulties in the operation and maintenance of the goods or installation;

(f) when the contract to be awarded is a works or services contract and the utility wants a person who has entered into a works or services contract with the utility to carry out additional works or provide additional services which were not included in the project initially considered or in the original work or services contract but which through unforeseen circumstances have become necessary and—

(i) such works or services cannot for technical or economic reasons be carried out or provided separately from those under the original contract without great inconvenience to the utility, or

(ii) such works or services can be carried out or provided separately from those under the original contract but are strictly necessary to the later stages of the performance of that contract;

(g) subject to paragraph (2) below when the contract to be awarded is a works contract and the utility wishes a person who has entered into a works contract with it following a call for competition which satisfies the requirement of regulation 15(1) to carry out new works which are a repetition of works carried out under the original contract and which are in accordance with the project for the purpose of which the first contract was entered into;

(h) in respect of a supply contract for the purchase or hire of goods quoted and purchased on a commodity market;

(i) when the contract to be awarded is to be awarded under a framework agreement which has been awarded in accordance with these Regulations and to which the provisions of regulation 11 apply;

(j) when the contract to be awarded is a supply contract, to take advantage of a particularly advantageous bargain available for a very short period of time at a price considerably lower than normal market prices;

(k) when the contract to be awarded is a supply contract, to take advantage of particularly advantageous conditions for the purchase of goods in a closing down sale or in a sale brought about by insolvency; and

(l) in the case of service contracts, when the rules of a design contest require the contract to be awarded to the successful contestant or to one of the successful contestants, provided that all successful contestants are selected to negotiate the contract.

(2) A utility shall not seek offers without a call for competition pursuant to paragraph (1)(g) above unless—

(a) the original contract was awarded after a call for competition.

(b) when the utility invited contractors to tender for or to negotiate the contract it gave notice that a works contract for new works which would be a repetition of the works carried out under the original contract might be awarded without a call for competition pursuant to paragraph (1)(g) above, and

(c) in determining the estimated value of the original contract for the purposes of regulation 10 above the utility took into account the value of the consideration which it expected to be payable for the new works.