PART 3Rules on the award of concession contracts
CHAPTER 2Procedural guarantees
Award criteria41
1
Concession contracts shall be awarded on the basis of objective criteria which comply with the principles set out in regulation 8 and which ensure that tenders are assessed in conditions of effective competition so as to identify an overall economic advantage for the contracting authority or utility (“the award criteria”).
2
The award criteria—
a
shall be linked to the subject-matter of the concession contract;
b
shall not confer an unrestricted freedom of choice on the contracting authority or utility; and
c
may include criteria such as one or more of the following—
i
environmental criteria,
ii
social criteria, or
iii
criteria related to innovation.
3
The award criteria shall be accompanied by requirements which allow the information provided by the tenderers to be effectively verified.
4
The contracting authority or utility shall verify whether tenders properly meet the award criteria.
5
The contracting authority or utility shall list the award criteria in descending order of importance.
6
Where the contracting authority or utility receives a tender which proposes an innovative solution with an exceptional level of functional performance which could not have been foreseen by a diligent contracting authority or utility, the contracting authority or utility may, exceptionally, modify the ranking order of the award criteria to take into account that innovative solution.
7
Where paragraph (6) applies the contracting authority or utility shall—
a
inform all tenderers about the modification of the order of importance and issue a new invitation to submit tenders, respecting the minimum time limit referred to in regulation 39(4) for the receipt of tenders;
b
where the award criteria have been published in, or at the same time as, the concession notice, publish a new concession notice, respecting the minimum time limit referred to in regulation 39(3) for the receipt of applications.
8
The contracting authority or utility shall ensure that a modification of the ranking order referred to in paragraph (6) does not result in discrimination.
9
In this regulation, “innovation” means the implementation of a new or significantly improved product, service or process, including but not limited to production, building or construction processes, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisation or external relations, including with the purpose of helping to solve societal challenges or to support F1... sustainable and inclusive growth.