352 tal-2016

B

Suppliment tal-Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta’ Malta Nru. 19,669, 28 ta’ Ottubru, 2016

Taqsima B

A.L. 352 tal-2016

Regolamenti tal-2016 dwar l-Akkwist Pubbliku

(1) The title of these regulations is the Public

Procurement Regulations, 2016.

(2) These regulations transpose the provisions of Directive

2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26

February, 2014, on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/

18/EC.

Part I

General Provisions

Interpretation and Scope

For the purposes of these regulations

"ancillary purchasing activities" means activities consisting in

the provision of support to purchasing activities, in particular in the

following forms

(a)

technical infrastructure enabling contracting

authorities to award public contracts or to conclude framework

agreements for works, supplies or services;

(b) advice on the conduct or design of public

procurement procedures;

(c)

preparation and management of procurement

procedures on behalf and for the account of the contracting

authority concerned;

"black listed person" means any person, whether legal or

natural, with whom a contracting authority and any body governed by

public law shall be prohibited from carrying out any procurement

whether directly or as a sub-contractor or as a member of a

consortium and, or joint venture;

"bodies governed by public law" means bodies that have all of

the following characteristics

(a)

they are established for the specific purpose of

meeting needs in the general interest, not having an industrial or

commercial character;

(b)

they have legal personality; and

(c)

they are financed, for the most part, by the State,

regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by

public law; or are subject to management supervision by those

authorities or bodies; or have an administrative, managerial or

supervisory board, more than half of whose members are

appointed by the State, regional or local authorities, or by other

bodies governed by public law;

"candidate" means an economic operator that has sought an

invitation or has been invited to take part in a restricted procedure, in

a competitive procedure with negotiation, in a negotiated procedure

without prior publication, in a competitive dialogue or in an

innovation partnership;

"candidate concerned" means a candidate who has not yet

received information from a contracting authority about the rejection

of his application before the notification of the contract award

decision to the tenderer concerned;

"central government authorities" means the contracting

authorities listed in Schedule 6 and, in so far as corrections or

amendments have been made at national level, their successor

entities;

"centralised purchasing activities" means activities conducted

on a permanent basis, in one of the following forms

(a)

the acquisition of supplies and, or services intended

for contracting authorities;

(b) the award of public contracts or the conclusion of

framework agreements for works, supplies or services intended

for contracting authorities;

"central purchasing body" means a contracting authority

providing centralised purchasing activities and, possibly, ancillary

purchasing activities;

"Commission" means the Commission of the European Union;

"common technical specification" means a technical

specification in the field of ICT laid down in accordance with Articles

13 and 14 of Regulation (EU) 1025/2012;

"conflicts of interest" shall at least mean any situation where

any person, including staff members of the contracting authority or of

a procurement service provider acting on behalf of the contracting

authority, who are involved in the conduct of the procurement

procedure or may influence the outcome of that procedure have,

directly or indirectly, a financial, economic or other personal interest

which might be perceived to compromise their impartiality and

independence in the context of the procurement procedure;

"conformity assessment body" shall be a body that performs

conformity assessment activities including calibration, testing,

certification and inspection accredited in accordance with Regulation

(EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9

July 2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market

surveillance relating to the marketing of products;

"contracting authorities" means the State, regional or local

authorities, bodies governed by public law or associations formed by

one or more such authorities or one or more such bodies governed by

public law;

"contract award notice" means an award notice to be published

in the Official Journal of the European Union;

"contract notice" means a notice to be published in the Official

Journal of the European Union;

"Contracts Committees" means the General

Contracts

Committee and, or the Special Contracts Committee;

"CPV" means the Common Procurement Vocabulary as adopted

by Regulation (EC) No. 2195/2002 as amended from time to time;

"departmental tender" means tenders issued by contracting

authorities with an estimated value which falls under the threshold

established under regulation 9(1)(a);

"design contests" means those procedures which enable the

contracting authority to acquire, mainly in the fields of town and

country planning, architecture and engineering or data processing, a

plan or design selected by a jury after being put out to competition

with or without the award of prizes;

"direct contracts" means contracts awarded without recourse to

a prior call for competition;

"Director" means the Director of Contracts who heads the

Department of Contracts;

"Director of Employment and Industrial Relations" shall have

the same meaning as specified in the Employment and Industrial Cap. 452.

Relations Act;

"economic operator" means any natural or legal person or public

entity or group of such persons and, or entities, including any

temporary association of undertakings and shall cover equally the

concepts of contractor, supplier and service provider;

"electronic means" refers to electronic equipment for the

processing (including digital compression) and storage of data which

is transmitted, conveyed and received by wire, by radio, by optical

means or by other electromagnetic means;

"European Technical Assessment" means the documented

assessment of the performance of a construction product, in relation

to its essential characteristics, in accordance with the respective

European Assessment Document, as defined in point 12 of Article 2

of Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of

the Council;

"Evaluation Committee" means boards or committees appointed

by contracting authorities with the purpose of evaluating tenders

received and for making recommendations thereon;

"framework agreement" means an agreement between one or

more contracting authorities and one or more economic operators, the

purpose of which is to establish the terms governing contracts to be

awarded during a given period, in particular with regard to price and,

where appropriate, the quantity envisaged;

"government’s e-procurement platform" means the electronic

platform for procurement as established by the Director;

"ineffectiveness" means a contract awarded illegally or when

the procurement procedure was not followed correctly;

"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 inter alia with

the purpose of helping to solve societal challenges or to support the

Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth;

"irregular tenders" means tenders which do not comply with the

procurement documents, which were received late, where there is

evidence of collusion or corruption, or which have been found by the

contracting authority to be abnormally low;

"label" means any document, certificate or attestation

confirming that the works, products, services, processes or

procedures in question meet certain requirements;

"label requirements" means the requirements to be met by the

works, products, services, processes or procedures in question in

order to obtain the label concerned;

"life cycle" means all consecutive and, or interlinked stages,

including research and development to be carried out, production,

trading and its conditions, transport, use and maintenance, throughout

the existence of the product or the works or the provision of the

service, from raw material acquisition or generation of resources to

disposal, clearance and end of service or utilisation;

"Member State" means a member state of the European Union;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for Finance;

"Ministerial Procurement Unit" means an entity that is

established under each Ministry which processes, publishes,

administers and recommends the award of a call for tenders published

under the open procedure, where the estimated value of this call for

tenders exceeds ten thousand euro (€10,000) but does not exceed two

hundred and fifty thousand euro (€250,000);

"modification" means any change, variation or amendment to

the original terms of the contract including but not limited to the

introduction of new conditions and to the removal or replacement of

existing conditions;

"negotiated procedures" means those procedures whereby

contracting authorities consult the economic operators of their choice

and negotiate the terms of a contract with one or more of these;

"notice" means a notice published in the Gazette;

"prior information notices" means a notice published in the

Official Journal according to what is specified under Part I;

"procurement" means acquisition by means of a public contract

of works, supplies or services by one or more contracting authorities

from economic operators chosen by those contracting authorities,

whether or not the supplies, works, or services are intended for a

public purpose;

"procurement document" means any document produced or

referred to by the contracting authority to describe or determine

elements of the procurement or the procedure, including the contract

notice, the prior information notice where it is used as a means of

calling for competition, the technical specifications, the descriptive

document, proposed conditions of contract, formats for the

presentation of documents by candidates and tenderers, information

on generally applicable obligations and any additional documents

including clarifications;

"procurement service provider "means a public or private body

which offers ancillary purchasing activities on the market;

"public contracts" means contracts for pecuniary interest

concluded in writing between one or more economic operators and

one or more contracting authorities and having as their object the

execution of works, the supply of products or the provision of

services;

"public service contracts" means public contracts having as

their object the provision of services other than those referred to in

the definition of public works contracts;

"public supply contracts" means public contracts having as their

object the purchase, lease, rental or hire-purchase, with or without an

option to buy, of products, which may include, as an incidental

matter, siting and installation operations;

"public works contracts" means public contracts having as their

object one of the following

(a)

the execution, or both the design and execution, of

works related to one of the activities within the meaning

Schedule 14;

(b)

the execution, or both the design and execution, of a

work;

(c)

the realisation, by whatever means, of a work

corresponding to the requirements specified by the contracting

authority exercising a decisive influence on the type or design

of the work;

"regional authorities" includes authorities listed non-

exhaustively in Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics

(NUTS) 1 and 2, as referred to in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of

the European Parliament and of the Council, while "local authorities"

includes all authorities of the administrative units falling under NUTS

3 and smaller administrative units, as referred to in Regulation (EC)

No 1059/2003;

"restricted procedures" means those procedures in which any

economic operator may request to participate and whereby only those

economic operators invited by the contracting authorities may submit

a tender;

"Review Board" means the Public Contracts Review Board;

"SME" has the same meaning as that given under Commission

Recommendation 2003/361/EC;

"standard" means a technical specification, adopted by a

recognised standardisation body, for repeated or continuous

application, with which compliance is not compulsory, and which is

one of the following

(a)

"international standard" means a standard adopted

by an international standardisation organisation and made

available to the general public;

(b) "European standard" means a standard adopted by a

European standardisation organisation and made available to the

general public;

(c)

"national standard" means a standard adopted by a

national standardisation organisation and made available to the

general public;

"technical reference" means any deliverable produced by

European standardisation bodies, other than European standards,

according to procedures adapted to the development of market needs;

"technical specification" means either

(a)

in the case of public works contracts the totality of

the technical prescriptions contained in particular in the

procurement documents, defining the characteristics required of

a material, product or supply, so that it fulfils the use for which

it is intended by the contracting authority; those characteristics

include levels of environmental and climate performance,

design for all requirements (including accessibility for disabled

persons) and conformity assessment, performance, safety or

dimensions, including the procedures concerning quality

assurance, terminology, symbols, testing and test methods,

packaging, marking and labelling, user instructions and

production processes and methods at any stage of the life cycle

of the works; those characteristics also include rules relating to

design and costing, the test, inspection and acceptance of

conditions for works and methods or techniques of construction

and all other technical conditions which the contracting

authority is in a position to prescribe, under general or specific

regulations, in relation to the finished works and to the materials

or parts which they involve; or

(b) in the case of public supply or service contracts a

specification in a document defining the required characteristics

of a product or a service, such as quality levels, environmental

and climate performance levels, design for all requirements

(including accessibility for disabled persons) and conformity

assessment, performance, use of the product, safety or

dimensions, including requirements relevant to the product as

regards the name under which the product is sold, terminology,

symbols, testing and test methods, packaging, marking and

labelling, user instructions, production processes and methods

at any stage of the life cycle of the supply or service and

conformity assessment procedures;

"TFEU" means the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on

the Functioning of the European Union;

"tenderer" means an economic operator that has submitted a

tender;

"tenderers concerned" means tenderers who have not yet been

definitely excluded. An exclusion is definitive if it has been notified

to the tenderers concerned and has either been considered lawful by

the Review Board or can no longer be subject to review before the

Court of Appeal;

"unacceptable tenders" means tenders submitted by tenderers

that do not have the required qualifications, and tenders whose price

exceeds the contracting authority’s budget as determined and

documented prior to the launching of the procurement procedure;

"VAT" means value added tax under the Value Added Tax Act;

"work" means the outcome of building or civil engineering

works taken as a whole which is sufficient in itself to fulfil an

economic or technical function;

"written" or "in writing" means any expression consisting of

words or figures which can be read, reproduced and subsequently

communicated, including information transmitted and stored by

electronic means.

The scope of these regulations is to regulate all the

procurement carried out by the Government of Malta.

Applicability

(1) These regulations shall regulate all the procurement

procedures that are initiated after their entry into force.

(2) The application of these regulations is subject to Article

346 of the TFEU.

Any procurement procedure which has been issued prior to

the coming into force of these regulations shall continue to be

regulated by the laws which were in force before the coming into

force of these regulations, including any review on any decision

thereon.

(1) These regulations shall also apply to works and

service contracts which are subsidised directly by contracting

authorities by more than 50% where these contracts include one of the

following activities

(a)

civil engineering activities as listed in Schedule 15;

(b) building work for hospitals, facilities intended for

sports, recreation and leisure, school and university buildings

and buildings used for administrative purposes.

(2) The contracting authorities providing the subsidies

referred to in sub-regulation (1) shall ensure compliance with these

regulations where they do not themselves award the subsidised

contract or where they award that contract for and on behalf of other

entities.

(1)

These regulations shall not apply to the following

(a)

public contracts and design contests which, under

the Public Procurement of Entities operating in the Water,

Energy, Transport and Postal Services Sectors Regulations,

2016, are awarded or organised by contracting authorities

exercising one or more of the activities referred to in regulations

8 to 14 of the said Regulations and are awarded for the pursuit

of those activities;

(b)

public contracts excluded from the scope of the

Public Procurement of Entities operating in the Water, Energy,

Transport and Postal Services Sectors Regulations, 2016, under

regulations 18, 23 and 34 thereof;

(c)

public contracts awarded by a contracting authority

which provides postal services within the meaning of paragraph

(b) of regulation 13(2) of the Public Procurement of Entities

operating in the Water, Energy, Transport and Postal Services

Sectors Regulations, 2016, for the pursuit of the following

activities

(i) added value services linked to and provided

entirely by electronic means including the secure

transmission of coded documents by electronic means,

address management services and transmission of

registered electronic mail;

(ii) financial services which are covered by CPV

codes 66100000-1 to 66720000-3 and by point (d) of

Article 21 of Directive 2014/25/EU and including in

particular postal money orders and postal giro transfers;

(iii) philatelic services; or

(iv) logistics services (services combining

physical delivery and, or warehousing with other non-

postal functions);

(d) public contracts and design contests for the principal

purpose of permitting the contracting authorities to provide or

exploit public communications networks or to provide to the

public one or more electronic communications service;

(e)

public contracts and design contests which the

contracting authority is obliged to award or organise in

accordance with procurement procedures different from those

laid down in these regulations established by any of the

following

(i) a legal instrument creating international law

obligations, such as an international agreement, concluded

in conformity with the Treaties, between a Member State

and one or more third countries or subdivisions thereof and

covering works, supplies or services intended for the joint

implementation or exploitation of a project by their

signatories;

(ii)

an international organisation

Provided that before making use of the exclusion

identified in sub-paragraph (i), a contracting authority shall

communicate all legal instruments referred therein to the

Commission;

(f)

public contracts and design contests which the

contracting authority awards or organises in accordance with

procurement rules provided by an international organisation or

international financing institution, where the public contracts

and design contests concerned are fully financed by that

organisation or institution. In the case of public contracts and

design contests co-financed for the most part by an international

organisation or international financing institution the parties

shall agree on applicable procurement procedures;

(g) public service contracts for the acquisition or rental,

by whatever financial means, of land, existing buildings or other

immovable property or concerning rights thereon;

(h) public service contracts for the acquisition,

development, production or co-production of programme

material intended for audiovisual media services or radio media

services, that are awarded by audiovisual or radio media service

providers, or contracts for broadcasting time or programme

provision that are awarded to audiovisual or radio media service

providers;

(i)

arbitration and conciliation services;

(j)

legal representation of a client by a lawyer within

the meaning of Article 1 of Council Directive 77/249/EEC of 22

March 1977 to facilitate the effective exercise by lawyers of

freedom to provide services in

(i) an arbitration or conciliation held in a

Member State, a third country or before an international

arbitration or conciliation instance;

(ii) judicial proceedings before the courts,

tribunals or public authorities of a Member State or a third

country or before international courts, tribunals or

institutions;

(k) legal advice given in preparation of any of the

proceedings referred to in paragraph (i) of this sub-regulation or

where there is a tangible indication and high probability that the

matter to which the advice relates will become the subject of

such proceedings, provided that the advice is given by a lawyer

within the meaning of Article 1 of Directive 77/249/EEC of 22

March 1977 to facilitate the effective exercise by lawyers of

freedom to provide services;

(l)

document certification and authentication services

which must be provided by notaries;

(m) legal services provided by trustees or appointed

guardians or other legal services the providers of which are

designated by a court or tribunal in the Member State concerned

or are designated by law to carry out specific tasks under the

supervision of such tribunals or courts;

(n) other legal services which are connected, even

occasionally, with the exercise of official authority;

(o) financial services in connection with the issue, sale,

purchase or transfer of securities or other financial instruments

within the meaning of Directive 2004/39/EC of the European

Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in

financial instruments amending central bank services and

operations conducted with the European Financial Stability

Facility and the European Stability Mechanism;

(p) loans, whether or not in connection with the issue,

sale, purchase or transfer of securities or other financial

instruments;

(q)

employment contracts;

(r)

civil defence, civil protection, and danger

prevention services that are provided by non-profit

organisations or associations, and which are covered by CPV

codes 75250000-3, 75251000-0, 75251100-1, 75251110-4,

75251120-7, 75252000-7, 75222000-8, 98113100-9 and

85143000-3 except patient transport ambulance services;

(s)

public passenger transport services by rail or metro;

(t)

political campaign services covered by CPV codes

79341400-0, 92111230-3 and 92111240-6, when awarded by a

political party in the context of an election campaign;

(u) public service contracts awarded by a contracting

authority to another contracting authority or to an association of

contracting authorities on the basis of an exclusive right which

they enjoy pursuant to a law, regulation or published

administrative provision which is compatible with the TFEU;

(v) public service contracts for research and

development services other than those public service contracts

for research and development services which fall under the CPV

codes 73000000-2 to 73120000-9, 73300000-5, 73420000-2

and 73430000-5 and whose benefits accrue exclusively to the

contracting authority for its use in the conduct of its own affairs,

on condition that the service provided is wholly remunerated by

the contracting authority;

(w) public contracts falling within the scope of Public

Procurement of Contracting Authorities or Entities in the fields

of Defence and Security Regulations and those contracts which

are excluded pursuant to regulations 9(1), 12 and 13 of Public

Procurement of Contracting Authorities or Entities in the fields

of Defence and Security Regulations, 2016;

(x) public contracts and design contests not otherwise

exempted under paragraph (w) to the extent that the protection

of the essential security interests of Malta cannot be guaranteed

by less intrusive measures, for instance by imposing

requirements aimed at protecting the confidential nature of

information which the contracting authority makes available in

a contract award procedure as provided for in these regulations;

(y) public contracts and design contests not otherwise

exempted under paragraph (w) to the extent that the application

of these regulations would oblige Malta to supply information

the disclosure of which it considers contrary to the essential

interests of its security;

(z)

the procurement and performance of a public

contract or design contest that are declared to be secret or are

accompanied by special security measures in accordance with

the laws, regulations or administrative provisions in force in

Malta, as long as the essential interests concerned cannot be

guaranteed by less intrusive measures, such as those referred to

in paragraphs (x) and (y);

(aa) public contracts and design contests involving

defence or security aspects which the contracting authority is

obliged to award or organise in accordance with procurement

procedures different from those laid down in these regulations

established by any of the following

(i) an international agreement or arrangement,

concluded in conformity with the Treaties, between a

Member State and one or more third countries or

subdivisions thereof and covering works, supplies or

services intended for the joint implementation or

exploitation of a project by their signatories;

(ii) an international agreement or arrangement

relating to the stationing of troops and concerning the

undertakings of a Member State or a third country;

(iii) an international organisation

Provided that all agreements or arrangements

referred to in sub-paragraph (i) shall be communicated to the

Commission, which may consult the Advisory Committee on

Public Procurement;

(bb) public contracts and design contests involving

defence or security aspects which the contracting authority

awards in accordance with procurement rules provided by an

international organisation or international financing institution,

where the public contracts and design contests concerned are

fully financed by this organisation or institution. In the case of

public contracts and design contests co-financed for the most

part by an international organisation or international financing

institution the parties shall agree on applicable procurement

procedures;

(cc)

the organisation of the social security system;

(dd) all public procurement carried out in terms of the

Emergency Procurement Regulations.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation

"audiovisual media services" shall have the same meaning as

pursuant to point (a) of Article 1(1) of Directive 2010/13/EU of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2010 on the

coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or

administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of

audiovisual media services;

"electronic communications service" shall have the meaning

given to this term in Directive 2002/21/EC of the European

Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common

regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and

services;

"media service providers" shall have the same meaning as

pursuant to point (d) of Article 1(1) of Directive 2010/13/EU of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2010 on the

coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or

administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of

audiovisual media services;

"programme" shall have the same meaning as pursuant to point

(b) of Article 1(1) of Directive 2010/13/EU of the European

Parliament and of the Council of 10 March 2010 on the coordination

of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative

action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual

media services and shall also include radio programmes and radio

programme materials;

"programme material" shall have the same meaning of the term

"programme";

"public communications network" shall have the meaning given

to this term in Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and

of the Council of 7 March 2002 on a common regulatory framework

for electronic communications networks and services.

(3) Contracts and design contests involving defence or security

aspects which are awarded or organised pursuant to international rules

shall be regulated by sub-regulation (1)(aa) and (bb).

(1) Subject to the provisions of regulation 111(3), a

public contract, having an estimated value which falls under

regulation 9(1)(b), awarded by a contracting authority to a legal

person governed by private or public law, shall fall outside the scope

of these regulations when all of the following conditions are fulfilled

(a)

the contracting authority exercises over the legal

person concerned a control which is similar to that which it

exercises over its own departments;

(b) more than 80% of the activities of the controlled

legal person are carried out in the performance of tasks

entrusted to it by the controlling contracting authority or by

other legal persons controlled by that contracting authority; and

(c)

there is no direct private capital participation in the

controlled legal person with the exception of non-controlling

and non-blocking forms of private capital participation required

by national legislative provisions, in conformity with the

Treaties, which do not exert a decisive influence on the

controlled legal person.

Provided that a contracting authority shall be deemed to

exercise over a legal person a control similar to that which it exercises

over its own departments within the meaning of paragraph (a) where

it exercises a decisive influence over both strategic objectives and

significant decisions of the controlled legal person. Such control may

also be exercised by another legal person, which is itself controlled in

the same way by the contracting authority.

(2) The provisions of sub-regulation (1) also apply where a

controlled legal person which is a contracting authority awards a

contract to its controlling contracting authority, or to another legal

person controlled by the same contracting authority, provided that

there is no direct private capital participation in the legal person being

awarded the public contract with the exception of non-controlling and

non-blocking forms of private capital participation required by

national legislative provisions, in conformity with the Treaties, which

do not exert a decisive influence on the controlled legal person.

(3) A contracting authority, which does not exercise control

over a legal person governed by private or public law control within

the meaning of sub-regulation (1), may nevertheless award a public

contract to that legal person without applying these regulations where

all of the following conditions are fulfilled

(a)

the contracting authority exercises jointly with other

contracting authorities a control over that legal person which is

similar to that which they exercise over their own departments;

(b) more than 80% of the activities of that legal person

are carried out in the performance of tasks entrusted to it by the

controlling contracting authorities or by other legal persons

controlled by the same contracting authorities; and

(c)

there is no direct private capital participation in the

controlled legal person with the exception of non-controlling

and non-blocking forms of private capital participation required

by national legislative provisions, in conformity with the

Treaties, which do not exert a decisive influence on the

controlled legal person.

(4) For the purposes of sub-regulation (3)(a), contracting

authorities exercise joint control over a legal person where all of the

following conditions are fulfilled

(a)

the decision-making bodies of the controlled legal

person are composed of representatives of all participating

contracting authorities. Individual representatives may represent

several or all of the participating contracting authorities;

(b) those contracting authorities are able to jointly exert

decisive influence over the strategic objectives and significant

decisions of the controlled legal person; and

(c)

the controlled legal person does not pursue any

interests which are contrary to those of the controlling

contracting authorities.

(5) A contract concluded exclusively between two or more

contracting authorities shall fall outside the scope of these regulations

where all of the following conditions are fulfilled

(a)

the contract establishes or implements a cooperation

between the participating contracting authorities with the aim of

ensuring that public services they have to perform are provided

with a view to achieving objectives they have in common;

(b) the implementation of that cooperation is governed

solely by considerations relating to the public interest; and

(c)

the participating contracting authorities perform on

the open market less than 20% of the activities concerned by the

cooperation.

(6) For the determination of the percentage of activities

referred to in sub-regulations (1)(b), (3)(b) and (5)(c), the average

total turnover, or an appropriate alternative activity-based measure

such as costs incurred by the relevant legal person or contracting

authority with respect to services, supplies and works for the three

years preceding the contract award shall be taken into consideration.

(7) Where, because of the date on which the relevant legal

person or contracting authority was created or commenced activities

or because of a reorganisation of its activities, the turnover, or

alternative activity based measure such as costs, are either not

available for the preceding three years or no longer relevant, it shall

be sufficient to show that the measurement of activity is credible,

particularly by means of business projections.

(1) Without prejudice to the applicability of the other

provisions of these regulations, the procurement process of public

contracts

(a)

the estimated value of which is less than one

hundred and thirty-five thousand euro (€135,000), shall be

issued, administered and determined by the contracting

authorities on their own without the need to involve the

Director;

(b) the estimated value of which equals or exceeds the

threshold of one hundred and thirty-five thousand euro

(€135,000) shall be issued, administered and determined by the

Director on behalf of the contracting authority;

(c)

that have been published by the Ministerial

Procurement Unit in the name of the contracting authority listed

under Schedule 16, where the estimated values of such

procurement exceeds ten thousand euro (€10,000) but does not

exceed two hundred and fifty thousand euro (€250,000) have to

be published, administered and determined by the Ministerial

Procurement Unit on its own without the need to involve the

Director

Provided that where the estimated value of the public

procurement does is less than ten thousand euro (€10,000) this shall

be regulated according to Part III.

(2) Public contracts required by those contracting authorities

listed in Schedule 3 shall be issued, administered and determined by

these contracting authorities on their own without the need to involve

the Director, subject to the provisions set out in these regulations

including but not limited to the right of appeal.

(3) The Minister shall, from time to time, by regulations

determine the thresholds applicable under these regulations. Such

thresholds shall be equal to, and categorised in the same fashion, as

the thresholds established pursuant to the relevant European Union

Directives as published from time to time in the Official Journal of

the European Union.

The Office of the Director of Contracts

There shall be a Director of Contracts who shall be Director of

responsible for the management of the Department of Contracts and Contracts.

generally for the regulation and administration of the procurement

procedures as laid down in these regulations.

In the exercise of his functions, the Director and his Liability.

immediate family shall not be held personally liable for any act or

omission done in good faith. For the purpose of this regulation,

''immediate family'' shall mean the spouse and children of the

Director.

(1) Unless otherwise provided for in these regulations,

it shall be the duty of the Director to carry out the following

functions

(a)

to monitor procurement activities with the aim of

ensuring adherence to these regulations and to ensure that the

results of these monitoring activities are made available to the

public through appropriate means of information;

(b) to establish and regulate the procedure to be

followed during meetings of the General Contracts Committee,

the Special Contracts Committee, the Departmental Contracts

Committee and the Evaluation Committee, and during the issue

and publication of calls for tenders, receipt of offers, opening of

bids, evaluation of tenders and award of contracts in accordance

with the rules herein set out;

(c)

to obtain information from all the contracting

authorities on the award and performance of contracts as he may

deem necessary in order to enable him to ensure conformity

with these regulations;

(d) to provide information and guidance on the

interpretation and application of these regulations, to assist

contracting authorities and economic operators, in particular

SMEs, in correctly applying these regulations;

(e)

to provide support to contracting authorities with

regard to planning and carrying out procurement procedures;

(f)

to grant access to public supply contracts or public

service contracts with a value which equals or exceeds one

million euro (€1,000,000) and public works contracts with a

value which equals or exceeds ten million euro (€10,000,000) in

terms of the applicable national rules on access to documents

and data protection

Provided that the Director shall be obliged to keep

these contracts at least for the duration of the same;

(g) to afford effective co-operation to other member

states leading to the exchange of information which the Director

has gathered in the execution of his duties as long as such

information is exchanged in observance with Maltese legislation

regulating such exchange of information;

(h) to make available to other Member States, upon

request, any information related to the evidence and documents

submitted in accordance with regulations 53(4) and (5), 54 and

55;

(i)

to draw up and maintain a list of persons who have

been blacklisted; and

(j)

to make available to a Member State, when such is

requested, any information mentioned in Parts VI and VII.

(2) Where the Director or his delegate identify, by their own

initiative or upon the receipt of information, specific violations or

systematic problems, they shall be empowered to report this matter to

the appropriate authority.

In relation to a procurement procedure carried out by the Additional

Director on behalf of a contracting authority with an estimated value functions

connection with

which falls under regulation 9(1)(b) it shall also be the function of the procurement

above certain

Director

thresholds.

(a)

to establish and approve the general conditions of

the procurement documents;

(b) to authorise deviations from standard terms and

conditions in accordance with the regulations set out herein and

which may be included in the procurement documents;

(c)

to consider an extension or the cancellation of a

procurement procedure;

(d) to order that a procurement period of any call for

offers referred to in these regulations be extended if he

considers such an extension justified by the circumstances of

the case;

(e)

to vet and approve, with or without modification,

procurement documents before the same are issued and

published;

(f)

to approve, where required under these regulations,

modifications which exceed the amount established in

regulation 246(3);

(g) to approve requests made by the contracting

authorities for the extension of contracts if he considers that

circumstances so warrant in the public interest and specific

provision for such extensions is made in the procurement

document;

(h) to identify and implement appropriate means to

enable him to monitor the proper execution of contracts;

(i)

to make regulations to award contracts in the name

and on behalf of contracting authorities listed in Schedule 2,

including the case of an association of authorities of which such

contracting authority is a member;

(j)

to establish the procedure affecting the award of

contracts governed by procedures deviating from these

regulations as long as these procedures shall be published by a

notice in the Gazette;

(k) to publish in the Gazette a notice of all awards of

contracts including variations outside the limit of the tender

conditions, within six months of their award;

(l)

to award tenders and sign contracts in the name and

on behalf of contracting authorities as provided for in these

regulations;

(m) to take appropriate measures to ensure that in the

performance of public contracts economic operators comply

with applicable obligations in the fields of environmental, social

and labour law established by Union law, national law,

collective agreements or by the international environmental,

social and labour law provisions listed in Schedule 13; and

(n) to make and transmit to the Minister a report, by not

later than six months after the end of each financial year, on the

performance of the General Contracts Committee, and of the

Special Contracts Committee during the financial year being

reported upon, which report shall, in particular, provide details

regarding the results of the monitoring activities

Provided that, following the transmission of the

report to the Minister, the Director shall ensure that the report is

made public.

By 18 April 2017 and every three years thereafter the

Director shall forward to the Commission a statistical report for

procurement as set out in the EU Directive 2014/24.

(1) The Director has the right to cancel the award of a

contract at any time during a call for tenders even after the

recommended bidder has been decreed and the time establish to file

and appeal before the Public Contracts Review Board has lapsed, if it

is found that such a contract has been awarded either in breach of

these regulations or the award has been made in such a way as to

discriminate between economic operators.

(2) (a)

The Director may decide to cancel any procurement

procedure even if an evaluation process has not been concluded by

the end of the validity period of the submitted bids.

(b) If the Director decides to cancel the tender he shall

consult the General Contracts Committee or the Special Contracts

Committee as the case may be for its opinion.

(c)

Should the General Contracts Committee or the

Special Contracts Committee, as the case may be, not agree with the

recommendation of the Director, the decision of the Director may be

referred to the Minister for his approval.

(d) In the case of call for tenders administered by the

Ministerial Procurement Unit, the Permanent Secretary responsible

for that Unit will have the right to exercise the same rights of the

Director, as established under this regulation, with the exception that

instead of consulting with the General Contracts Committee or the

Special Contracts Committee he has to consult with the Departmental

Contracts Committee.

(e)

If the Departmental Contracts Committee does not

agree with the recommendations of the Permanent Secretary, the

decision of the latter can be referred to the Minister responsible for

that Departmental Contracts Committee so that he can give a final

decision.

(3) The decision leading to the cancellation of a procurement

procedure has to be made in writing and must include the findings

and the reasoning that led to this decision.

(4) A copy of this decision must be notified to each economic

operator who participated in that particular call, who will have the

right to contest it by filing a complaint before the Review Board. The

same procedure mentioned in regulation 276 mutatis mutadis applies

also for this procedure.

(5) The decision of the review board can be appealed before

the Court of Appeal as provided in these regulations.

The Contracting Authority

(1) In so far as this is not inconsistent with the duties

established under sub-regulation (2) and regulation 79, it is the duty

of all contracting authorities

(a)

to observe and abide to these regulations;

(b) to administer their own procurement when the

estimated values of such a procurement falls under the threshold

established in regulation 9(1)(a)

Provided that for entities listed under Schedule 3

this obligation shall extend also to their procurement which

meets or exceeds the threshold established under regulation

9(1)(b);

(c)

to draw up procurement documents and all relevant

supporting documentation

Provided that when a contracting authority listed

under Schedule 2 needs to publish a procurement process with

an estimated value which falls under the threshold established

under regulation 9(1)(b) the same contracting authority shall

forward the procurement document and all relevant supporting

documentation to the Director so that they may be vetted,

published and administered by the latter;

(d) to ensure that any references to nomenclatures in the

context of public procurement shall be made using the Common

Procurement Vocabulary;

(e)

to publish all calls for tenders and quotations,

through government’s e-procurement platform, unless otherwise

provided for in these regulations;

(f)

to monitor the implementation of the procurement

process;

(g) to take appropriate measures to effectively prevent,

identify and remedy conflicts of interest arising in the conduct

of procurement procedures so as to avoid any distortion of

competition and to ensure equal treatment of all economic

operators;

(h) to indicate in their procurement documents that the

award of the contract is subject to the review procedure as set

forth in these regulations and to include an extract of the

relevant part of the appeals process in the said documents for

the guidance of economic operators;

(i)

to administer and implement all contracts awarded

after the procurement and to defend in front of a board or

tribunal any dispute that might arise in the execution of the

contract;

(j)

to effect all payments resulting from the execution

of the contract;

(k) to take appropriate measures to ensure that during

the execution of a contract, economic operators comply with the

applicable obligations in the fields of environmental, social and

labour law established by Union law, national law, collective

agreements or by the international environmental, social and

labour law provisions listed in Schedule 13;

(l)

to forward a copy of the contracts identified in

regulation 12(1)(f) to the Director when the latter so requests;

and

(m) to institute and to defend any judicial or arbitral

proceedings in relation to any contract signed by them.

(2) (a)

The contracting authorities listed under Schedule 16

have the duty to prepare the procurement documents and all relevant

supporting documentation and forward these to the Ministerial

Procurement Unit when the call is going to be published under the

open procedure and the estimated value of this call exceeds ten

thousand euro (€10,000) but does not exceed two hundred and fifty

thousand euro (€250,000).

When the estimated value exceeds two hundred and fifty

thousand euro (€250,000) these documents have to be forwarded to

the Director so that he carries out his functions according to

regulations 12 and 13.

(b) Contracting authorities that are listed under

Schedule 16 also have the duty to open in public offers submitted by

economic operators for quotations or call for tenders which have an

estimated value exceeding five thousand euro (€5000) but not

exceeding two hundred fifty thousand euro (€250,000) and are

published under the open procedure.

(1) When an Evaluation Committee is appointed by a Appointment of

contracting authority listed in Schedule 2, the Evaluation Committee an

Committee.

shall evaluate the offers submitted by the economic operator and

make recommendations through the evaluation report and

communicate the report as follows

(a)

if the estimated value of the tender falls under the

threshold established under regulation 9(1)(a) the individual

report shall be addressed to the Departmental Contracts

Committee and shall be drawn in terms of regulation 113;

(b) if the estimated value of the tender falls under the

threshold established under regulation 9(1)(b) the individual

report shall be addressed to the Director and shall be drawn in

terms of regulation 241.

(2) When an Evaluation Committee is appointed by a

contracting authority listed in Schedule 3, the Evaluation Committee

shall draw up an evaluation report and communicate their report to

the contracting authority.

(3) When the Evaluation Committee is appointed by the

Ministerial Procurement Unit it has to prepare the evaluation report

and communicate the said report to the mentioned Unit.

Where a contacting authority or body governed by public

law is not listed under any schedule it shall have the same obligations

of an authority listed under Schedule 2.

Contracting authorities providing the subsidies referred to

in regulation 6 shall ensure compliance with these regulations even

where they do not themselves award the subsidised contract or where

they award that contract for and on behalf of other entities.

(1) For tenders with an estimated value which falls

within the threshold established in regulation 9(1)(b) a contracting

authority can impose or remit penalties only after obtaining the

permission of the Director.

(2) When a contracting authority listed under Schedule 16 is to

remit or impose a penalty in respect to a contract with an estimated

value which does not exceed two hundred and fifty thousand euro

(€250,000) it has to obtain the permission of the Permanent Secretary

responsible for it instead of that of the Director.

(3) Where a dispute on a penalty is brought before a court or

tribunal, the Director or the Permanent Secretary cannot be sued even

though he consented to the imposition of the penalty, however for the

integrity of the judgment it is sufficient that the dispute is addressed

against the contracting authority.

Centralised Purchasing Bodies and Joint Procurement

(1) Contracting Authorities listed in Schedule 4 are Centralised

purchasing

authorised to act also as a central purchasing body.

bodies.

(2) It shall be the function of central purchasing bodies to

periodically notify Heads of Departments of the prices and conditions

applicable for, and the procedure to be followed in, the procurement

of such equipment, stores, works or services.

(1) A contracting authority can acquire supplies and, or Centralized

services intended for contracting authorities, from a central purchasing

activities.

purchasing body.

(2) Contracting authorities can acquire works, supplies and

services by using contracts awarded by a central purchasing body, by

using dynamic purchasing systems operated by a central purchasing

body or, to the extent set out in regulation 170, by using a framework

agreement concluded by a central purchasing body offering the

centralised purchasing activity referred to in paragraph (b) of the

definition "centralised purchasing activities" under regulation 2.

Where a dynamic purchasing system which is operated by a central

purchasing body may be used by other contracting authorities, this

shall be mentioned in the call for competition setting up that dynamic

purchasing system.

(1) When a contracting authority carries out its Obligations.

procurement under regulation 22 they will be deemed to have fulfilled

their obligations under these regulations.

(2) A contracting authority also fulfils its obligations pursuant

to these regulations where it acquires works, supplies or services

(a)

by using

contracts

awarded

by

the

central

purchasing body;

(b) by using dynamic purchasing systems operated by

the central purchasing body, or to the extent set out in sub-

regulation (5);

(c)

by using a framework agreement concluded by the

central purchasing body offering the centralised purchasing

activity as defined in paragraph (b) of the definition "centralised

purchasing activities";

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulation (2), the

contracting authority concerned shall be responsible for fulfilling the

obligations pursuant to these regulations in respect of the parts it

conducts itself, such as

(a)

awarding a contract under a dynamic purchasing

system, which is operated by a central purchasing body;

(b) conducting a reopening of competition under a

framework agreement that has been concluded by a central

purchasing body;

(c)

pursuant to paragraphs (a) or (b) of regulation

173(1) determining which of the economic operators, party to

the framework agreement, shall perform a given task under a

framework agreement that has been concluded by a central

purchasing body.

(4) All procurement procedures conducted by a central

purchasing body shall be performed using electronic means of

communication, in accordance with the requirements set out in

regulation 48.

(5) Contracting authorities may, without applying the

procedures provided for in these regulations, award a public service

contract for the provision of centralised purchasing activities to a

central purchasing body.

(6) The public service contracts identified under sub-

regulation (5) may also include the provision of ancillary purchasing

activities.

(1) After seeking the approval of the Director and

subject to the conditions the latter may impose, two or more

contracting authorities may agree to perform certain specific

procurements jointly.

(2) Where the estimated value of the joint procurement falls

under the threshold established under regulation 9(1)(b), and unless

the Director agrees otherwise, the procurement procedure shall be

administered by the Director.

(3) Where the conduct of a procurement procedure in its

entirety is carried out jointly in the name and on behalf of all the

contracting authorities concerned, they shall be jointly responsible for

fulfilling their obligations pursuant to these regulations or Directive

2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26

February 2014 on public procurement as the case may be. This

applies also in cases where one contracting authority manages the

procedure, acting on its own behalf and on the behalf of the other

contracting authorities concerned.

(4) Where the conduct of a procurement procedure is not in its

entirety carried out in the name and on behalf of the contracting

authorities concerned, they shall be jointly responsible only for those

parts carried out jointly. Each contracting authority shall have sole

responsibility for fulfilling its obligations pursuant to these

regulations or Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and

of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement as the case

may be in respect of the parts it conducts in its own name and on its

own behalf.

(1) A contracting authority may, with the approval of Procurement

the Director and subject to the conditions the latter may impose, involving

contracting

participate in procurement procedures involving contracting authorities

different

authorities from different Member States.

Member States.

(2) Where the estimated value of the joint procurement falls

under the threshold established under regulation 9(1)(b) the

application of this regulation shall be subject to what is established

under regulation 8.

(3) A contracting authority may make use of centralised

purchasing activities offered by central purchasing bodies located in

another Member State

Provided that contracting authorities shall not use the

means provided in this regulation for the purpose of avoiding the

application of mandatory public law provisions in conformity with

Union law to which they are subject.

(4) The provision of centralised purchasing activities by a

central purchasing body located in another Member State shall be

conducted in accordance with the national provisions of the Member

State where the central purchasing body is located.

(5) The national provisions of the Member State where the

central purchasing body is located shall also apply to the following

(a)

the award of a contract under a dynamic purchasing

system;

(b) the conduct of a reopening of competition under a

framework agreement;

(c)

the determination pursuant to paragraphs (a) or (b)

of regulation 173(2) of which of the economic operators, party

to the framework agreement, shall perform a given task.

(6) Several contracting authorities from different Member

States may jointly award a public contract, conclude a framework

agreement or operate a dynamic purchasing system.

(7) Several contracting authorities from different Member

States may also, to the extent set out in regulation 170, award

contracts based on the framework agreement or on the dynamic

purchasing system.

(8) Unless the necessary elements have been regulated by an

international agreement concluded between the Member States

concerned, the participating contracting authorities shall conclude an

agreement that determines

(a)

the responsibilities of the parties and the relevant

applicable national provisions;

(b) the internal organisation of the procurement

procedure, including the management of the procedure, the

distribution of the works, supplies or services to be procured,

and the conclusion of contracts.

(9) A participating contracting authority fulfils its obligations

pursuant to these regulations when it purchases works, supplies or

services from a contracting authority which is responsible for the

procurement procedure.

(10) When determining responsibilities and the applicable

national law as referred to in sub-regulation (8)(a) the participating

contracting authorities may allocate specific responsibilities among

them and determine the applicable provisions of their respective

national laws.

(11) The allocation of responsibilities and the applicable

national law shall be referred to in the procurement documents for

jointly awarded public contracts.

(12) Where several contracting authorities from different

Member States have set up a joint entity, including European

Groupings of territorial cooperation under Regulation (EC) No 1082/

2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on

a European grouping of territorial cooperation or other entities

established under Union law, the participating contracting authorities

shall, by a decision of the competent body of the joint entity, agree on

the applicable national procurement rules of one of the following

Member States

(a)

the national provisions of the Member State where

the joint entity has its registered office;

(b) the national provisions of the Member State where

the joint entity is carrying out its activities.

(13) The agreement referred to in sub-regulation (12) may

either apply for an undetermined period, when fixed in the

constitutive act of the joint entity, or may be limited to a certain

period of time, certain types of contracts or to one or more individual

contract awards.

(14) For the purposes of this Part, contracting authorities listed

under Schedule 3 do not require the prior approval of the Director but

the written consent by the head of that same contracting authority

shall suffice.

Mixed Procurement

(1) Contracts which have as their subject two or more Mixed

types of procurement, whether works, services or supplies, all of procurement.

which are covered by these regulations, shall be awarded in

accordance with the provisions applicable to the type of procurement

that characterises the main subject of the contract in question.

(2) In the case of mixed contracts which have as their subject-

matter different types of procurement, all of which are covered by

these regulations, consisting partly of services within the meaning of

regulation 162 and partly of other services or of mixed contracts

consisting partly of services and partly of supplies, the main subject

shall be determined in accordance with which of the estimated values

of the respective services or supplies is the highest.

(3) In cases of mixed contracts which have as their subject-

matter procurement covered by these regulations and procurement

covered by other legal regimes and where the different parts of a

given contract are objectively separable the following shall apply

(a)

contracting authorities may choose to award

separate contracts for the separate parts or to award a single

contract. Where contracting authorities choose to award

separate contracts for separate parts, the decision as to which

legal regime applies to any one of such separate contracts shall

be taken on the basis of the characteristics of the separate part

concerned;

(b) where contracting authorities choose to award a

single contract, these regulations shall, unless otherwise

provided in regulation 27, apply to the ensuing mixed contract,

irrespective of the value of the parts that would otherwise fall

under a different legal regime and irrespective of which legal

regime those parts would otherwise have been subject to;

(c)

in the case of mixed contracts containing elements

of supply, works and service contracts and of concessions, the

mixed contract shall be awarded in accordance with these

regulations, provided that the estimated value of the part of the

contract which constitutes a contract covered by these

regulations calculated in accordance with regulations 28, 29, 30,

31 and 32, is equal to or greater than the relevant threshold set

out in Schedule 5.

(4) In the case of contracts which have as their subject-matter

both procurement covered by these regulations and procurement for

the pursuit of an activity which is subject to the Public Procurement

of Entities operating in the Water, Energy, Transport and Postal

Services Sectors Regulations, 2016, the applicable rules shall be

determined by regulations 5 and 6 of the Public Procurement of

Entities operating in the Water, Energy, Transport and Postal Services

Sectors Regulations, 2016, and this notwithstanding the provisions of

sub-regulation (3) of this regulation.

(5) Where the different parts of a given contract are

objectively not separable, the applicable legal regime shall be

determined on the basis of the main subject-matter of that contract.

(1) This regulation shall apply to cases of mixed

contracts which have, as their subject matter, procurement covered by

these regulations as well as procurement covered by Article 346 of

the TFEU or the Public Procurement of Contracting Authorities or

Entities in the fields of Defence and Security Regulations.

(2) Where the different parts of a given public contract are

objectively separable, contracting authorities may choose to award

separate contracts for the separate parts or to award a single contract.

(3) Where contracting authorities choose to award separate

contracts for separate parts, the decision of which legal regime

applies to any one of such separate contracts shall be taken on the

basis of the characteristics of the separate part concerned.

(4) Where contracting authorities choose to award a single

contract, the following criteria shall apply to determine the applicable

legal regime

(a)

where part of a given contract is covered by Article

346 of the TFEU, the contract may be awarded without applying

these regulations, provided that the award of a single contract is

justified for objective reasons;

(b) where part of a given contract is covered by the

Public Procurement of Contracting Authorities or Entities in the S.L. 174.08

fields of Defence and Security Regulations, the contract may be

awarded in accordance with those regulations, provided that the

award of a single contract is justified for objective reasons

Provided that this paragraph shall be without

prejudice to the thresholds and exclusions provided for in the

Public Procurement of Contracting Authorities or Entities in the S.L. 174.08

fields of Defence and Security Regulations.

(5) The decision to award a single contract shall not, however,

be taken for the purpose of excluding contracts from the application

of either these regulations or the Public Procurement of Contracting S.L. 174.08

Authorities or Entities in the fields of Defence and Security

Regulations.

(6) The provisions of sub-regulation (4)(a) shall apply to

mixed contracts to which both paragraphs (a) and (b) of sub-

regulation (4) could otherwise apply.

(7) Where the different parts of a given contract are

objectively not separable, the contract may be awarded without

applying these regulations where it includes elements to which

Article 346 of the TFEU applies; otherwise it may be awarded in

accordance with the Public Procurement of Contracting Authorities or S.L. 174.08

Entities in the fields of Defence and Security Regulations.

The Contract Value

(1) The calculation of the estimated value of a Regulation for

procurement procedure shall be based on the total amount payable, the

of the estimated

net of VAT, as estimated by the contracting authority, including any value

procurement.

form of option and any renewals of the contracts as explicitly set out

in the procurement documents.

(2) Where the contracting authority provides for prizes or

payments to candidates or tenderers it shall take them into account

when calculating the estimated value of the procurement.

(3) Where a contracting authority is comprised of separate

operational units, account shall be taken of the total estimated value

for all the individual operational units.

(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulations (1) and

(2), where a separate operational unit is independently responsible for

its procurement or certain categories thereof, the values may be

estimated at the level of the unit in question.

(5) The choice of the method used to calculate the estimated

value of a procurement procedure shall not be made with the intention

of excluding it from the scope of these regulations. A procurement

procedure shall not be subdivided with the effect of preventing it

from falling within the scope of these regulations, unless justified by

objective reasons.

(6) That estimated value shall be valid at the moment at which

the call for competition is sent, or, in cases where a call for

competition is not foreseen, at the moment at which the contracting

authority commences the procurement procedure, for instance, where

appropriate, by contacting economic operators in relation to the

procurement.

With regard to framework agreements and dynamic

purchasing systems, the value to be taken into consideration shall be

the maximum estimated value net of VAT of all the contracts

envisaged for the total term of the framework agreement or the

dynamic purchasing system.

In the case of innovation partnerships, the value to be

taken into consideration shall be the maximum estimated value net of

VAT of the research and development activities to take place during

all stages of the envisaged partnership as well as of the supplies,

services or works to be developed and procured at the end of the

envisaged partnership.

(1) With regard to public works contracts, the

calculation of the estimated value shall take account of both the cost

of the works and the total estimated value of the supplies and services

that are made available to the contractor by the contracting authority

provided that they are necessary for executing the works.

(2) Where a proposed work or a proposed provision of

services may result in contracts being awarded in the form of separate

lots, account shall be taken of the total estimated value of all such

lots.

(3) In the case where the aggregate value of the lots

established in sub-regulation (2) is equal to or exceeds the threshold

laid down in Schedule 5, these regulations shall apply to the awarding

of each lot.

(4) Where a proposal for the acquisition of similar supplies

may result in contracts being awarded in the form of separate lots,

account shall be taken of the total estimated value of all such lots

when applying points (b) and (c) of Schedule 5.

(5) Where the aggregate value of the lots established in sub-

regulation (4) is equal to or exceeds the threshold laid down in

Schedule 5, these regulations shall apply to the awarding of each lot.

(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulations (2), (3),

(4) and (5), contracting authorities may award contracts for individual

lots without applying the procedures provided for under these

regulations, provided that the estimated value net of VAT of the lot

concerned is less than eighty thousand euro (€80,000) for supplies or

services or one million euro (€1,000,000) for works. However, the

aggregate value of the lots thus awarded without applying these

regulations shall not exceed 20% of the aggregate value of all the lots

into which the proposed work, the proposed acquisition of similar

supplies or the proposed provision of services has been divided.

(1) In the case of public supply or service contracts Value of public

which are regular in nature or which are intended to be renewed supply

service

within a given period, the calculation of the estimated contract value contracts.

shall be based on the following

(a)

either the total actual value of the successive

contracts of the same type awarded during the preceding twelve

months or financial year adjusted, where possible, to take

account of the changes in quantity or value which would occur

in the course of the twelve months following the initial contract;

or

(b) the total estimated value of the successive contracts

awarded during the twelve months following the first delivery,

or during the financial year where that is longer than twelve

months.

(2) With regard to public supply contracts relating to the

leasing, hire, rental or hire purchase of products, the value to be taken

as a basis for calculating the estimated contract value shall be as

follows

(a)

in the case of fixed-term public contracts, where that

term is less than or equal to twelve months, the total estimated

value for the term of the contract or, where the term of the

contract is greater than twelve months, the total value including

the estimated residual value;

(b) in the case of public contracts without a fixed term

or the term of which cannot be defined, the monthly value

multiplied by 48.

(3) With regard to public service contracts, the basis for

calculating the estimated contract value shall, where appropriate, be

the following

(a)

insurance services: the premium payable and other

forms of remuneration;

(b) banking and other financial services: the fees,

commissions payable, interest and other forms of remuneration;

(c)

design contracts: fees, commissions payable and

other forms of remuneration.

(4) With regard to public service contracts which do not

indicate a total price, the basis for calculating the estimated contract

value shall be the following

(a)

in the case of fixed-term contracts, where that term

is less than or equal to forty-eight months: the total value for

their full term;

(b) in the case of contracts without a fixed term or with

a term greater than forty-eight months: the monthly value

multiplied by 48.

Contracts into Lots

Contracting authorities may decide to award a contract in

the form of separate lots and may determine the size and subject-

matter of such lots.

Where a tender has an estimated value which falls under

regulation 9(1)(b), contracting authorities shall provide an indication

of the main reasons for their decision not to subdivide into lots, which

shall be included in the procurement documents or the individual

report referred to in regulation 113.

Contracting authorities shall indicate, in the contract notice

or in the invitation to confirm interest, whether tenders may be

submitted for one, for several or for all of the lots.

Contracting authorities may, even where tenders may be

submitted for several or all lots, limit the number of lots that may be

awarded to one tenderer, provided that the maximum number of lots

per tenderer is stated in the contract notice or in the invitation to

confirm interest. Contracting authorities shall indicate in the

procurement documents the objective and non-discriminatory criteria

or rules they intend to apply for determining which lots will be

awarded where the application of the award criteria would result in

one tenderer being awarded more lots than the maximum number.

Where one or more lots may be awarded to the same Combination of

tenderer, contracting authorities may award contracts combining lots.

several or all lots where they have specified in the contract notice or

in the invitation to confirm interest that they reserve the possibility of

doing so and indicate the lots or groups of lots that may be combined.

Principles Underlying the Procurement Process

(1) The procurement document shall be written in clear Clarity of the

and unambiguous terms so as to enable all interested parties to procurement

documents.

understand properly the terms and conditions of the process.

(2) If requested in good time, the contracting authorities shall

supply to all tenderers taking part in the procurement procedure

additional information relating to the specifications and any

supporting documents not later than six days before the time limit

fixed for the receipt of tenders.

(3) In the event of an accelerated procedure as referred to in

regulation 116(3) and regulation 122, the period established under

this regulation shall be four days.

(4) The contracting authority or the central government

authority may issue clarification notes to explain certain matters, to

give additional information, to remove or amend certain

inconsistencies or errors and to fill in missing information contained

in the procurement document.

(5) When issued in the clarification notes, the additional

information and the supporting document shall form integral part of

the procurement document.

(1) Contracting authorities shall treat economic Equal treatment,

operators equally and without discrimination and shall act in a transparency

and

transparent and proportionate manner.

proportionality.

(2) The tenderer must be selected in a transparent manner and

according to a prescribed procedure.

(3) The design of the procurement shall not be made with the

intention of excluding it from the scope of these regulations or of

artificially narrowing competition. Competition shall be considered to

be artificially narrowed where the design of the procurement is made

with the intention of unduly favouring or disadvantaging certain

economic operators.

(4) In so far as they are covered by Annexes 1, 2, 4 and 5 and

the General Notes to the European Union’s Appendix I to the GPA

and by the other international agreements by which the Union is

bound, contracting authorities shall accord to the works, supplies,

services and economic operators of the signatories to those

agreements treatment no less favourable than the treatment accorded

to the works, supplies, services and economic operators of the Union.

(1) Subject to the obligations established under these

regulations and, or any other law obliging the Director, the

contracting authority and the Ministerial Procurement Unit to

disclose information, a contracting authority, the Director or the

Ministerial Procurement Unit shall not disclose information

forwarded to it by economic operators which they have designated as

confidential, including, but not limited to, technical or trade secrets

and the confidential aspects of tenders.

(2) Without prejudice to the other provisions of these

regulations, the following information shall not be considered as

confidential

(a)

the name of the bidders and the individual names of

the members of a group of economic operators who submitted a

particular tender;

(b)

the name of the sub-contractors;

(c)

documentation submitted by economic operators

attesting that they comply with selection criteria; and

(d) technical information which is already made

available in public.

(3) Contracting authorities may impose on economic operators

requirements aimed at protecting the confidential nature of

information which the contracting authorities make available

throughout the procurement procedure.

Publication

The authority responsible for the tendering process may

make known its intentions of planned procurements through the

publication of a prior information notice. These notices shall contain

the information set out in Schedule 9 part B section I. They shall be

published either by the Publications Office of the European Union or

by the contracting authorities on their buyer profiles in accordance

with paragraph 2(b) of Schedule 11. Where the prior information

notice is published by the authority responsible for the tendering

process on its buyer profile, it shall send a notice of the publication on

their buyer profile to the Publications Office of the European Union

in accordance with Schedule 11. These notices shall contain the

information set out in Schedule 9 part A.

(1) Contract notices shall be used as a means of calling Contract

for competition in respect of all procedures, without prejudice to the notices.

provisions of regulation 150.

(2) Contract notices shall contain the information set out in

Schedule 9 part C and shall be published in accordance with

regulation 44.

(1) Not later than thirty days after the conclusion of a Contract award

contract or of a framework agreement, following the decision to notices.

award or conclude it, the authority responsible for the tendering

process shall send a contract award notice on the results of the

procurement procedure.

(2) The notice shall contain the information set out in

Schedule 9 part D and shall be published in accordance with

regulation 44.

(3) In the case of framework agreements concluded in

accordance with regulations 167 to 173, the authority responsible for

the tendering process shall not be bound to send a notice of the results

of the procurement procedure for each contract based on that

agreement

Provided that the authority responsible for the tendering

process shall group notices of the results of the procurement

procedure for contracts based on the framework agreement on a

quarterly basis. In that case, contracting authorities shall send the

grouped notices within thirty days of the end of each quarter.

(4) The authority responsible for the tendering process shall

send a contract award notice within thirty days after the award of each

contract based on a dynamic purchasing system. It may, however,

group such notices on a quarterly basis. In that case, it shall send the

grouped notices within thirty days of the end of each quarter.

(5) Certain information on the contract award or the

conclusion of the framework agreement may be withheld from

publication where its release would impede law enforcement or

otherwise be contrary to the public interest, would harm the

legitimate commercial interests of a particular economic operator,

public or private, or might prejudice fair competition between

economic operators.

(1) Notices referred to in regulations 41, 42 and 43 are

obligatory only in respect to tenders with an estimated value which

meets or exceeds the threshold established under Schedule 5 and shall

include the information set out in Schedule 9 in the format of standard

forms, including standard forms for corrigenda.

(2) These notices shall also be drawn up, transmitted by

electronic means to the Publications Office of the European Union

and published in accordance with Schedule 10.

(3) The authority responsible for the tendering process shall be

able to supply proof of the dates on which notices are dispatched.

(4) The confirmation of the receipt of the notice and the

publication of the information sent by the Publications Office of the

European Union shall constitute proof of publication.

(1) Unless otherwise authorised by the Director, tenders

issued with an estimated value which falls under regulation 9(1)(b)

shall be published through government’s e-procurement platform

Provided that if the authority responsible for the tendering

process does not make use of the government’s e-procurement

platform it shall advertise the tender on the Gazette.

(2) Notices referred to in regulations 41, 42 and 43 and the

information contained therein shall not be published at national level

before the publication pursuant to regulation 44

Provided that publication may in any event take place at

the national level where the authority responsible for the tendering

process has not been notified of the publication within forty-eight

hours after confirmation of the receipt of the notice in accordance

with regulation 44.

(3) Notices and advertisements published locally shall not

contain information other than that contained in the notices

dispatched to the Publications Office of the European Union or

published on a buyer profile, but shall indicate the date of dispatch of

the notice to the Publications Office of the European Union or its

publication on the buyer profile.

(4) Prior information notices shall not be published on a buyer

profile before the dispatch to the Publications Office of the European

Union of the notice of their publication in that form. They shall

indicate the date of that dispatch.

(1)

The authority responsible for the tendering process

that intends to carry out a design contest with an estimated value

which meets or exceeds the threshold established under Schedule 5

shall make known their intention by means of a contest notice.

(2) Where it intends to award a subsequent service contract

pursuant to regulation 154(1)(b), this shall be indicated in the contest

notice. In the case where no contest notice needs to be published the

contracting authority must make its intention clear in the procurement

documents.

(3) The authority that has held a design contest shall send a

notice of the results of the contest in accordance with regulation 44

and shall be able to prove the date of dispatch.

(4) Where the release of information on the outcome of the

contest would impede law enforcement, would be contrary to the

public interest or would prejudice the legitimate commercial interests

of a particular enterprise, whether public or private, or might

prejudice fair competition between service providers, such

information may be withheld from publication.

(5) The notices referred to in sub-regulations (1) to (4) shall be

published in accordance with regulations 44 and 45. They shall

include the information set out respectively in Schedule 9 parts E and

F in the format of the standard forms.

Preliminary Market Consultations

(1) Before launching a procurement procedure, Preliminary

contracting authorities may conduct market consultations with a view market

consultations.

to preparing the procurement and informing economic operators of

their procurement plans and requirements.

(2) Contracting authorities may, for instance, seek or accept

advice from independent experts or authorities or from market

participants. That advice may be used in the planning and conduct of

the procurement procedure, provided that such advice does not have

the effect of distorting competition and does not result in a violation

of the principles of non-discrimination and transparency.

Communications

(1) All communication and information exchange under Rules applicable

these regulations, including electronic submission, shall be performed to

communication.

using electronic means of communication in accordance with the

requirements of this regulation.

(2) The tools and devices to be used for communicating by

electronic means, as well as their technical characteristics, shall be

non-discriminatory, generally available and interoperable with the

ICT products in general use and shall not restrict economic operators’

access to the procurement procedure.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulations (1) and

(2), contracting authorities shall not be obliged to require electronic

means of communication in the submission process in the following

situations

(a)

due to the specialised nature of the procurement, the

use of electronic means of communication would require

specific tools, devices or file formats that are not generally

available or supported by generally available applications;

(b) the applications supporting file formats that are

suitable for the description of the tenders use file formats that

cannot be handled by any other open or generally available

applications or are under a proprietary licensing scheme and

cannot be made available for downloading or remote use by the

contracting authority;

(c)

the use of electronic means of communication would

require specialised office equipment that is not generally

available to contracting authorities;

(d) the procurement documents require the submission

of physical or scale models which cannot be transmitted using

electronic means.

(4) In respect of communications for which electronic means

of communication are not used pursuant to sub-regulation (3),

communication shall be carried out by post or other suitable carrier or

by a combination of post or other suitable carrier and electronic

means.

(5) The authority responsible for the tendering process is not

obliged to require electronic means of communication in the

submission process to the extent that the use of means of

communication other than electronic means is necessary either

because of a breach of security of the electronic means of

communications or for the protection of the particularly sensitive

nature of information requiring such a high level of protection that it

cannot be properly ensured by using electronic tools and devices that

are either generally available to economic operators or can be made

available to them by alternative means of access within the meaning

of sub-regulations (5) and (6).

(6) It shall be the responsibility of the authority responsible for

the tendering process requiring, in accordance with sub-regulation

(3), means of communication other than electronic means in the

submission process to indicate in the individual report referred to in

regulations 29 or 241, as the case may be, the reasons for this

requirement. Where applicable, the authority responsible for the

tendering process shall indicate in the individual report the reasons

why use of means of communication other than electronic means has

been considered necessary in application of sub-regulation (5).

(7) Oral communication may be used in respect of

communications other than those concerning the essential elements of

a procurement procedure, provided that the content of the oral

communication is documented to a sufficient degree. For this

purpose, the essential elements of a procurement procedure include

the procurement documents, requests for participation, confirmations

of interest and tenders. In particular, oral communications with

tenderers which could have a substantial impact on the content and

assessment of the tenders shall be documented to a sufficient extent

and by appropriate means, such as written or audio records or

summaries of the main elements of the communication.

(8) In all communication, exchange and storage of

information, the authority responsible for the tendering process shall

ensure that the integrity of data and the confidentiality of tenders and

requests to participate are preserved. It shall examine the content of

tenders and requests to participate only after the time limit set for

submitting them has expired.

(9) For public works contracts and design contests the

authority responsible for the tendering process require the use of

specific electronic tools, such as of building information electronic

modelling tools or similar. In such cases the authority responsible for

the tendering process shall offer alternative means of access, as

provided for in sub-regulations (10) and (11), until such time as those

tools become generally available within the meaning of sub-

regulation (2).

(10) The authority responsible for the tendering process may,

where necessary, require the use of tools and devices which are not

generally available, provided that the authority responsible for the

tendering process offers alternative means of access.

(11) The authority responsible for the tendering process shall be

deemed to offer suitable alternative means of access in any of the

following situations, where they

(a)

offer unrestricted and full direct access free of

charge by electronic means to those tools and devices from the

date of publication of the notice in accordance with Schedule 11

or from the date when the invitation to confirm interest is sent.

The text of the notice or the invitation to confirm interest shall

specify the internet address at which those tools and devices are

accessible;

(b) ensure that tenderers having no access to the tools

and devices concerned, or no possibility of obtaining them

within the relevant time limits, provided that the lack of access

is not attributable to the tenderer concerned, may access the

procurement procedure through the use of provisional tokens

made available free of charge online; or

(c)

support an alternative channel for electronic

submission of tenders.

(12) In addition to the requirements set out in Schedule 8, the

following rules shall apply to tools and devices for the electronic

transmission and receipt of tenders and for the electronic receipt of

requests to participate

(a)

information on specifications for the electronic

submission of tenders and requests to participate, including

encryption and time-stamping, shall be available to interested

parties;

(b) the authority responsible for the tendering process

shall specify the level of security required for the electronic

means of communication in the various stages of the specific

procurement procedure; that level shall be proportionate to the

risks attached

Provided that the requirement established under this

paragraph shall be deemed to be satisfied when electronic

means of communications are carried out through government’s

e-procurement platform;

(c)

where the authority responsible for the tendering

process acting within an overall framework concludes that the

level of risks, assessed under paragraph (b), is such that

advanced electronic signatures as defined by Directive 1999/93/

EC of the European Parliament and of the Council are required,

contracting authorities shall accept advanced electronic

signatures supported by a qualified certificate, taking into

account whether those certificates are provided by a certificate

services provider, which is on a trusted list provided for in

Commission Decision 2009/767/EC, created with or without a

secure signature creation device, subject to compliance with the

following conditions

(i) the authority responsible for the tendering

process shall establish the required advanced signature

format on the basis of formats established in Commission

Decision 2011/130/EU and shall put in place necessary

measures to be able to process these formats technically; in

case a different format of electronic signature is used, the

electronic signature or the electronic document carrier

shall include information on existing validation

possibilities. The validation possibilities shall allow the

authority responsible for the tendering process to validate

online, free of charge and in a way that is understandable

for non-native speakers, the received electronic signature

as an advanced electronic signature supported by a

qualified certificate;

(ii) where a tender is signed with the support of a

qualified certificate that is included on a trusted list, the

authority responsible for the tendering process shall not

apply additional requirements that may hinder the use of

those signatures by tenderers.

(13) In respect of documents used in the context of a

procurement procedure that are signed by a competent authority or by

another issuing entity, the competent issuing authority or entity may

establish the required advanced signature format in accordance with

the requirements set out in Article 1(2) of Decision 2011/130/EU.

(14) For the purposes of sub-regulation (13), the competent

authority or entity shall put in place the necessary measures to be able

to process that format technically by including the information

required for the purpose of processing the signature in the document

concerned. Such documents shall contain in the electronic signature

or in the electronic document carrier information on existing

validation possibilities that allow the validation of the received

electronic signature online, free of charge and in a way that is

understandable for non-native speakers.

(15) For the purposes of this Part, contracting authorities listed

under Schedule 3 do not require the prior approval of the Director but

shall suffice the written consent by the head of that same contracting

authority.

(1) With regard to tenders with an estimated value

which falls under Schedule 5, the authority responsible for the

tendering process shall by electronic means offer unrestricted and full

direct access free of charge to the procurement documents from the

date of publication of a notice in accordance with regulation 44 or the

date on which an invitation to confirm interest is sent. The text of the

notice or the invitation to confirm interest shall specify the internet

address at which the procurement documents are accessible.

(2) With regard to tenders with an estimated value which falls

under Schedule 5, where unrestricted and full direct access free of

charge by electronic means to certain procurement documents cannot

be offered for one of the reasons stipulated in regulation 48(2), the

authority responsible for the tendering process may indicate in the

notice or the invitation to confirm interest that the procurement

documents concerned will be transmitted by means other than

electronic means

Provided that in such a case, the time limit for the

submission of tenders shall be prolonged by five days, except in the

cases of duly substantiated urgency referred to in regulations 116(3),

122 and 125.

(3) With regard to tenders with an estimated value which falls

under Schedule 5, where unrestricted and full direct access free of

charge by electronic means to certain procurement documents cannot

be offered because the authority responsible for the tendering process

intends to apply the provisions of regulation 40(3), it shall indicate in

the notice or the invitation to confirm interest which measures aimed

at protecting the confidential nature of the information it requires and

how access can be obtained to the documents concerned

Provided that in such a case the time limit for the

submission of tenders shall be prolonged by five days, except in the

cases of duly substantiated urgency referred to in regulations 116(3),

122 and 125.

(1) In restricted procedures, competitive dialogue

procedures, innovation partnerships and competitive procedures with

negotiation, contracting authorities shall simultaneously and in

writing invite the selected candidates to submit their tenders or, in the

case of a competitive dialogue, to take part in the dialogue.

(2) The invitations shall include a reference to the electronic

address on which the procurement documents have been made

directly available by electronic means. The invitations shall be

accompanied by the procurement documents, where those documents

have not been the subject of unrestricted and full direct access, free of

charge, for the reasons set out in regulation 49(1) and (2) and have not

already been made otherwise available. In addition, the invitations

referred to in sub-regulation (1) shall include the information set out

in Schedule 12.

(1) Where the use of electronic means of Electronic

communication is required, the authority responsible for the tendering catalogues.

process may require tenders to be presented in the format of an

electronic catalogue or to include an electronic catalogue.

(2) Tenders presented in the form of an electronic catalogue

may be accompanied by other documents, completing the tender.

(3) Electronic catalogues shall be established by the

candidates or tenderers with a view to participating in a given

procurement procedure in accordance with the technical

specifications and format established by the contracting authority.

(4) Electronic catalogues shall comply with the requirements

for electronic communication tools as well as with any additional

requirements set by the contracting authority in accordance with

regulation 48.

(5) Where the presentation of tenders in the form of electronic

catalogues is accepted or required, the authority responsible for the

tendering process shall

(a)

state so in the contract notice;

(b) indicate in the procurement documents all the

necessary information pursuant to regulation 48(12) concerning

the format, the electronic equipment used and the technical

connection arrangements and specifications for the catalogue.

(6) Where a framework agreement has been concluded with

more than one economic operator following the submission of tenders

in the form of electronic catalogues, the authority responsible for the

tendering process may provide that the reopening of competition for

specific contracts takes place on the basis of updated catalogues. In

such a case, the authority responsible for the tendering process shall

use one of the following methods

(a)

invite tenderers to resubmit their electronic

catalogues, adapted to the requirements of the contract in

question; or

(b)

notify tenderers that they intend to collect from the

electronic catalogues which have already been submitted the

information needed to constitute tenders adapted to the

requirements of the contract in question; provided that the use

of that method has been announced in the procurement

documents for the framework agreement.

(7) Where authorities responsible for the tendering process

reopen competition for specific contracts in accordance with sub-

regulation (6)(b) they shall notify tenderers of the date and time at

which they intend to collect the information needed to constitute

tenders adapted to the requirements of the specific contract in

question and shall give tenderers the possibility to refuse such

collection of information.

(8) Authorities responsible for the tendering process shall

allow for an adequate period between the notification and the actual

collection of information.

(9) Before awarding the contract, authorities responsible for

the tendering process shall present the collected information to the

tenderer concerned so as to give it the opportunity to contest or

confirm that the tender thus constituted does not contain any material

errors.

(10) Authorities responsible for the tendering process may

award contracts based on a dynamic purchasing system by requiring

that offers for a specific contract are to be presented in the format of

an electronic catalogue.

(11) Authorities responsible for the tendering process may also

award contracts based on a dynamic purchasing system in accordance

with sub-regulation (6)(b) and sub-regulations (7), (8) and (9)

provided that the request for participation in the dynamic purchasing

system is accompanied by an electronic catalogue in accordance with

the technical specifications and format established by the contracting

authority.

(12) For the purposes of sub-regulation (11), the catalogue shall

be completed subsequently by the candidates, when they are informed

of the contracting authority’s intention to constitute tenders by means

of the procedure set out in sub-regulation (6)(b).

Time Limits and Technical Specifications

(1) When establishing the time limits for the receipt of

tenders and requests to participate, authorities responsible for the

tendering process shall take account of the complexity of the contract

and the time required for the drawing up of procurement documents,

without prejudice to the minimum time limits set out in regulations

116, 121, 122, 125, 142 and 132.

(2) Where tenders can be submitted only after a site visit or

after on-the-spot inspection of the documents supporting the

procurement documents, the time limits for the receipt of tenders

shall be longer than the minimum time limits set out in regulations

116, 121, 122, 125, 142 and 132, and shall be fixed so that all

economic operators concerned may be aware of all the information

needed to produce tenders.

(3) Contracting authorities shall extend the time limits for the

receipt of tenders so that all economic operators concerned may be

aware of all the information needed to produce tenders in the

following cases

(a)

where, for whatever reason, additional information,

although requested by the economic operator in good time, is

not supplied at the latest six days before the time limit fixed for

the receipt of tenders. In the event of an accelerated procedure

as referred to in regulations 116(3) and 122, that period shall be

four days;

(b) where significant changes are made to the

procurement documents.

(4) The length of the extension shall be proportionate to the

importance of the information or change.

(5) Where the additional information has either not been

requested in good time or its importance with a view to preparing

responsive tenders is insignificant, authorities responsible for the

tendering process shall not be required to extend the time limits.

(6) Late submission of tenders shall be disqualified from the

process.

(1) The technical specifications shall be set out in the Technical

procurement documents and these shall lay down the characteristics specifications.

required of a works, service or supply.

(2) These characteristics may also refer to the specific process

or method of production or provision of the requested works, supplies

or services or to a specific process for another stage of its life cycle,

even where such factors do not form part of their material substance,

so long they are linked to the subject-matter of the contract and are

proportionate to its value and its objectives.

(3) The technical specifications may also specify whether the

transfer of intellectual property rights will be required.

(4) For all procurement which is intended for use by natural

persons, whether general public or staff of the contracting authority,

the technical specifications shall, except in duly justified cases, be

drawn up so as to take into account accessibility criteria for persons

with disabilities or design for all users.

(5) Where mandatory accessibility requirements are adopted

by a legal act of the Union, technical specifications shall, as far as

accessibility criteria for persons with disabilities or design for all

users are concerned, be defined by reference thereto.

(6) Technical specifications shall afford equal access of

economic operators to the procurement procedure and shall not have

the effect of creating unjustified obstacles to the opening up of public

procurement to competition.

(7) Without prejudice to mandatory technical rules, to the

extent that they are compatible with Union law, the technical

specifications shall be formulated in one of the following ways

(a)

in terms of performance or functional requirements,

including environmental characteristics, provided that the

parameters are sufficiently precise to allow tenderers to

determine the subject-matter of the contract and to allow

contracting authorities to award the contract;

(b) by reference to technical specifications and, in order

of preference, to national standards transposing European

standards, European Technical Assessments, common technical

specifications, international standards, other technical reference

systems established by the European standardisation bodies or -

when any of those do not exist - national standards, national

technical approvals or national technical specifications relating

to the design, calculation and execution of the works and use of

the supplies; each reference shall be accompanied by the words

‘or equivalent’;

(c)

in terms of performance or functional requirements

as referred to in paragraph (a), with reference to the technical

specifications referred to paragraph (b) as a means of presuming

conformity with such performance or functional requirements;

(d) by reference to the technical specifications referred

to in paragraph (b) for certain characteristics, and by reference

to the performance or functional requirements referred to in

paragraph (a) for other characteristics.

(8) Unless justified by the subject-matter of the contract,

technical specifications shall not refer to a specific make or source, or

a particular process which characterises the products or services

provided by a specific economic operator, or to trade marks, patents,

types or a specific origin or production with the effect of favouring or

eliminating certain undertakings or certain products. Such reference

shall be permitted on an exceptional basis, where a sufficiently

precise and intelligible description of the subject-matter of the

contract pursuant to sub-regulation (3) is not possible. Such reference

shall be accompanied by the words ‘or equivalent’.

(9) Where a contracting authority uses the option of referring

to the technical specifications referred to in sub-regulation 7(b), it

shall not reject a tender on the grounds that the works, supplies or

services tendered for do not comply with the technical specifications

to which it has referred, once the tenderer proves in its tender by any

appropriate means, including the means of proof referred to in

regulation 232, that the solutions proposed satisfy in an equivalent

manner the requirements defined by the technical specifications.

(10) Where a contracting authority uses the option laid down in

sub-regulation (7)(a) to formulate technical specifications in terms of

performance or functional requirements, it shall not reject a tender for

works, supplies or services which comply with a national standard

transposing a European standard, a European technical approval, a

common technical specification, an international standard or a

technical reference system established by a European standardisation

body, where those specifications address the performance or

functional requirements which it has laid down.

(11) In its tender, the tenderer shall prove by any appropriate

means, including those referred to in regulation 232 that the work,

supply or service in compliance with the standard meets the

performance or functional requirements of the contracting authority.

(1) Where contracting authorities and, or the authorities Labels.

responsible for the tendering process intend to purchase works,

supplies or services with specific environmental, social or other

characteristics they may, in the technical specifications, the award

criteria or the contract performance conditions, require a specific

label as means of proof that the works, services or supplies

correspond to the required characteristics, provided that all of the

following conditions are fulfilled

(a)

the label requirements only concern criteria which

are linked to the subject-matter of the contract and are

appropriate to define characteristics of the works, supplies or

services that are the subject-matter of the contract;

(b) the label requirements are based on objectively

verifiable and non-discriminatory criteria;

(c)

the labels are established in an open and transparent

procedure in which all relevant stakeholders, including

government bodies, consumers, social partners, manufacturers,

distributors and non-governmental organisations, may

participate;

(d)

the labels are accessible to all interested parties;

(e)

the label requirements are set by a third party over

which the economic operator applying for the label cannot

exercise a decisive influence.

(2) Where contracting authorities do not require the works,

supplies or services to meet all of the label requirements, they shall

indicate which label requirements are referred to.

(3) Contracting authorities requiring a specific label shall

accept all labels that confirm that the works, supplies or services meet

equivalent label requirements.

(4) Where an economic operator had demonstrably no

possibility of obtaining the specific label indicated by the contracting

authority or an equivalent label within the relevant time limits for

reasons that are not attributable to that economic operator, the

contracting authority shall accept other appropriate means of proof,

which may include a technical dossier from the manufacturer,

provided that the economic operator concerned proves that the works,

supplies or services to be provided by it fulfil the requirements of the

specific label or the specific requirements indicated by the

contracting authority.

(5) Where a label fulfils the conditions provided in sub-

regulation (1)(b), (c), (d) and (e) but also sets out requirements not

linked to the subject-matter of the contract, contracting authorities

shall not require the label as such but may define the technical

specification by reference to those of the detailed specifications of

that label, or, where necessary, parts thereof, that are linked to the

subject-matter of the contract and are appropriate to define

characteristics of this subject-matter.

(1) The authorities responsible for the tendering process Test reports,

may require that economic operators provide a test report from a certification

other means of

conformity assessment body or a certificate issued by such a body as proof.

means of proof of conformity with requirements or criteria set out in

the technical specifications, the award criteria or the contract

performance conditions.

(2) Where the authorities responsible for the tendering process

require the submission of certificates drawn up by a specific

conformity assessment body, certificates from equivalent other

conformity assessment bodies shall also be accepted by the

contracting authorities.

(3) The authorities responsible for the tendering process shall

accept appropriate means of proof other than those referred to in sub-

regulations (1) and (2), such as a technical dossier of the

manufacturer where the economic operator concerned had no access

to the certificates or test reports referred to in sub-regulations (1) and

(2), or no possibility of obtaining them within the relevant time limits,

provided that the lack of access is not attributable to the economic

operator concerned and provided that the economic operator

concerned thereby proves that the works, supplies or services

provided by it meet the requirements or criteria set out in the

technical specifications, the award criteria or the contract

performance conditions.

The Tenderer/Candidate

A tenderer can be either a natural or a legal person or a Types of

tenderers.

public entity or group of such persons and, or entities.

Economic operators that, under the law of the Member Economic

State in which they are established, are entitled to provide the relevant operators

established in

service, shall not be rejected solely on the ground that, under the law another

State.

of Malta, they would be required to be either natural or legal persons

Provided that in the case of public service and public

works contracts as well as public supply contracts covering in

addition services or sitting and installation operations, legal persons

may be required to indicate, in the tender or the request to participate,

the names and relevant professional qualifications of the staff to be

responsible for the performance of the contract in question.

(1) Groups of economic operators, including temporary Groups of

associations, may participate in procurement procedures. They shall economic

operators.

not be required by contracting authorities to have a specific legal

form in order to submit a tender or a request to participate.

(2) Where necessary, the authorities responsible for the

tendering process may clarify in the procurement documents how

groups of economic operators are to meet the requirements as to

economic and financial standing or technical and professional ability

referred to in regulation 217 provided that this is justified by

objective reasons and is proportionate.

(3) Any conditions for the performance of a contract by such

groups of economic operators, which are different from those

imposed on individual participants, shall also be justified by objective

reasons and shall be proportionate.

(4) The authorities responsible for the tendering process may

require groups of economic operators to assume a specific legal form

once they have been awarded the contract, to the extent that such a

change is necessary for the satisfactory performance of the contract.

(1) Where a candidate or tenderer or an undertaking

related to a candidate or tenderer has advised the contracting

authority or the authority responsible for the tendering process,

whether in the context of regulation 47 or not, or has otherwise been

involved in the preparation of the procurement procedure, the

contracting authority or the authority responsible for the tendering

process shall take appropriate measures to ensure that competition is

not distorted by the participation of that candidate or tenderer.

(2) Such measures shall include the communication to the

other candidates and tenderers of relevant information exchanged in

the context of or resulting from the involvement of the candidate or

tenderer in the preparation of the procurement procedure and the

fixing of adequate time limits for the receipt of tenders. The candidate

or tenderer concerned shall only be excluded from the procedure

where there are no other means to ensure compliance with the duty to

observe the principle of equal treatment.

(3) Prior to any such exclusion, candidates or tenderers shall

be given the opportunity to prove that their involvement in preparing

the procurement procedure is not capable of distorting competition.

The measures taken shall be documented in the individual report

required by regulations 113 or 241, as the case may be.

(1) In the procurement documents, the authority

responsible for the tendering process may ask the tenderer to indicate

in its tender any share of the contract it may intend to sub-contract to

third parties and any proposed subcontractors.

(2) The tenderer as the main contractor is liable for all acts or

omissions carried out by his sub-contractors.

(3) In the case of works contracts and in respect of services to

be provided at a facility under the direct oversight of the contracting

authority, after the award of the contract and at the latest when the

performance of the contract commences, the contracting authority

shall require the main contractor to indicate to the contracting

authority the name, contact details and legal representatives of its

sub-contractors, involved in such works or services, in so far as

known at this point in time. The contracting authority shall require

the main contractor to notify the contracting authority of any changes

to this information during the course of the contract as well as of the

required information for any new sub-contractors which it

subsequently involves in such works or services

Provided that this sub-regulation shall not apply to

suppliers.

(4) Where necessary for the purposes of regulation 191(2) and

(3), the required information relating to sub-contractors shall be

accompanied by the sub-contractors’ self-declarations as provided for

in regulation 226.

(5) Contracting authorities may extend the obligations

provided for in sub-regulation (3) to

(a)

supply contracts, services contracts (other than those

concerning services to be provided at the facilities under the

direct oversight of the contracting authority) or suppliers

involved in works or services contracts;

(b) sub-contractors of the main contractor’s sub-

contractors or further down the subcontracting chain.

(6) Sub-contractors are to observe the obligations established

under regulation 13(m) during the execution of the contracts.

(7) The contracting authority shall have the right to suspend

payments and, or even opt to dissolve the contract if the main

contractor fails to abide by his obligations under this regulation.

The Selected Offer

(1) Contracts with an estimated value which falls within Award.

regulation 9(1)(a) shall be awarded on the basis of criteria laid down

in accordance with regulations 239 and 240 provided that the

authority responsible for the tendering process has verified in

accordance with regulations 230, 231, 232 and 233 that all of the

following conditions are fulfilled

(a)

the tender complies with the requirements,

conditions and criteria set out in the procurement documents;

and

(b) the tender is submitted by a tenderer that is not

excluded in accordance with Part VI and that meets the

selection criteria set out by the contracting authority in

accordance with regulation 217.

(2) Contracts with an estimated value which falls under

regulation 9(1)(b) shall be awarded on the basis of criteria laid down

in accordance with regulations 239, 240 and 243 provided that the

authority responsible for the tendering process has verified in

accordance with regulations 225, 230, 231, 232 and 233 that all of the

following conditions are fulfilled

(a)

the tender complies with the requirements,

conditions and criteria set out in the contract notice or the

invitation to confirm interest and in the procurement documents,

taking into account, where applicable, regulations 33 to 37;

(b) the tender is submitted by a tenderer that is not

excluded in accordance with Part VI and that meets the

selection criteria set out by the contracting authority in

accordance with regulation 217 and, where applicable, the non-

discriminatory rules and criteria referred to in regulation 237.

(1) Without prejudice to Part VI and regulation 235(2),

the authority responsible for the tendering process must ensure that an

economic operator must ab initio be eligible to qualify for a tender

and must consequently be in possession of all the requirements

stipulated in the procurement documents by the closing date for the

submission of the same.

(2) Where information or documentation to be submitted by

economic operators is or appears to be incomplete or erroneous or

where specific documents are missing, contracting authorities in

terms of the procurement document may request the economic

operators concerned to submit, supplement, clarify or complete the

relevant information or documentation within an appropriate time

limit

Provided that such requests are made in full compliance

with the principles of equal treatment and transparency.

(3) The financial bid cannot be changed with the exception for

the correction of evident arithmetic errors as may be allowed in the

procurement document.

The submitted tender shall be accompanied by the Information on

information for qualitative selection that is requested by the qualitative

selection.

contracting authority.

Part II

Boards, Committees and Tribunals

General Contracts Committee

There shall be a General Contracts Committee whose Establishment

members shall be appointed by the Prime Minister on such terms and of

Contracts

conditions as may be specified in their letter of appointment.

Committee.

(1) The General Contracts Committee shall be Composition.

composed of the Director of Contracts, who shall be ex officio

chairman, together with not less than four and not more than ten other

members who appear to the Prime Minister to have the relevant

qualifications or experience.

(2) During the chairman’s absence or inability to act as

chairman, or during any vacancy in the office of the chairman, the

Prime Minister may appoint an officer from among the most senior of

officers at the Department of Contracts to act as the chairman of the

General Contracts Committee, to exercise all powers and perform all

the functions of the chairman.

The members of the General Contracts Committee shall be Term.

appointed for a fixed term of not more than three years.

(1) Any member of the General Contracts Committee Removal and

may during his tenure of office be removed by the Prime Minister termination

form office.

where he is satisfied that there has been a clear case of misbehaviour

by the member or inability of a member to perform his functions or

where such circumstances exist that would disqualify such a member

from remaining a member of the General Contracts Committee.

(2) A person shall be disqualified from being appointed to and

from remaining a member of the General Contracts Committee if he

(a)

is a member of the House of Representatives, or of

the European Parliament or of a Local Council;

(b)

has such a financial or other interest that is likely to

prejudice the discharge of his functions as a member of the

General Contracts Committee;

(c)

is legally incapacitated or interdicted;

(d) has been adjudged bankrupt or has made a

composition or arrangement with his creditors; or

(e)

has been convicted of a crime affecting public trust

or of theft or of fraud or of knowingly receiving property

obtained by theft or fraud.

(3) A member of the General Contracts Committee may resign

his office by a letter addressed to the Prime Minister.

A member of the General Contracts Committee who has

any direct or indirect interest in any contract dealt with by such

committee shall disclose the nature of his interest at the first meeting

of that committee after the relevant facts have come to his knowledge

and such disclosure shall be recorded in the minutes of that meeting

of the committee and the member having an interest as aforesaid shall

withdraw from any meetings at which such contract is discussed.

(1) Decisions of the General Contracts Committee shall

preferably be taken on the basis of unanimity. However, majority

decisions shall be final and binding with regard to the award of the

contract. The chairman shall in the event of an equality of votes, have

a casting vote.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of the Interpretation

Act and to any order or direction given by the Minister

(a)

the Director may, at his discretion, accept or reject

the recommendations of the majority of the members of the

General Contracts Committee for the acceptance or rejection of

any tender;

(b)

where

(i) the

Director

disagrees

with

any

recommendation of the majority of the members of the

General Contracts Committee; or

(ii) any recommendation of the General Contracts

Committee differs from that submitted by the Department

or other body for whom the procurement is to be made,

the Director may refer the matter for the decision of the

Minister

Provided that the Director shall always refer any matter in

which he disagrees with the majority of the members of a

General Contracts Committee or a Special Contracts

Committee, as referred to in regulation 78, for the decision of

the Minister;

(c)

the Director may, at his discretion, refer any matter

for the decision of the Minister provided that any decision taken

by the Minister under the Interpretation Act or after any referral Cap. 249.

to him by the Director and which has a direct influence on the

award of any contract by the Director to any particular tenderer

shall not deprive in any way the right of any candidate or

tenderer and any person having or having had an interest in

obtaining a particular public contract to have recourse to the

appeals procedures provided for in these regulations.

(3) Any matter referred for the decision of the Minister shall

be so referred in writing and the decision of the Minister shall

likewise be communicated in writing.

The Prime Minister shall also appoint persons from among Secretaries.

the staff at the Department of Contracts to act as secretaries of the

General Contracts Committee and of other committees, as referred to

in this Part, as may be directed by the Director. The secretaries shall

not be members of these committees and may not vote.

(1) The meetings of the General Contracts Committee Meetings.

shall be called by the chairman who shall preside over such meetings.

Any three members of the General Contracts Committee shall

constitute a quorum at a meeting thereof.

(2) The meetings of the General Contracts Committee shall be

open to the public during the opening of bids. The list of tenders

received, together with the respective prices, shall be given publicity

by the Director immediately after their opening and scheduling.

(3) The General Contracts Committee and the Special

Contracts Committees, established in terms of these regulations shall

regulate their own proceedings, unless otherwise provided for herein.

The General Contracts Committee shall

Functions.

(a)

advise on all matters relating to public contracts, as

well as on public procurement of materials, works and services

either on its own initiative or on specific issues relating to its

functions which may from time to time be referred to it for its

advice;

(b) evaluate reports and recommendations submitted by

contracting authorities and make definite recommendations for

the award of contracts ensuring that the best value for money at

the lowest possible cost is attained. In this regard, due

consideration shall be given to

(i) the final cost including financing costs to the

contracting authority; and

(ii) the impact of each offer on the recurrent

expenditure of a contracting authority;

(c)

report any irregularities that may be brought to its

notice or that may be detected in the tendering process and

make recommendations thereon to the Minister charged with

responsibility for the contracting authority concerned;

(d) deal with matters which, according to the contract,

have to be referred to it, and hear and mediate disputes between

contracting authorities, as the case may be, and contractors,

arising out of public contracts;

(e)

formally investigate complaints concerning public

contracts and procurements and make recommendations

thereon; and

(f)

assist the Director in the execution of his duties in

accordance with these regulations.

Departmental Contracts Committee

There shall be a Departmental Contracts Committee for

contracting authorities listed in Schedule 2, which shall be

responsible for procurement processes with an estimated value falling

under regulation 9(1)(a)

Provided that in the case of call for tenders published by

the Ministerial Procurement Unit the responsibility for the process

shall increase the procurement processes that have an estimated value

which does not exceed two hundred and fifty thousand euro

(€250,000).

The Departmental Contracts Committee shall be composed

of three members, as follows

(a)

a chairman, who shall be the Director Corporate

Services, or his representative;

(b) a member appointed by the Permanent Secretary of

the concerned ministry; and

(c)

a member representing the Director of Contracts,

which member may also be a member of the General Contracts

Committee.

The Departmental Contracts Committee shall make Function.

definite recommendations for the award of the contract, and a copy of

its recommendation shall be forwarded to the Director.

Ad hoc Committees and the Special Contracts Committee

The Minister may authorise the setting up of committees, Ad hoc

to be known as ad hoc Committees, in respect of tenders whose Committees.

estimated value is equal or exceeds the thresholds established under

regulation 9(1)(b).

(1) Each ad hoc Committee shall be composed of the Composition

head of the department, or, in his absence, an officer appointed by the and

operandi.

Minister from among the most senior of officials at the contracting

authority affecting the purchase. This nominee shall be, ex officio,

chairman of the Committee together with not less than four other

members appointed by the Minister, none of whom shall be

performing duties at, or be members of the staff of, the department

effecting the purchase.

(2) The function of the ad hoc Committee shall be indicated

by the Minster in their letter of appointment.

(1) Where the Prime Minister determines that the Establishment

adjudication of tenders for the award of any particular contract of

Contracts

requires special expertise, skills or other specialist knowledge, he Committee,

composition and

may appoint a Special Contracts Committee for the award of that modus

operandi.

public contract.

(2) The members of the Special Contracts Committee shall be

appointed for the duration of the adjudication process of the particular

call for tenders.

(3) Subject to the provisions of regulation 17(1)(b) the

provisions of regulations 64 to 72 shall mutatis mutandis apply to the

Special Contracts Committee.

(1) There shall be in each Ministry a Ministerial

Procurement Unit which shall fall under the office of the Permanent

Secretary responsible for that Ministry, or under another person in an

equivalent post, being so delegated by the Minister responsible for

that Ministry.

(2) A contracting authority cannot be included under Schedule

16 if the Ministerial Procurement Unit within the ministry in question

has not been established and approved in writing by the Director.

(3) In spite of what is established in these regulations the

Minister may, irrespective of the value of the contract, order that a

contracting authority listed under Schedule 16 must forward the call

for tenders to the Director so that they are administered by him in

accordance with regulation 12 and 13.

(4) Ministerial Procurement Units have the duty

(a)

to observe and abide to these regulations;

(b) to administer only calls for tenders published under

the open procedure, in the name of a contracting authority listed

under Schedule 16, when the estimated value of that public

procurement exceeds ten thousand euro (€10,000) but does not

exceed two hundred and fifty thousand euro (€250,000);

(c)

to publish all calls for tenders and quotations,

through government’s e-procurement platform, unless otherwise

provided for in these regulations;

(d)

to monitor the implementation of the procurement

process;

(e)

to take appropriate measures to effectively prevent,

identify and remedy conflicts of interest arising in the conduct

of procurement procedures so as to avoid any distortion of

competition and to ensure equal treatment of all economic

operators;

(f)

to indicate in their procurement documents that the

award of the contract is subject to the review procedure as set

forth in these regulations and to include an extract of the

relevant part of the appeals process in the said documents for

the guidance of economic operators;

(g) to inspect and approve, with or without

amendments, tender documents, before these are issued and

published;

(h) to publish in the Gazette a notice of all awards of

contracts including variations outside the limit of the tender

conditions, within six months of their award;

(i)

to forward the recommendations for the award of

contracts to the Departmental Contract Committee;

(j)

to make recommendations in the name of the

contracting authorities according to what is provided for under

these regulations;

(k) to send a copy of the contract to the Director when

he so requests.

(5) The contracts which result from a call for tenders

published by the Ministerial Procurement Unit must be signed by the

Minister responsible for that Ministry or another person who is

delegated by him in writing.

Public Contracts Review Board

There shall be established a Public Contracts Review Establishment

Board, hereinafter referred to as "the Review Board", to determine of

Contracts

issues as contemplated under these regulations.

Review Board.

(1) The Review Board shall be composed of a chairman Composition.

and two permanent members, one of whom shall act as a Vice-

chairman, all appointed by the Prime Minister on the advice of the

Minister for a period of three years with the possibility of re-

appointment.

(2) The Prime Minister shall also appoint for a period of three

years, with the possibility of re-appointment, a panel of three

substitute members to replace the permanent members, in the event

that one or more of the permanent members cannot sit in a particular

case.

(3) The Prime Minister may appoint a person, or such number

of persons, as chairman and as members of the Review Board to act

on different review boards, in which case the members shall serve for

pre-determined periods of time, in accordance with such distribution

of duties, including provisions for inability of permanent and

substitute members to serve and other circumstances, as the Prime

Minister may establish.

The members of the Review Board may be individually Removal.

removed from office by the Prime Minister on the ground of proved

inability to perform the functions of that office whether arising from

infirmity of body or mind or any other cause or because of proven

misbehaviour.

The members of the Review Board shall receive such

remuneration as the Prime Minister may determine.

The Review Board shall be assisted by a Secretary.

(1) The chairman or other members of the Review

Board shall be disqualified from hearing a case in such circumstances

as would disqualify a judge in a civil suit, and in any such case the

chairman or member shall be substituted by another member on the

panel.

(2) A person shall be disqualified from being appointed or

continuing to be a member of the Review Board if he is a member of

the House of Representatives or of the European Parliament or of a

Local Council or of any other administrative board or tribunal or if he

has a financial or other interest as is likely to prejudice the discharge

of his functions as a member of the Review Board.

(3) Any member of the Review Board who may have a direct

or indirect interest in any contract which becomes the subject of a

complaint shall inform the chairman in writing of such interest in

which case the member shall be precluded from further participation

in the hearing of the complaint.

The members of the Review Board shall not be precluded

from the exercise of their respective profession, however, during the

term of their appointment they shall be precluded from the exercise of

their profession in cases before the Review Board.

It shall be the function of the Review Board to address in

particular

(a)

concerns or complaints raised before the closure of a

submission of a tender by candidates or persons having an

interest in obtaining a particular public contract;

(b) complaints raised by tenderers or candidates relating

to exclusions, non-compliant offers, contract award decisions or

cancellations of a procurement procedure after the closing date

and time set for the submission of the said call;

(c)

requests for the ineffectiveness of a public contract

as established in these regulations;

(d) to hear and determine any cases assigned to it under

these regulations or any other law; and

(e)

to hear and determine any cases assigned to it in a

public call for tenders or quotations, even if such call does not

involve procurement.

The members of the Review Board shall not be held Liability.

personally liable for any act or omission done in good faith in the

course of the exercise of their functions as members of the said board.

(1) The sessions of the Review Board during which the Sessions.

complaint is heard shall be held in public and both the complainant

and any interested party shall have the right to attend and to be

accompanied by any person, professional or otherwise, who they

consider suitable to defend their interests.

(2) The secretary of the Review Board shall keep a record of

everything done in each session.

(3) The Review Board may postpone a session if it is satisfied

that any one of the parties or any witness was prevented from

appearing before it owing to illness or absence from Malta.

(1) The Review Board shall be empowered to order or Powers.

permit amendments of written pleadings and to engage any expert to

assist it in its investigations.

(2) It shall also have the power to determine the procedure for

the hearing of all complaints lodged before it and shall ensure that

during the public hearing all interested parties are given the

opportunity to make their case.

(3) The Review Board shall have the power to take such

interim measures as it shall deem fit.

(4) All communications including those related to the

appointments of cases may be transmitted by the Review Board

through electronic means.

(1) When the Review Board appoints an expert for Experts.

assistance, the latter shall prepare a signed report containing the

inquiries made and his findings together with the grounds of such

findings.

(2) The Review Board shall allow the parties time to consider

the report and to make their submissions thereon.

(3) The experts may be examined and cross-examined on their

report in the same manner as witnesses.

(4) The Review Board is not bound to adopt the report of the

expert against its own conviction.

(1) Upon the request of one of the parties, the Review

Board shall have the power to summon witnesses and to administer

the oath to any person appearing before it. Should a witness duly

notified by a summons signed by the chairman of the Review Board

fail to enter an appearance, such person shall be guilty of an offence

and liable, on conviction, to a fine (multa) of not less than five

hundred euro (€500) and not more than five thousand euro (€5,000).

(2) The service of all summons, orders or other acts of the

Review Board shall be carried out by registered mail at least five days

before the date of the sitting.

(3) All evidence tendered by witnesses that are produced

before the Review Board shall be transcribed and put in writing in the

records of the proceedings.

(1) After appointing the application for hearing, and

after listening to the oral submissions made by all parties, the Review

Board shall establish a date in which it will deliver the judgment

during a public session.

(2) Decisions of the Review Board shall preferably be taken

on the basis of unanimity. However, majority decisions shall be

deemed to be the final decision of the Review Board. The chairman

and the other two members shall have one vote each.

(3) The decision of the Review Board shall be rendered in

writing, be signed by all members and be dated. In its decision the

Review Board shall indicate the reasons upon which such decision

was taken.

(4) In its decision the Review Board shall recommend on

whether any deposit submitted by a party should be refunded, in

whole or in part, or not.

(5) Unless there is an appeal, the decision of the Review Board

shall be final and shall constitute an executive title and may be

enforced in terms of article 273 of the Code of Organization and Civil

Procedure.

The Review Board shall by not later than six months after

the end of the financial year, make and submit to the Minister a report

dealing with the performance of the Board during the financial year

being reported upon. The report shall, in particular, provide details

regarding appeals submitted by candidates and tenderers and any

person having or having had an interest in obtaining a particular

public contract in terms of these regulations and the decisions arrived

at by the Review Board.

Commercial Sanctions Tribunal

There shall be established a Commercial Sanctions Establishment

Tribunal which shall have the function to hear and determine issues of

Commercial

relating to the black listing of persons.

Sanctions

Tribunal.

(1) The Commercial Sanctions Tribunal shall be Composition.

composed of a chairman and two permanent members, one of whom

shall act as a Vice-chairman, all appointed by the Prime Minister on

the advice of the Minister for a period of three years with the

possibility of re-appointment.

(2) The Prime Minister shall also appoint for a period of three

years, with the possibility of re-appointment, a panel of three

substitute members to replace the permanent members, in the event

that one or more of the permanent members cannot sit in a particular

case.

The provisions of regulations 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, Other applicable

91 and 92 applicable to the Review Board shall apply mutatis regulations.

mutandis also to the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal.

Decisions of the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal shall be Copy to the

delivered by the Secretary to the Director of Contracts on the same Director

Contracts.

date in which the decision is delivered.

The Commercial Sanctions Tribunal shall, by not later than Report.

six months after the end of the financial year, make and submit to the

Minister a report dealing with the performance during the financial

year being reported upon. The report shall, in particular, provide

details regarding its decisions.

Part III

Rules applicable to Departmental Tenders

Methods of Procurement according to the Contract Value

(1) Where the estimated value does not exceed five Contract value

thousand euro (€5,000), the supplies, works or services may be under €10,000.

procured departmentally either after obtaining a minimum of three (3)

quotations or after the publication in the government’s e-procurement

platform or through a direct contract at the discretion of the Head of

the Contracting Authority, taking into consideration the amount

involved, the urgency attached to the procurement or restrictions of

choice and availability.

(2) Where the estimated value meets or exceeds five thousand

euro (€5,000), but does not exceed ten thousand euro (€10,000), the

supplies, works or services may be procured departmentally either

after obtaining quotations through government’s e-procurement

platform or through a direct contract at the discretion of the Head of

the Contracting Authority, taking into consideration the amount

involved, the urgency attached to the procurement or restrictions of

choice and availability.

Where the estimated value meets or exceeds ten thousand

euro (€10,000), but does not exceed the threshold established under

regulation 9(1)(a), the supplies, works or services may be procured

after a departmental call for tenders.

(1) Unless authorisation in writing is granted by the

Director, calls for quotations exceeding five thousand euro (€5,000)

and departmental calls for tenders must be published through

government’s e-procurement platform.

(2) If the authority responsible for the tendering process does

not make use of government’s e-procurement platform for the call for

quotations or the departmental call for tenders with an estimated

value which exceeds five thousand euro (€5,000), it must give advice

about their publication by means of an advertisement in the Gazette.

Supplies, works or services valued in excess of ten

thousand euro (€10,000) may, in exceptional cases, be procured

through a direct contract by any contracting authority upon obtaining

the prior written approval of the Minister who may delegate his

authority in writing to the Permanent Secretary or any other senior

official in his Ministry

Provided that contracting authorities listed under Schedule

3 shall obtain the prior approval of the Minister responsible for that

contracting authority who may delegate his authority in writing to the

Permanent Secretary or any other senior official in his Ministry

instead of the Minister.

Subject to the relevant regulations under Part VI, Local

Councils shall follow the regulations made under the Local Councils

Act.

Duties of Contracting Authorities

Before a procurement procedure is conducted, contracting

authorities may conduct market consultations as referred to in

regulation 47.

A call for tenders should, unless otherwise approved in Call for tenders.

terms of these regulations, be carried out through an open procedure.

The prior written consent of the Director shall be required Consent of the

whenever the authority responsible for the tendering process wishes Director.

to carry out a procurement process through a design contest, a

framework agreement, an innovation partnership or a restricted

procedure. In approving the use of these procedures the Director may

impose any condition he may deem appropriate for the correct

execution of the said procedure.

Procurement procedures involving the competitive Procedures

dialogue, competitive procedure with negotiation, dynamic purchase which

availed of.

systems, electronic auctions and negotiated procedure without public

notice shall not be permitted.

Unless otherwise provided for in these regulations, the Access to

authorities responsible for the tendering process shall, through procurement

documents.

government’s e-procurement platform, offer free of charge

unrestricted and full direct access to the procurement documents,

from the date of publication of the procurement procedure.

(1) Tenders shall be opened in public by two officers of Opening and

the contracting authority. The names of the bidders and the prices adjudication

tenders.

quoted shall also be made public either through government’s e-

procurement platform or on the notice board at the contracting

authority’s premises.

(2) The provisions of Part VI shall apply for the adjudication

of the tenders and quotations submitted.

(1) The Minister may allow that variations and the Variations and

imposition or remission of penalties in respect of such contracts be penalties.

approved by the Minister charged with responsibility for that

contracting authority, who may delegate his authority in writing to the

Parliamentary Secretary, the Permanent Secretary or the Head of the

contracting authority.

(2) Every six months the Head of the contracting authority

shall publish in the Gazette a full list of all departmental contracts

awarded by him with a value exceeding five thousand euro (€5,000)

and a list of all cases involving variations which exceed the original

contract values by more than five per cent. These two lists must

include the name of the economic operator, the nature of the

contracts, the original contract values and the final contract values, as

the case may be.

(3) The regulations under this Part shall not apply when a

contracting authority is awarding a public contract to another

contracting authority or to a central purchasing body unless the

contracting authorities in question have any private capital

participation.

The authority responsible for the tendering process may

lay down conditions relating to the performance of a contract,

provided that they are indicated in the call for competition or in the

procurement documents.

For every tender or framework agreement issued under this

Part contracting authorities shall draw up a written report which shall

include at least the following

(a)

the name and address of the contracting authority,

the subject-matter and value of the public contract or

framework;

(b) where applicable, the results of the qualitative

selection;

(c)

the names of the selected candidates or tenderers

and the reasons for their selection;

(d) the names of the candidates or tenderers rejected or

excluded and the reasons for their rejection or exclusion;

(e)

the name of the successful tenderer and the reasons

why its tender was selected and, where known, the share of the

contract or framework agreement which the successful tenderer

intends to subcontract to third parties; and, where known at this

point in time, the names of the main contractor’s subcontractors,

if any; and

(f)

where applicable, the reasons why the contracting

authority has decided not to award a contract or framework

agreement.

Part IV

Types of Procurement Procedures

Various Methods of Procurement

Contracts may be awarded using the open procedure, the

restricted procedure, the competitive procedure with negotiation, the

innovation partnership, competitive dialogue, the negotiated

procedure without contract notice and design contests.

Open Procedure

In open procedures, any interested economic operator may Open procedure.

submit a tender in response to a call for competition.

(1)(a) A call for competition with an estimated value Contract notice

which falls under the threshold established under regulation 9(1)(b) and time limit.

shall have a minimum time limit for the receipt of tenders of thirty-

five days from the date of publication.

(b) When the estimated value of a call for tenders meets

or exceeds the value in Schedule 5 this call shall be made by means of

a contract notice and the time limit mentioned in paragraph (a) shall

commence from the date on which the contract notice was sent to the

Publications Office of the European Union.

(c)

The tender shall be accompanied by the information

for qualitative selection that is requested by the authority responsible

for the tendering process.

(2) Where the authorities responsible for the tendering process

have published a prior information notice, the minimum time limit for

the receipt of tenders may be shortened to fifteen days, provided that

all of the following conditions are fulfilled

(a)

the prior information notice included all the

information required for the contract notice in section I of part B

of Schedule 9, in so far as that information was available at the

time the prior information notice was published;

(b) the prior information notice was sent for publication

between thirty-five days and twelve months before the date on

which the contract notice was sent.

(3) Where a state of urgency duly substantiated renders

impracticable the time limit laid down in sub-regulation (1), the

authority responsible for the tendering process, upon approval of the

Director, may fix a time limit which shall be not less than fifteen days

from the date on which the contract notice was sent to the

Publications Office of the European Union.

(4) The authority responsible for the tendering process may

also reduce by five days the time limit for receipt of tenders

established in sub-regulation (1) where it accepts that tenders may be

submitted by electronic means in accordance with regulation 48(1),

(2) and (10).

(5) In the case of a contract with an estimated value which is

less than the threshold established under regulation 9(1)(a), the

minimum time limit for the receipt of tenders shall be twenty days

from the date on which the tender has been published

Provided that this time limit can be reduced to fifteen days

in cases of extreme urgency with the prior approval of the head of the

authority responsible for the tendering process.

In open procedures, the authorities responsible for the

tendering process may decide to examine tenders before verifying the

absence of grounds for exclusion and the fulfilment of the selection

criteria in accordance with Part VI and regulations 217, 226, 230,

231, 232, 233, 234 and 235. Where they make use of that possibility,

they shall ensure that the verification of absence of grounds for

exclusion and of fulfilment of the selection criteria is carried out in an

impartial and transparent manner so that no contract is awarded to a

tenderer that should have been excluded pursuant to Part VI or that

does not meet the selection criteria set out by the contracting

authority.

Restricted Procedure

(1) In restricted procedures, any economic operator may

submit a request to participate in response to a call for competition by

providing the information requested by the contracting authority in

the procurement document.

(2) Where the estimated value of the restricted procedure

meets or exceeds the values established under Schedule 5, the call for

competition must include the information set out in Schedule 9, parts

B or C, as the case may be, by providing the information for

qualitative selection that is requested by the contracting authority.

(1) The minimum time limit for receipt of requests to

participate shall be thirty days from the date on which the call for

tenders has been published.

(2) Where the estimated value of the restricted procedure

meets or exceeds the values established under Schedule 5 the time

limit established above shall begin from the date when the contract

notice is sent to the Publication Office of the European Union.

Only those economic operators invited to do so by the

contracting authority following its assessment of the information

provided may submit a tender. Contracting authorities may limit the

number of suitable candidates to be invited to participate in the

procedure in accordance with regulation 237.

(1) The minimum time limit for the receipt of tenders Receipt of

from the suitable candidates shall be thirty days from the date on tenders.

which the invitation to tender was sent.

(2) Where contracting authorities have published a prior

information notice, the minimum time limit for the receipt of tenders

as laid down in sub-regulation (1) may be shortened to ten days,

provided that all of the following conditions are fulfilled

(a)

the prior information notice included all the

information required in section I of part B of Schedule 9, in so

far as that information was available at the time the prior

information notice was published;

(b) the prior information notice was sent for publication

between thirty-five days and twelve months before the date on

which the contract notice was sent.

(3) The time limit for receipt of tenders provided for in sub-

regulation (1) may be reduced by five days where the contracting

authority accepts that tenders may be submitted by electronic means

in conformity with regulation 48(1) to (6), (10), (11) and (12) to (14).

Where a state of urgency duly substantiated by the Accelerated

contracting authorities renders impracticable the time limits laid process.

down in the previous regulation, they may fix

(a)

a time limit for the receipt of requests to participate

which shall not be less than fifteen days from the date on which

the contract notice was sent;

(b) a time limit for the receipt of tenders which shall not

be less than ten days from the date on which the invitation to

tender was sent.

Competitive procedure with negotiation

(1) Upon being requested by the contracting authority, Competitive

the Director may, subject to any conditions he may deem appropriate procedure

negotiation.

to impose, approve in writing the use of the competitive procedure

with negotiation in the following situations

(a)

with regard to works, supplies or services fulfilling

one or more of the following criteria

(i) the needs of the contracting authority cannot

be met without adaptation of readily available solutions;

(ii)

they include design or innovative solutions;

(iii) the contract cannot be awarded without prior

negotiations because of specific circumstances related to

the nature, the complexity or the legal and financial make-

up or because of the risks attaching to them;

(iv) the technical specifications cannot be

established with sufficient precision by the contracting

authority with reference to a standard, European Technical

Assessment, common technical specification or technical

reference within the meanings of regulation 2;

(b) with regard to works, supplies or services where, in

response to an open or a restricted procedure, only irregular or

unacceptable tenders are submitted. In such situations

contracting authorities shall not be required to publish a contract

notice where they include in the procedure all of, and only, the

tenderers which satisfy the criteria set out in Part VI and

regulations 217 to 235 and which, during the prior open or

restricted procedure, submitted tenders in accordance with the

formal requirements of the procurement procedure.

(2) A call for competition for a competitive procedure with

negotiation shall be made by means of a contract notice and any

economic operator may submit a request to participate in response to

a call for competition containing the information set out in Schedule 9

parts B and C by providing the information for qualitative selection

that is requested by the contracting authority.

(1) In the procurement documents, contracting

authorities shall identify the subject-matter of the procurement by

providing a description of their needs and the characteristics required

of the supplies, works or services to be procured and specify the

contract award criteria. They shall also indicate which elements of the

description define the minimum requirements to be met by all

tenders.

(2) The information provided shall be sufficiently precise to

enable economic operators to identify the nature and scope of the

procurement and decide whether to request to participate in the

procedure.

(1) The minimum time limit for receipt of requests to

participate shall be thirty days from the date on which the contract

notice was sent to the Publication Office of the European Union or

from when the call for competition is published, as the case may be,

whilst the minimum time limit for the receipt of initial tenders shall

be thirty days from the date on which the invitation was sent.

(2) The provisions of regulations 121 and 122 shall apply

mutatis mutandis also to the competitive procedure with negotiation.

Only those economic operators invited by the contracting Eligibility.

authority following its assessment of the information provided may

submit an initial tender which shall be the basis for the subsequent

negotiations. Contracting authorities may limit the number of suitable

candidates to be invited to participate in the procedure in accordance

with regulation 237.

(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-regulation (3), Negotiating

contracting authorities shall negotiate with tenderers the initial and all terms.

subsequent tenders submitted by them, except for the final tenders

within the meaning of sub-regulation (7) to improve the content

thereof.

(2) The minimum requirements and the award criteria shall not

be subject to negotiations.

(3) Contracting authorities may award contracts on the basis

of the initial tenders without negotiation where they have indicated,

in the contract notice or in the invitation to confirm interest, as the

case may be, that they reserve the possibility of doing so.

(4) During the negotiations, contracting authorities shall

ensure the equal treatment of all tenderers. To that end, they shall not

provide information in a discriminatory manner which may give some

tenderers an advantage over others. They shall inform all tenderers,

whose tenders have not been eliminated pursuant to sub-regulation

(6), in writing of any changes to the technical specifications or other

procurement documents, other than those setting out the minimum

requirements. Following these changes, contracting authorities shall

provide sufficient time for tenderers to modify and re-submit

amended tenders, as appropriate.

(5) In accordance with regulation 40, contracting authorities

shall not reveal to the other participants confidential information

communicated by a candidate or a tenderer participating in the

negotiations without its agreement. Such agreement shall not take the

form of a general waiver but shall be given with reference to the

intended communication of specific information.

(6) Competitive procedures with negotiation may take place in

successive stages in order to reduce the number of tenders to be

negotiated by applying the award criteria specified in the contract

notice, in the invitation to confirm interest or in another procurement

document. In the contract notice, the invitation to confirm interest or

in another procurement document, the contracting authority shall

indicate whether it will use that option.

(7) Where the contracting authority intends to conclude the

negotiations, it shall inform the remaining tenderers and set a

common deadline to submit any new or revised tenders. It shall verify

that the final tenders are in conformity with the minimum

requirements and comply with regulation 61(2), assess the final

tenders on the basis of the award criteria and award the contract in

accordance with regulations 238, 239, 240 and 243.

Innovation Partnership

(1) Upon being requested by the contracting authority

the Director may, subject to any conditions he may deem fit to

impose, approve in writing the use of the innovation partnership

procedure.

(2) This request must be supported by documents

demonstrating that the need of the contracting authority cannot be

met by purchasing products, services or works already available on

the market.

In an innovation partnership procedure, any economic

operator may submit a request to participate in response to a contract

notice or call for competition, as the case may be, by providing the

information for qualitative selection that is requested by the

contracting authority.

In the procurement documents, the contracting authority

shall identify the need for an innovative product, service or works

that cannot be met by purchasing products, services or works already

available on the market. It shall indicate which elements of this

description define the minimum requirements to be met by all

tenders. The information provided shall be sufficiently precise to

enable economic operators to identify the nature and scope of the

required solution and decide whether to request to participate in the

procedure.

The contracting authority may decide to set up the

innovation partnership with one partner or with several partners

conducting separate research and development activities.

The minimum time limit for receipt of requests to

participate shall be thirty days from the date on which the contract

notice is sent or from the date when the call for competition is

published, as the case may be. Only those economic operators invited

by the contracting authority following the assessment of the

information provided may participate in the procedure. Contracting

authorities may limit the number of suitable candidates to be invited

to participate in the procedure in accordance with regulation 237. The

contracts shall be awarded on the sole basis of the award criterion of

the best price-quality ratio in accordance with regulation 239(2).

The innovation partnership shall aim at the development of Aim.

an innovative product, service or works and the subsequent purchase

of the resulting supplies, services or works, provided that they

correspond to the performance levels and maximum costs agreed

between the contracting authorities and the participants.

The innovation partnership shall be structured in Structure.

successive phases following the sequence of steps in the research and

innovation process, which may include the manufacturing of the

products, the provision of the services or the completion of the works.

The innovation partnership shall set intermediate targets to be

attained by the partners and provide for payment of the remuneration

in appropriate instalments.

Based on those targets, the contracting authority may Termination.

decide after each phase to terminate the innovation partnership or, in

the case of an innovation partnership with several partners, to reduce

the number of partners by terminating individual contracts, provided

that the contracting authority has indicated in the procurement

documents those possibilities and the conditions for their use.

(1) Unless otherwise provided for in this regulation, Negotiation.

contracting authorities shall negotiate with tenderers the initial and all

subsequent tenders submitted by them, except for the final tender, to

improve the content thereof.

(2) The minimum requirements and the award criteria shall not

be subject to negotiations.

(3) During the negotiations, contracting authorities shall

ensure the equal treatment of all tenderers. To that end, they shall not

provide information in a discriminatory manner which may give some

tenderers an advantage over others. They shall inform all tenderers

whose tenders have not been eliminated, pursuant to sub-regulation

(5), in writing of any changes to the technical specifications or other

procurement documents other than those setting out the minimum

requirements. Following those changes, contracting authorities shall

provide sufficient time for tenderers to modify and re-submit

amended tenders, as appropriate.

(4) In accordance with regulation 40, contracting authorities

shall not reveal to the other participants confidential information

communicated by a candidate or tenderer participating in the

negotiations without its agreement. Such agreement shall not take the

form of a general waiver but shall be given with reference to the

intended communication of specific information.

(5) Negotiations during innovation partnership procedures

may take place in successive stages in order to reduce the number of

tenders to be negotiated by applying the award criteria specified in

the contract notice, in the invitation to confirm interest or in the

procurement documents. In the contract notice, the invitation to

confirm interest or in the procurement documents, the contracting

authority shall indicate whether it will use that option.

(1) In selecting candidates, contracting authorities shall

in particular apply criteria concerning the candidates’ capacity in the

field of research and development and of developing and

implementing innovative solutions.

(2) Only those economic operators invited by the contracting

authority following its assessment of the requested information may

submit research and innovation projects aimed at meeting the needs

identified by the contracting authority that cannot be met by existing

solutions.

In the procurement documents, the contracting authority

shall define the arrangements applicable to intellectual property

rights. In the case of an innovation partnership with several partners,

the contracting authority shall not, in accordance with regulation 40,

reveal to the other partners solutions proposed or other confidential

information communicated by a partner in the framework of the

partnership without that partner’s agreement. Such agreement shall

not take the form of a general waiver but shall be given with reference

to the intended communication of specific information.

The contracting authority shall ensure that the structure of

the partnership and, in particular, the duration and value of the

different phases reflect the degree of innovation of the proposed

solution and the sequence of the research and innovation activities

required for the development of an innovative solution not yet

available on the market. The estimated value of supplies, services or

works shall not be disproportionate in relation to the investment

required for their development.

Competitive Dialogue

Upon being requested by the contracting authority, the

Director of Contracts may, subject to any conditions he may deem

appropriate to impose, approve in writing the use of the competitive

dialogue in the following instances

(a)

with regard to works, supplies or services fulfilling

one or more of the following criteria

(i) the needs of the contracting authority cannot

be met without adaptation of readily available solutions;

(ii) they include design or innovative solutions;

(iii) the contract cannot be awarded without prior

negotiations because of specific circumstances related to

the nature, the complexity or the legal and financial make-

up or because of the risks attaching to them;

(iv) the technical specifications cannot be

established with sufficient precision by the contracting

authority with reference to a standard, European Technical

Assessment, common technical specification or technical

reference as defined in regulation 2;

(b) with regard to works, supplies or services where, in

response to an open or a restricted procedure, only irregular or

unacceptable tenders are submitted. In such situations

contracting authorities shall not be required to publish a contract

notice where they include in the procedure all of, and only, the

tenderers which satisfy the criteria set out under Part VI and

regulations 217 to 235 and which, during the prior open or

restricted procedure, submitted tenders in accordance with the

formal requirements of the procurement procedure.

In a call for completion for a competitive dialogue, any Request to

economic operator may submit a request to participate in response to participate.

a contract notice or call for competition, as the case may be, by

providing the information for qualitative selection that is requested by

the contracting authority.

The minimum time limit for receipt of requests to Time limit.

participate shall be thirty days from the date on which the contract

notice was sent or the call for competition published as the case may

Only those economic operators invited by the contracting Participation.

authority following the assessment of the information provided may

participate in the dialogue. Contracting authorities may limit the

number of suitable candidates to be invited to participate in the

procedure in accordance with regulation 237. The contract shall be

awarded on the sole basis of the award criterion of the best price-

quality ratio in accordance with regulation 239(2).

Contracting authorities shall set out their needs and

requirements in the contract notice and they shall define these needs

and requirements in that notice and, or in a descriptive document. At

the same time and in the same documents, they shall also set out and

define the chosen award criteria and set out an indicative time-frame.

(1) Contracting authorities shall open, with the

participants selected in accordance with the relevant provisions of

regulation 61(2), Part VI and regulations 217 to 235, a dialogue the

aim of which shall be to identify and define the means best suited to

satisfying their needs. They may discuss all aspects of the

procurement with the chosen participants during this dialogue.

(2) During the dialogue, contracting authorities shall ensure

equality of treatment among all participants. To that end, they shall

not provide information in a discriminatory manner which may give

some participants an advantage over others.

(3) Subject to the provisions of regulation 40, contracting

authorities shall not reveal to the other participants solutions

proposed or other confidential information communicated by a

candidate or tenderer participating in the dialogue without its

agreement. Such agreement shall not take the form of a general

waiver but shall be given with reference to the intended

communication of specific information.

(4) Competitive dialogues may take place in successive stages

in order to reduce the number of solutions to be discussed during the

dialogue stage by applying the award criteria laid down in the

contract notice or in the descriptive document. In the contract notice

or the descriptive document, the contracting authority shall indicate

whether it will use that option.

(5) The contracting authority shall continue the dialogue until

it can identify the solution or solutions which are capable of meeting

its needs.

(6) Having declared that the dialogue is concluded and having

so informed the remaining participants, contracting authorities shall

ask each of them to submit their final tenders on the basis of the

solution or solutions presented and specified during the dialogue.

Those tenders shall contain all the elements required and necessary

for the performance of the project.

Those tenders may be clarified, specified and optimised at Clarification,

the request of the contracting authority. However, such clarification, specification,

etc.

specification, optimisation or additional information may not involve

changes to the essential aspects of the tender or of the public

procurement, including the needs and requirements set out in the

contract notice or in the descriptive document, where variations to

those aspects, needs and requirements are likely to distort competition

or have a discriminatory effect.

Contracting authorities shall assess the tenders received on Assessment.

the basis of the award criteria laid down in the contract notice or in

the descriptive document.

At the request of the contracting authority, negotiations Negotiations.

with the tenderer identified as having submitted the tender presenting

the best price-quality ratio in accordance with regulation 239 may be

carried out to confirm financial commitments or other terms

contained in the tender by finalising the terms of the contract

provided this does not have the effect of materially modifying

essential aspects of the tender or of the public procurement, including

the needs and requirements set out in the contract notice or in the

descriptive document and does not risk distorting competition or

causing discrimination.

Contracting authorities may specify prizes or payments to Prizes or

payments.

the participants in the dialogue.

Negotiated Procedure

(1) Upon being requested in writing by the contracting Use of the

authority the Director may, subject to any conditions he may deem negotiated

procedure

appropriate to impose, approve the use of the negotiated procedure without

publication.

without prior publication for public works contracts, public supply

contracts and public service contracts as specified in the following

regulations.

(2) The request made by the contracting authority must duly

substantiate the need for the negotiated procedure.

The negotiated procedure without prior publication may be Public works

contracts.

used for public works contracts in the following instances

(a)

where no tenders or no suitable tenders or no

requests to participate or no suitable requests to participate have

been submitted in response to an open procedure or a restricted

procedure, provided that the initial conditions of the contract are

not substantially altered and that a report is sent to the

Commission where it so requests; or

(b) where the works can be supplied only by a particular

economic operator for any of the following reasons

(i) the aim of the procurement is the creation or

acquisition of a unique work of art or artistic performance;

(ii)

competition is absent for technical reasons;

(iii) the protection of exclusive rights, including

intellectual property rights

Provided that the exceptions set out in sub-

paragraphs (ii) and (iii) shall only apply when no reasonable

alternative or substitute exists and the absence of competition is

not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters

of the procurement; or

(c)

where in so far as is strictly necessary, for reasons of

extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the

contracting authority, the time limits for the open or restricted

procedures or competitive procedures with negotiation cannot

be complied with. The circumstances invoked to justify extreme

urgency shall not in any event be attributable to the contracting

authority; or

(d) for new works consisting in the repetition of similar

works entrusted to the economic operator to which the same

contracting authorities awarded an original contract, provided

that such works are in conformity with a basic project for which

the original contract was awarded pursuant to a procedure for

which a call for competition has been published in accordance

with these regulations.

(a)

If the negotiated procedure is used to carry out

repetition of similar works, the basic project shall indicate the extent

of possible additional works and the conditions under which they will

be awarded.

(b) As soon as the first project is put up for tender, the

possible use of this procedure shall be disclosed and the total

estimated cost of subsequent works or services shall be taken into

consideration by the contracting authorities when they apply the

thresholds established under Schedule 5.

(c)

The negotiated procedure for repetition of similar

works may be resorted to only during the three years following the

conclusion of the original contract.

The negotiated procedure without prior publication may be Public supply

contracts.

used for public supply contracts in the following instances

(a)

where there exist the same grounds mentioned in

regulation 151(a), (b) and (c); or

(b) where the products involved are manufactured

purely for the purpose of research, experimentation, study or

development; however, contracts awarded pursuant to this

paragraph shall not include quantity production to establish

commercial viability or to recover research and development

costs; or

(c)

for additional deliveries by the original supplier

which are intended either as a partial replacement of supplies or

installations or as the extension of existing supplies or

installations where a change of supplier would oblige the

contracting authority to acquire supplies having different

technical characteristics which would result in incompatibility

or disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and

maintenance; the duration of such contracts as well as that of

recurrent contracts shall not, as a general rule, exceed three

years; or

(d) for supplies quoted and purchased on a commodity

market; or

(e)

for the purchase of supplies on particularly

advantageous terms, from either a supplier which is definitively

winding up its business activities, or the liquidator in an

insolvency procedure, an arrangement with creditors, or a

similar procedure under national laws or regulations.

(1) The negotiated procedure without prior publication Public service

contracts.

may be used for public service contracts in the following instances

(a)

where there exist the same grounds mentioned in

regulation 151(a), (b), (c) and (d); or

(b) for public service contracts, where the contract

concerned follows a design contest organised in accordance

with these regulations and is to be awarded, under the rules

provided for in the design contest, to the winner or one of the

winners of the design contest; in the latter case, all winners must

be invited to participate in the negotiations; or

(c)

for the purchase of services on particularly

advantageous terms, from either a supplier which is definitively

winding up its business activities, or the liquidator in an

insolvency procedure, an arrangement with creditors, or a

similar procedure under national laws or regulations.

(2) The provisions of regulation 152 shall apply for the

negotiated procedure without prior publication for public service

contracts involving repetition of similar services.

A tender shall be considered not to be suitable where it is

irrelevant to the contract, being manifestly incapable, without

substantial changes, of meeting the contracting authority’s needs and

requirements as specified in the procurement documents.

A request for participation shall be considered not to be

suitable where the economic operator concerned is to be or may be

excluded pursuant to Part VI or does not meet the selection criteria set

out by the contracting authority pursuant to regulation 217.

Design Contest

(1)

Design contests apply to

(a)

contests organised as part of a procedure leading to

the award of a public service contract;

(b)

contests with prizes or payments to participants.

(2) In the cases referred to in sub-regulation (1)(a), the

threshold referred to in Schedule 5 is calculated on the basis of the

estimated value net of VAT of the public service contract, including

any possible prizes or payments to participants.

(3) In the cases referred to in sub-regulation (1)(b), the

threshold refers to the total amount of the prizes and payments,

including the estimated value net of VAT of the public services

contract which might subsequently be concluded if the contracting

authority has announced its intention to award such contract.

(4) In a design contest which has an estimated value which

falls under regulation 9(1)(a), the intention to award such a contract is

to be mentioned in the procurement document and if applicable in the

advertisement published in the Gazette. In the case of a design contest

with an estimated value which falls under paragraph 9(1)(b), the

intention to award such a contract must be announced in the contest

notice as established under regulation 46 and the procurement

document.

(1) When organising design contests, contracting Rules on the

authorities shall apply the rules mentioned in regulations 2, 3, 4, 6 to organisation

design contests

8, 13, 16, 26 to 32, 39, 40, 46, 48, 57, 58, 157 to 161 and Part IX.

and the

selection of

participants.

(2) The admission of participants to design contests shall not

be limited

(a)

by reference to the territory or part of the territory of

a Member State;

(b) on the grounds that, they would be required to be

either natural or legal persons.

(3) Where design contests are restricted to a limited number of

participants, the contracting authorities shall lay down clear and non-

discriminatory selection criteria. In any event, the number of

candidates invited to participate shall be sufficient to ensure genuine

competition.

The jury shall be composed exclusively of natural persons Composition of

who are independent of participants in the contest. Where a particular the jury.

professional qualification is required from participants in a contest, at

least a third of the members of the jury shall have that qualification or

an equivalent qualification.

(1)

The jury shall be autonomous in its decisions or Decisions of the

jury.

opinions.

(2) The jury shall examine the plans and projects submitted by

the candidates anonymously and solely on the basis of the criteria

indicated in the contest notice.

(3) The jury shall record its ranking of projects in a report,

signed by its members, made according to the merits of each project,

together with its remarks and any points that may need clarification.

(4) Anonymity shall be observed until the jury has reached its

opinion or decision.

(5) Candidates may be invited, if need be, to answer questions

that the jury has recorded in the minutes to clarify any aspect of the

projects.

(6) Complete minutes shall be drawn up of the dialogue

between jury members and candidates.

Reserved Contracts and Contracts For Social

and Other Specific Services

(1) A contracting authority may reserve the right to

participate in public procurement procedures to sheltered workshops

and economic operators whose main aim is the social and

professional integration of disabled or disadvantaged persons or may

provide for such contracts to be performed in the context of sheltered

employment programmes, provided that at least 30% of the

employees of those workshops, economic operators or programmes

are disabled or disadvantaged workers.

(2) The call for competition for reserved contracts shall make

reference to this regulation.

Public contracts for social and other specific services listed

in Schedule 14 shall be awarded in accordance with the following

regulations under this Part.

(1) Contracting authorities intending to award a public

contract for the services referred to in regulation 162 shall make

known their intention by any of the following means

(a)

for public contracts with an estimated value which

meets or exceed the threshold established under paragraph (d)

of Schedule 5

(i) by means of a contract notice, which shall

contain the information referred to in Schedule 9, Part H,

in accordance with the standard forms referred to in

regulation 44;

Provided that this sub-paragraph shall not

apply where a negotiated procedure without prior

publication could have been used in conformity with

regulation 154 for the award of a public service contract;

or

(ii) by means of a prior information notice, which

shall be published continuously and contain the

information set out in Schedule 9, Part I. The prior

information notice shall refer specifically to the types of

services that will be the subject of the contracts to be

awarded. It shall indicate that the contracts will be awarded

without further publication and invite interested economic

operators to express their interest in writing.

(b)

for public contracts with an estimated value which is

less than the threshold mentioned under paragraph (d) of

Schedule 5 by publishing it in the government’s e-procurement

system.

(2) In respect to public contracts with an estimated value

which meets or exceed the threshold established under paragraph (d)

of Schedule 5 contracting authorities that have awarded a public

contract for the services referred to in regulation 162 shall make

known the results of the procurement procedure by means of a

contract award notice, which shall contain the information referred to

in Schedule 9, Part J, in accordance with the standard forms referred

to in regulation 44. They may, however, group such notices on a

quarterly basis. In that case, they shall send the grouped notices

within thirty days of the end of each quarter.

(3) The notices referred to in these regulations shall be

published in accordance with regulation 44.

(1) Contracting authorities shall determine in the Principles for

respective procurement documents the procedures that are going to be awarding

contracts.

applied in connection with the award of a call for tenders subject to

what is stated in the regulations covered by this Part.

(2) Contracting authorities shall ensure that the procedures

mentioned in sub-regulation (1) adequately cater for the principles of

transparency and equal treatment of economic operators.

(3) In implementing sub-regulations (1) and (2) contracting

authorities may take into account the specificities of the services in

question.

(4) Contracting authorities shall ensure that the procedures

identified in sub-regulation (1) shall be reasonable and proportionate,

in particular the time limits allowed for the submission of the offer

shall be sufficient to allow bidders to submit an offer.

(5) In establishing the procedures mentioned in sub-regulation

(1) contracting authorities may, subject to the provisions of the

regulations established under this Part, also decide to apply the

regulations established for other procurement procedures.

(6) In relation to the award of contracts that are the subject of

these regulations, contracting authorities may take into account the

need to ensure quality, continuity, accessibility, affordability,

availability and comprehensiveness of the services, the specific needs

of different categories of users, including disadvantaged and

vulnerable groups, the involvement and empowerment of users and

innovation.

(7) Contracting authorities may also provide that the choice of

the service provider shall be made on the basis of the tender

presenting the best price-quality ratio, taking into account quality and

sustainability criteria for social services.

(1) Contracting authorities may reserve the right for

organisations to participate in procedures for the award of public

contracts exclusively for those health, social and cultural services

referred to in regulation 162, which are covered by CPV codes

75121000-0, 75122000-7, 75123000-4, 79622000-0, 79624000-4,

79625000-1, 80110000-8, 80300000-7, 80420000-4, 80430000-7,

80511000-9, 80520000-5, 80590000-6, from 85000000-9 to

85323000-9, 92500000-6, 92600000-7, 98133000-4 and 98133110-8.

(2) An organisation referred to in sub-regulation (1) shall fulfil

all of the following conditions

(a)

its objective is the pursuit of a public service

mission linked to the delivery of the services referred to in sub-

regulation (1);

(b) profits are reinvested with a view to achieving the

organisation’s objective. Where profits are distributed or

redistributed, this should be based on participatory

considerations;

(c)

the structures of management or ownership of the

organisation performing the contract are based on employee

ownership or participatory principles, or require the active

participation of employees, users or stakeholders; and

(d) the organisation has not been awarded a contract for

the services concerned by the contracting authority concerned

pursuant to this regulation within the past three years.

(3) The maximum duration of the contract shall not be longer

than three years.

(4) The call for competition issued under this Part shall make

reference to this regulation.

Procurement by Entities referred to in Schedule 3

For the purposes of this Part, contracting authorities listed

under Schedule 3 shall administer and determine their own

procurement procedure and thus do not require the prior approval of

the Director but the written consent by the Head of that same

contracting authority shall suffice.

Part V

Aggregation of Procurement

Framework Agreements

(1) The authority responsible for the tendering process Framework

may conclude framework agreements, provided that they apply the agreements.

procedures provided for in these regulations.

(2) Before the Ministerial Procurement Unit makes use of the

framework agreement it must obtain the written permission of the

Director.

The term of a framework agreement shall not exceed four Duration.

years, save in exceptional cases duly justified, in particular by the

subject of the framework agreement.

These procedures may be applied only between those Parties.

contracting authorities who are clearly identified for this purpose in

the call for competition or the invitation to confirm interest and those

economic operators party to the framework agreement as concluded.

Contracts based on a framework agreement may under no Modifications.

circumstances entail substantial modifications to the terms laid down

in that framework agreement, in particular in the case referred to in

regulations 171 and 172.

Where a framework agreement is concluded with a single Framework

economic operator, contracts based on that agreement shall be agreement

a single

awarded within the limits of the terms laid down in the framework economic

operator.

agreement.

For the award of the contracts identified in regulation 173, Consultation.

the authority responsible for the tendering process may consult the

economic operator party to the framework agreement in writing,

requesting it to supplement its tender as necessary.

(1) Where a framework agreement is concluded with Framework

more than one economic operator, that framework agreement shall be agreement

several

performed in one of the following ways

economic

operators.

(a)

following the terms and conditions of the framework

agreement, without reopening competition, where it sets out all

the terms governing the provision of the works, services and

supplies concerned and the objective conditions for determining

which of the economic operators, party to the framework

agreement, shall perform them; the latter conditions shall be

indicated in the procurement documents for the framework

agreement;

(b) where the framework agreement sets out all the

terms governing the provision of the works, services and

supplies concerned, partly without reopening of competition in

accordance with paragraph (a) and partly with reopening of

competition amongst the economic operators parties to the

framework agreement in accordance with paragraph (c), where

this possibility has been stipulated by the contracting authorities

in the procurement documents for the framework agreement

Provided that the choice of whether specific works,

supplies or services shall be acquired following a reopening of

competition or directly on the terms set out in the framework

agreement shall be made pursuant to objective criteria, which

shall be set out in the procurement documents for the

framework agreement. These procurement documents shall also

specify which terms may be subject to reopening of

competition

Provided further that the possibilities established

under paragraph (b) shall also apply to any lot of a framework

agreement for which all the terms governing the provision of the

works, services and supplies concerned are set out in the

framework agreement, regardless of whether all the terms

governing the provision of the works, services and supplies

concerned under other lots have been set out;

(c)

where not all the terms governing the provision of

the works, services and supplies are laid down in the framework

agreement, through reopening competition amongst the

economic operators parties to the framework agreement.

(2) The competitions referred to in sub-regulation (1)(b) and

(c) shall be based on the same terms as applied for the award of the

framework agreement and, where necessary, more precisely

formulated terms, and, where appropriate, other terms referred to in

the procurement documents for the framework agreement, in

accordance with the following procedure

(a)

for every contract to be awarded, contracting

authorities shall consult in writing the economic operators

capable of performing the contract;

(b) The authorities responsible for the tendering process

shall fix a time limit which is sufficiently long to allow tenders

for each specific contract to be submitted, taking into account

factors such as the complexity of the subject-matter of the

contract and the time needed to send in tenders;

(c)

tenders shall be submitted in writing, and their

content shall not be opened until the stipulated time limit for

reply has expired;

(d) the authorities responsible for the tendering process

shall award each contract to the tenderer that has submitted the

best tender on the basis of the award criteria set out in the

procurement documents for the framework agreement.

Dynamic Purchase Systems

(1) For commonly used purchases the characteristics of Dynamic

which, as generally available on the market, meet the requirements of purchasing

systems.

the contracting authorities, contracting authorities may use a dynamic

purchasing system.

(2) Before the authority responsible for the tendering process

makes use of the Dynamic Purchasing system it must obtain the

written consent of the Director.

(3) The dynamic purchasing system shall be operated as a

completely electronic process, and shall be open throughout the

period of validity of the purchasing system to any economic operator

that satisfies the selection criteria.

(4) It may be divided into categories of products, works or

services that are objectively defined on the basis of characteristics of

the procurement to be undertaken under the category concerned. Such

characteristics may include reference to the maximum allowable size

of the subsequent specific contracts or to a specific geographic area in

which subsequent specific contracts will be performed.

(1) In order to procure under a dynamic purchasing Applicable

system, the authorities responsible for the tendering process shall rules.

follow the rules of the restricted procedure as applicable.

(2) All the candidates satisfying the selection criteria shall be

admitted to the system, and the number of candidates to be admitted

to the system shall not be limited in accordance with regulation 237.

Where contracting authorities have divided the system into categories

of products, works or services in accordance with regulation 174(3),

they shall specify the applicable selection criteria for each category.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of regulations 118 to 122

(a)

the minimum time limit for receipt of requests to

participate shall be thirty days from the date on which the

contract notice is sent to the Publication Office of the European

Union or from when the call for competition is published as the

case maybe. No further time limits for receipt of requests to

participate shall apply once the invitation to tender for the first

specific procurement under the dynamic purchasing system has

been sent;

(b) the minimum time limit for receipt of tenders shall

be at least ten days from the date on which the invitation to

tender is sent and regulation 121(2) and (3) shall not apply.

All communications in the context of a dynamic

purchasing system shall only be made by electronic means in

accordance with regulation 48(1) to (6), (8), (10), (11) and (12).

(1) For the purposes of awarding contracts under a

dynamic purchasing system, the authorities responsible for the

tendering process shall

(a)

publish a call for competition making it clear that a

dynamic purchasing system is involved;

(b) indicate in the procurement documents at least the

nature and estimated quantity of the purchases envisaged, as

well as all the necessary information concerning the dynamic

purchasing system, including how the dynamic purchasing

system operates, the electronic equipment used and the

technical connection arrangements and specifications;

(c)

indicate any division into categories of products,

works or services and the characteristics defining them;

(d) offer unrestricted and full direct access, as long as

the system is valid, to the procurement documents in conformity

with regulation 49.

(2) The authorities responsible for the tendering process shall

give any economic operator, throughout the entire period of validity

of the dynamic purchasing system, the possibility of requesting to

participate in the system under the conditions referred to in regulation

175. (3) Contracting authorities shall finalise their assessment of

the requests identified under sub-regulation (2) in accordance with

the selection criteria within ten working days following their receipt.

(4) The deadline established in sub-regulation (3) may be

prolonged to fifteen working days in individual cases where justified,

in particular because of the need to examine additional documentation

or to otherwise verify whether the selection criteria are met.

(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulations (2), (3)

and (4), as long as the invitation to tender for the first specific

procurement under the dynamic purchasing system has not been sent,

the authorities responsible for the tendering process may extend the

evaluation period provided that no invitation to tender is issued

during the extended evaluation period. The authorities responsible for

the tendering process shall indicate in the procurement documents the

length of the extended period that they intend to apply.

(6) The authorities responsible for the tendering process shall

inform the economic operator concerned at the earliest possible

opportunity of whether or not it has been admitted to the dynamic

purchasing system.

(7) The authorities responsible for the tendering process shall

invite all admitted participants to submit a tender for each specific

procurement under the dynamic purchasing system, in accordance

with regulation 50. Where the dynamic purchasing system has been

divided into categories of works, products or services, the authorities

responsible for the tendering process shall invite all participants

having been admitted to the category corresponding to the specific

procurement concerned to submit a tender.

(8) They shall award the contract to the tenderer that

submitted the best tender on the basis of the award criteria set out in

the contract notice for the dynamic purchasing system. Those criteria

may, where appropriate, be formulated more precisely in the

invitation to tender.

(1) The authorities responsible for the tendering process Updated self-

may, at any time during the period of validity of the dynamic declarations.

purchasing system, require admitted participants to submit a renewed

and updated self-declaration as provided for in regulations 225, 226

and 227, within five working days from the date on which that request

is transmitted.

(2) The provisions of regulation 229 shall apply throughout

the entire period of validity of the dynamic purchasing system.

The authorities responsible for the tendering process shall Period of

indicate the period of validity of the dynamic purchasing system in validity.

the call for competition. They shall notify the Commission of any

change in the period of validity, using the following standard forms

(a)

where the period of validity is changed without

terminating the system, the form used initially for the call for

competition for the dynamic purchasing system;

(b) where the system is terminated, a contract award

notice referred to in regulation 43.

No charges may be billed prior to or during the period of

validity of the dynamic purchasing system to the economic operators

interested in or party to the dynamic purchasing system.

Electronic Auctions

(1) The authorities responsible for the tendering process

may use electronic auctions, in which new prices, revised

downwards, and, or new values concerning certain elements of

tenders are presented.

(2) Before the authority responsible for the tendering process

makes use of the electronic auctions it must obtain the written

permission of the Director.

(1) The electronic auction shall be structured as a

repetitive electronic process, which occurs after an initial full

evaluation of the tenders, enabling them to be ranked using automatic

evaluation methods.

(2) Certain public service contracts and certain public works

contracts having as their subject-matter intellectual performances,

such as the design of works, which cannot be ranked using automatic

evaluation methods, shall not be the object of electronic auctions.

(1) In open or restricted procedures or competitive

procedures with negotiation with an estimated value falling under

regulation 9(1)(b), the authorities responsible for the tendering

process may decide that the award of a public contract shall be

preceded by an electronic auction when the content of the

procurement documents, in particular the technical specifications, can

be established with precision.

(2) In the same circumstances, an electronic auction may be

held on the reopening of competition among the parties to a

framework agreement as provided for in regulation 173(2)(b) or (c)

and on the opening for competition of contracts to be awarded under

the dynamic purchasing system.

The electronic auction shall be based on one of the

following elements of the tenders

(a)

solely on prices where the contract is awarded on the

basis of price only;

(b) on prices and, or on the new values of the features of

the tenders indicated in the procurement documents where the

contract is awarded on the basis of the best price-quality ratio or

to the tender with the lowest cost using a cost-effectiveness

approach.

The authorities responsible for the tendering process which Disclosure.

decide to hold an electronic auction shall state that fact in the contract

notice or in the invitation to confirm interest as the case maybe. The

procurement documents shall include at least the information set out

in Schedule 10.

Before proceeding with an electronic auction, contracting Initial

authorities shall make a full initial evaluation of the tenders in evaluation.

accordance with the award criterion or criteria and with the weighting

fixed for them.

(1) A tender shall be considered admissible where it has Admissibility of

been submitted by a tenderer, who has not been excluded pursuant to tenders.

Part VI and who meets the selection criteria, and whose tender is in

conformity with the technical specifications without being irregular

or unacceptable or unsuitable.

(2) In particular, tenders which do not comply with the

procurement documents, which were received late, where there is

evidence of collusion or corruption, or which have been found by the

contracting authority to be abnormally low, shall be considered as

being irregular. In particular tenders submitted by tenderers that do

not have the required qualifications, and tenders whose price exceeds

the contracting authority’s budget as determined and documented

prior to the launching of the procurement procedure shall be

considered as unacceptable.

(3) A tender shall be considered not to be suitable where it is

irrelevant to the contract, being manifestly incapable, without

substantial changes, of meeting the contracting authority’s needs and

requirements as specified in the procurement documents. A request

for participation shall be considered not to be suitable where the

economic operator concerned is to be or may be excluded pursuant to

Part VI or does not meet the selection criteria set out by the

contracting authority pursuant to regulation 217.

(1) All tenderers that have submitted admissible tenders Invitation of

shall be invited simultaneously to participate in the electronic auction admissible

tenders.

using, as of the specified date and time, the connections in accordance

with the instructions set out in the invitation. The electronic auction

may take place in a number of successive phases. The electronic

auction shall not start sooner than two working days after the date on

which invitations are sent out.

(2) The invitation shall be accompanied by the outcome of a

full evaluation of the relevant tender, carried out in accordance with

the weighting provided for in regulation 239(7).

(3) The invitation shall also state the mathematical formula to

be used in the electronic auction to determine the automatic re-

rankings on the basis of the new prices and, or new values submitted.

Except where the most economically advantageous offer is identified

on the basis of price alone, that formula shall incorporate the

weighting of all the criteria established to determine the most

economically advantageous tender, as indicated in the notice used as a

means of calling for competition or in other procurement documents.

For that purpose, any ranges shall, however, be reduced beforehand to

a specified value.

(4) Where variants are authorised, a separate formula shall be

provided for each variant.

Throughout each phase of an electronic auction the

authorities responsible for the tendering process shall instantaneously

communicate to all tenderers at least sufficient information to enable

them to ascertain their relative rankings at any moment. They may,

where this has been previously indicated, communicate other

information concerning other prices or values submitted. They may

also at any time announce the number of participants in that phase of

the auction. In no case, however, may they disclose the identities of

the tenderers during any phase of an electronic auction.

(1) The authorities responsible for the tendering process

shall close an electronic auction in one or more of the following

manners

(a)

at the previously indicated date and time;

(b) when they receive no more new prices or new values

which meet the requirements concerning minimum differences,

provided that they have previously stated the time which they

will allow to elapse after receiving the last submission before

they close the electronic auction; or

(c)

when the previously indicated number of phases in

the auction has been completed.

(2) Where the authorities responsible for the tendering process

intend to close an electronic auction in accordance with sub-

regulation (1)(c) possibly in combination with the arrangements laid

down in sub-regulation (1)(b), the invitation to take part in the

auction shall indicate the timetable for each phase of the auction.

(3) After closing an electronic auction the authorities

responsible for the tendering process shall award the contract in

accordance with the provisions of regulation 239 on the basis of the

results of the electronic auction.

Part VI

Exclusion and Black Listing of Economic Operators

General Prohibition

(1) No economic operator or sub-contractor shall be Excluded or

given a public contract if he is subject to any of the exclusion or black black

economic

listing grounds mentioned under this Part.

operators.

(2) If, during a procurement process, a sub-contractor is

excluded or black listed, the authority responsible for the tendering

process or the Director shall require that the economic operator

replaces the excluded or black listed subcontractor.

(3) If the economic operator does not replace the sub-

contractor within the time-frame given in writing by the authority

responsible for the tendering process or Director, the tender of that

economic operator shall be automatically excluded from the award.

Exclusion of Economic Operators

(1) The authority responsible for the tendering process Exclusion on

shall exclude an economic operator from participation in a grounds

conviction.

procurement procedure where it has established or is otherwise made

aware that such an economic operator has been the subject of a

conviction by final judgment having the nature of a res judicata for

one of the following reasons

(a)

participation in a criminal organisation, as defined

in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA or

an equivalent offence under Maltese law or as defined in the

national law of the economic operator;

(b) corruption, as defined in Article 3 of the Convention

on the fight against corruption involving officials of the

European Communities or officials of Member States of the

European Union and Article 2(1) of Council Framework

Decision 2003/568/JHA or an equivalent offence under Maltese

law or as defined in the national law of the economic operator;

(c)

fraud within the meaning of Article 1 of the

Convention on the protection of the European Communities’

financial interests or an equivalent offence under Maltese law or

as defined in the national law of the economic operator;

(d) terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist

activities, as defined in Articles 1 and 3 of Council Framework

Decision 2002/475/JHA respectively, or inciting or aiding or

abetting or attempting to commit an offence, as referred to in

Article 4 of that Framework Decision or an equivalent offence

under Maltese law or as defined in the national law of the

economic operator;

(e)

money laundering or terrorist financing, as defined

in Article 1 of Directive 2005/60/EC of the European

Parliament and of the Council or an equivalent offence under

Maltese law or as defined in the national law of the economic

operator;

(f)

child labour and other forms of trafficking in human

beings as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the

European Parliament and of the Council or an equivalent

offence under Maltese law or as defined in the national law of

the economic operator.

(2) The exclusion of the economic operator shall also operate

and apply where the person convicted by final judgment is a member

of the administrative, management or supervisory body of that

economic operator or has powers of representation, decision or

control therein.

(3) Without prejudice to the possibility mentioned in

regulation 195, the period of exclusion for the grounds identified

under this regulation shall be of five years starting from the date when

the judgment has become final.

(1) An economic operator shall likewise be excluded

from participation in a procurement procedure where the authority

responsible for the tendering process is aware that the economic

operator is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes

or social security contributions and where this has been established

by a local or foreign judicial or administrative decision having final

and binding effect.

(2) The authorities responsible for the tendering process are

also entitled to exclude an economic operator from participation in a

procurement procedure if they can demonstrate by any appropriate

means that the economic operator is in breach of its obligations

relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions, even

in the absence of a local or foreign judicial or administrative decision.

(3) The term ‘appropriate means’ under this regulation

includes any certificate, declaration or documentation issued by a

competent entity which demonstrate that the economic operator is in

breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes and, or

social security contributions.

(4) The exclusion mentioned under this regulation shall no

longer apply if the economic operator fulfils his obligations by paying

or by entering into a binding arrangement with a view to paying the

taxes or social security contributions due, including, where

applicable, any interest accrued or fines.

A contract shall also not be awarded to an economic Other grounds

of exclusion.

operator who, during the procurement procedure for that contract

(a)

is bankrupt or is the subject of insolvency or

winding-up proceedings, where its assets are being administered

by a liquidator or by the court, where it is in an arrangement

with creditors, where its business activities are suspended or it

is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure

under national laws and regulations;

(b) is subject to a conflict of interests as referred to

under the definition in regulation 2 which cannot be effectively

remedied by other less intrusive measures;

(c)

has been involved in the preparation of the

procurement procedure, unless such an exclusion cannot be

remedied by other, less intrusive measures.

(1) An economic operator that is in one of the situations Removal of

referred to in regulations 192 and 194 may provide, in his offer or bid, exclusion.

evidence to the effect that he took sufficient measures to demonstrate

his reliability despite the existence of a relevant ground for exclusion.

If such evidence at evaluation stage is considered as sufficient by the

authority responsible for the tendering process, the economic operator

concerned shall not be excluded from the procurement procedure.

(2) The economic operator shall be deemed to have shown his

reliability if he proves that he has paid or undertaken to pay

compensation in respect of any damage caused by the criminal

offence or misconduct, clarified the facts and circumstances in a

comprehensive manner by actively collaborating with the

investigating authorities and taken concrete technical, organisational

and personnel measures that are appropriate to prevent further

criminal offences or misconduct.

(3) The measures taken by the economic operators shall be

evaluated taking into account the gravity and particular circumstances

of the criminal offence or misconduct. Where the measures are

considered to be insufficient, the economic operator shall receive a

statement of the reasons for that decision.

(4) The economic operator shall not be entitled to make use of

the possibility to remove the exclusion as provided in this regulation

if the period of exclusion from participating in procurement award

procedures has been established by a final judgment.

The authority responsible for the tendering process shall

exclude economic operators at any time during the procedure leading

to the award of the contract when it transpires out that the economic

operator is, in view of acts committed or omitted either before or

during the procedure, in one of the situations referred to in

regulations 192, 193 and 194.

On an exceptional basis only, the authority responsible for

the tendering process may with the prior approval in writing of the

Minister dispense from any exclusion mentioned under this Part for

overriding reasons relating to the public interest.

Any economic operator who feels aggrieved by a decision

to exclude him from participating in a procurement procedure may

file an objection before the Public Contracts Review Board in the

same manner as provided for in regulation 270.

Black Listing by the Director

The Director is empowered to black list an economic

operator from participating in a procurement procedure where

(a)

the economic operator has been declared guilty by

any court or tribunal of an offence relating to labour law

including those found in the Employment and Industrial

Relations Act or any subsidiary legislation made under that Act;

or

(b) the economic operator has been convicted of an

offence concerning his professional conduct by a judgment

which has the force of res judicata in accordance with the laws

of Malta, which renders its integrity questionable; or

(c)

the Director has sufficiently plausible indications to

conclude that the economic operator has entered into

agreements with other economic operators aimed at distorting

competition; or

(d) the Director has been informed in writing by a

contracting authority that an economic operator has shown

significant or persistent deficiencies in the performance of a

substantive requirement in a public contract, or a public

concession contract, which led to early termination of that

contract, damages or other comparable sanctions; or

(e)

the economic operator has been declared guilty by

any court or tribunal of serious misrepresentation in supplying

the information required for the verification of the absence of

grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of the selection criteria,

has withheld such information or is not able to submit the

supporting documents required pursuant to regulation 226;

(f)

the economic operator has undertaken to unduly

influence the decision-making process of the contracting

authority, to obtain confidential information that may confer

upon it undue advantages in the procurement procedure or to

negligently provide misleading information that may have a

material influence on decisions concerning exclusion, selection

or award.

The Director shall inform the economic operator in Disclosure of

question of his decision to black list him by means of a registered the decision.

letter detailing the appropriate grounds.

(1) Any economic operator who feels aggrieved by such Remedy

a decision may file an objection before the Commercial Sanctions available

economic

Tribunal as provided in regulation 205.

operator.

(2) In default of an objection by the economic operator the

decision of the Director shall be final and the black listing period

shall be effective for two years from the date of the decision. In the

event of an objection, the decision to black list shall become final

from the date when the objection has been finally decided by the

Commercial Sanctions Tribunal or the Court of Appeal, as the case

may be.

(1) An economic operator may, before the Commercial Defence.

Sanctions Tribunal, use as a defence against his black listing, the

argument that he has taken measures that are sufficient to demonstrate

his reliability despite the existence of a relevant ground for black

listing. If such evidence is considered as sufficient, the economic

operator concerned shall not be black listed from the procurement

procedure.

(2) The economic operator shall prove that he has paid or

undertaken to pay compensation in respect of any damage caused by

the criminal offence or misconduct, clarified the facts and

circumstances in a comprehensive manner by actively collaborating

with the investigating authorities and taken concrete technical,

organisational and personnel measures that are appropriate to prevent

further criminal offences or misconduct.

(3) The measures taken by the economic operators shall be

evaluated by the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal taking into account

the gravity and particular circumstances of the criminal offence or

misconduct. Where the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal shall deem

the measures as insufficient, it will include the reasons for such a

decision in its judgment.

(1) An economic operator which has been black listed

by a final judgment from participating in procurement procedures

shall not be entitled to make use of the possibility provided for under

regulation 202 during the period of exclusion resulting from that

judgment.

(2) Once the economic operator has been black listed he shall

be excluded from the award of any public contract or any contract,

quotation or direct-contract for the period of his black listing.

The economic operator who has been informed by the

Director that he will be black listed can file an appeal before the

Commercial Sanctions Tribunal.

(1) The appeal shall be filed within ten days from the

date in which the registered letter identified under regulation 200

shall be notified to the appellant.

(2) The appeal shall be valid only if accompanied by a deposit

of four hundred euro (€400).

(3) The Secretary of the Tribunal shall immediately serve a

copy of the appeal to the Director thereby informing the latter that an

appeal had been filed.

(4) The appeal shall also be affixed to the notice-board of the

Tribunal.

(5) The Director may, within ten days from the day on which

the appeal is notified to him, file a written reply. The reply shall also

be affixed to the notice-board of the Tribunal.

(6) The Director shall forward to the chairman of the Tribunal

all documentation pertaining to the black listing of the appellant.

(7) The tribunal shall then set a date for the oral hearing.

(8) When the oral hearing is concluded, the Tribunal, if it does

not deliver the decision on the same day, shall reserve decision for the

earliest possible date to be fixed for the purpose, but not later than six

weeks from the day in which the written pleadings are deemed to be

closed

Provided that for serious and justified reasons expressed in

writing by means of an order notified to all the parties, the Tribunal

may postpone the judgment for a later period.

(9) The secretary of the board shall keep a record of the

grounds of each adjournment and of everything done in each sitting.

Black Listing by the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations

(1) The Director of Employment and Industrial Black listing

Relations shall request the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal to black due

employment

list a person, whether natural or legal, from participating in conditions.

procedures for the award of public contracts if such person

(a)

has failed to provide his employees with a written

contract of service; or

(b) has failed to provide his employees with a detailed

pay slip containing all relevant details including amount paid,

normal hours worked, overtime hours, hours worked on

Sundays and public holidays, hours availed of a leave or sick

leave, a breakdown of bonuses and allowances as well as

deductions made; or

(c)

has failed to deposit wages or salaries by direct

payment in the employee’s bank account; or

(d) has failed to provide the relevant bank statements of

wages and salaries’ deposit and copies of the detailed payslips,

which are to be made available as and when required by the

Director of Employment and Industrial Relations; or

(e)

has subcontracted a public contract to another

person employing the same employees of the principal

contractor to carry out the same or similar duties for the

execution of the said public contract.

(2) When the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations

requests to black list a legal person, apart from the legal person, he

may also request the black listing of natural persons who represent

that legal person.

It shall be the function of the Director of Employment and

Industrial Relations to ensure that the conditions mentioned in

regulation 206 are observed by all persons.

With regards to instances provided for under regulation

206, the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations shall

proceed for the black listing of a person before the Commercial

Sanctions Tribunal by means of an application.

(1) The application shall contain a statement of the facts

and the grounds of the cause for black listing. It shall also contain a

detailed report on the findings of the investigations carried out by the

Director of Employment and Industrial Relations or a copy of the

decision given by the Court.

(2) The application and all the documents supporting the

application shall be served on the defendant by registered mail, who

shall have twenty days to file a reply. The reply shall be accompanied

by a deposit of four hundred euro (€400) payable to the Secretary of

the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal and shall contain all

documentation in support of the reply.

(3) The defendant shall cause a copy of the reply to be served

on the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations.

(4) The written pleadings shall be deemed to be closed upon

the expiration of the time referred to in sub-regulation (3).

(1) After the expiry of the time allowed for the written

pleadings, the Secretary of the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal shall

immediately notify the Director of Employment and Industrial

Relations and the defendant of the date on which the first hearing will

be held. The first sitting shall be appointed within fifteen days from

the date the written pleadings have been closed.

(2) When the hearing is concluded, the Commercial Sanctions

Tribunal, if it does not deliver decision on the same day, shall reserve

decision for the earliest possible date to be fixed for the purpose, but

not later than four months from the date when the written pleadings

are deemed to be closed

Provided that, for serious and justified reasons expressed

in writing by means of an order notified to all the parties, the

Commercial Sanctions Tribunal may postpone the judgment to a later

period.

After evaluating all the evidence and after considering all Evaluation.

submissions put forward by the parties, the Commercial Sanctions

Tribunal shall decide whether to accede or reject to the request made

by the Director of Employment and Industrial Relations for the black

listing of the defendant

Provided that the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal may,

after considering measures taken by the defendant to remedy the

situation and after taking into account the gravity and particular

circumstances of the misconduct, decide to deliver a warning to the

defendant, instead of black listing the defendant.

If the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal decides for the black Black listing

listing of the defendant, the black listing period shall be between six period.

months and one year

Provided that where the defendant repeats the misconduct

the black listing period shall be between one and three years.

In its decision the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal shall Decision.

recommend as to whether any deposit, or part thereof, submitted by

defendant should be refunded.

The final decision of the Commercial Sanctions Tribunal Appeal.

may be appealed before the Court of Appeal and such process shall be

regulated mutatis mutandis as provided in regulations 284, 285, 286,

288 and 290.

(1) The effects of black listing shall commence on the Effects of black

lapse of two months from the day when the decision of the black listing.

listing has become final.

(2) All existing contracts signed by the central government

authority, contracting authorities and bodies governed by public law

with persons who have been black listed in terms of regulation 207

shall be terminated ipso jure without any compensation for actual and

future losses from the date on which the decision regarding the black

listing becomes final.

Offences

Any person who enters into a contract, whether in his own Offences.

name or on behalf of others, in contravention of any of the provisions

of this Part, and any person who induces any other person to enter

into or appear on any such contract as aforesaid or the making

thereof, or who aids or abets any of the aforesaid acts, shall be guilty

of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine (multa) not

exceeding two thousand euro (€2,000).

Part VII

Choice of participants and award of contracts

Selection Criteria

(1)

Selection criteria may relate to

(a)

suitability to pursue the professional activity;

(b)

economic and financial standing;

(c)

technical and professional ability.

(2) Contracting authorities may only impose criteria referred

to under this regulation on economic operators as requirements for

participation. Any of the requirements imposed shall be limited to

those that are appropriate to ensure that a candidate or tenderer has

the legal and financial capacities and the technical and professional

abilities to perform the contract to be awarded. All requirements shall

be related and proportionate to the subject-matter of the contract.

(3) As to the suitability to pursue the professional activity,

contracting authorities may require economic operators to be enrolled

in one of the professional or trade registers, as described in Annex XI

of Directive 2014/24/EU.

(4) In procurement procedures for services, in so far as

economic operators have to possess a particular authorisation or to be

members of a particular organisation in order to be able to perform in

their country of origin the service concerned, the contracting

authority may require them to prove that they hold such authorisation

or membership.

As to economic and financial standing, contracting

authorities may impose requirements ensuring that economic

operators possess the necessary economic and financial capacity to

perform the contract. For that purpose, contracting authorities may

require, in particular, that economic operators have a certain

minimum yearly turnover, including a certain minimum turnover in

the area covered by the contract. In addition, contracting authorities

may require that economic operators provide information on their

annual accounts showing the ratios, for instance, between assets and

liabilities. They may also require an appropriate level of professional

risk indemnity insurance.

(1) The minimum yearly turnover that economic Minimum

operators are required to have shall not exceed two times the yearly turnover.

estimated contract value, except in duly justified cases such as

relating to the special risks attached to the nature of the works,

services or supplies. The contracting authority shall indicate the main

reasons for such a requirement in the procurement documents or the

individual report referred to in regulations 113 or 241, as the case

may be.

(2) The ratio, for instance, between assets and liabilities may

be taken into consideration where the contracting authority specifies

the methods and criteria for such consideration in the procurement

documents. Such methods and criteria shall be transparent, objective

and non-discriminatory.

Where a procurement document including a tender is Contract

divided into lots, regulations 217 to 224 shall apply in relation to each divided in lots.

individual lot. However, the contracting authority may set the

minimum yearly turnover that economic operators are required to

have by reference to groups of lots in the event that the successful

tenderer is awarded several lots to be executed at the same time.

Where contracts based on a framework agreement are to be Framework

awarded following a reopening of competition, the maximum yearly agreements.

turnover requirement referred to in regulation 219(1) shall be

calculated on the basis of the expected maximum size of specific

contracts that will be performed at the same time, or, where it is not

known, on the basis of the estimated value of the framework

agreement. In the case of dynamic purchasing systems, the maximum

yearly turnover requirement referred to in regulation 219(1) shall be

calculated on the basis of the expected maximum size of specific

contracts to be awarded under that system.

(1) As to technical and professional ability, contracting Technical and

authorities may impose requirements ensuring that economic professional

ability.

operators possess the necessary human and technical resources and

experience to perform the contract to an appropriate quality standard.

(2) Contracting authorities may require, in particular, that

economic operators have a sufficient level of experience

demonstrated by suitable references from contracts performed in the

past. A contracting authority may assume that an economic operator

does not possess the required professional abilities where the

contracting authority has established that the economic operator has

conflicting interests which may negatively affect the performance of

the contract.

In procurement procedures for supplies requiring siting or

installation work, services or works, the professional ability of

economic operators to provide the service or to execute the

installation or the work may be evaluated with regard to their skills,

efficiency, experience and reliability.

Contracting authorities shall indicate the required

conditions of participation which may be expressed as minimum

levels of ability, together with the appropriate means of proof, in the

contract notice or in the invitation to confirm interest.

(1) At the time of submission of requests to participate

or of tenders, both having an estimated value which falls under

regulation 9(1)(b), contracting authorities shall accept the European

Single Procurement Document (ESPD), consisting of an updated self-

declaration as preliminary evidence in replacement of certificates

issued by public authorities or third parties confirming that the

relevant economic operator fulfils the following conditions

(a)

it is not in one of the situations referred to in Part VI

in which economic operators shall or may be excluded;

(b) it meets the relevant selection criteria that have been

set out pursuant to regulation 217;

(c)

where applicable, it fulfils the objective rules and

criteria that have been set out pursuant to regulation 237.

(2) Where the economic operator relies on the capacities of

other entities pursuant to regulation 235, the ESPD shall also contain

the information referred to in sub-regulation (1)(a) in respect of such

entities.

(1) The ESPD shall consist of a formal statement by the

economic operator that the relevant ground for exclusion does not

apply and, or that the relevant selection criterion is fulfilled and shall

provide the relevant information as required by the contracting

authority. The ESPD shall further identify the public authority or third

party responsible for establishing the supporting documents and

contain a formal statement to the effect that the economic operator

will be able, upon request and without delay, to provide those

supporting documents.

(2) Where the contracting authority can obtain the supporting

documents directly by accessing a database pursuant to regulation

229(3), the EPSD shall also contain the information required for this

purpose, such as the internet address of the database, any

identification data and, where applicable, the necessary declaration of

consent.

Economic operators may re-use an ESPD which has Re-use.

already been used in a previous procurement procedure, provided that

they confirm that the information contained therein continues to be

correct.

The ESPD shall be drawn up on the basis of a standard Form.

form and shall be provided exclusively in electronic form.

(1) A contracting authority may ask tenderers and Further

candidates at any moment during the procedure to submit all or part documents.

of the supporting documents where this is necessary to ensure the

proper conduct of the procedure.

(2) Before awarding the contract, the contracting authority

shall, except in respect of contracts based on framework agreements

where such contracts are concluded in accordance with regulations

172 and 173, require the tenderer to which it has decided to award the

contract to submit up-to-date supporting documents in accordance

with regulations 230, 231 and 232 as applicable and, where

appropriate, regulation 235. The contracting authority may invite

economic operators to supplement or clarify the certificates received

pursuant to regulations 230 to 234.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulations (1) and

(2), economic operators shall not be required to submit supporting

documents or other documentary evidence where and in so far as the

contracting authority has the possibility of obtaining the certificates

or the relevant information directly by accessing a national database

in any Member State that is available free of charge, such as a

national procurement register, a virtual company dossier, an

electronic document storage system or a pre-qualification system.

(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulations (1) and

(2), economic operators shall not be required to submit supporting

documents where the contracting authority, having awarded the

contract or concluded the framework agreement, already possesses

these documents.

(1) Contracting authorities may require the certificates, Means of proof

statements and other means of proof referred to in this regulation as related

exclusion and

well as regulations 231 and 232 as evidence for the absence of black

economic

grounds for exclusion as referred to in Part VI and for the fulfilment operators.

of the selection criteria in accordance with regulation 217.

(2) Contracting authorities shall not require means of proof

other than those referred to in this regulation and regulations 231, 232

and 234. In respect of regulation 235, economic operators may rely on

any appropriate means to prove to the contracting authority that they

will have the necessary resources at their disposal.

(3) Contracting authorities shall accept the following as

sufficient evidence that none of the cases specified in regulations 192,

193, 194 and 199 apply to the economic operator

(a)

as regards regulation 192, the production of an

extract from the relevant register, such as judicial records or,

failing that, of an equivalent document issued by a competent

judicial or administrative authority in the Member State or

country of origin or the country where the economic operator is

established showing that those requirements have been met;

(b) as regards regulations 193 and 194(a), a certificate

issued by the competent authority in the Member State or

country concerned.

(4) Where the Member State or country in question does not

issue the documents or certificates referred to in sub-regulation (3), or

where these do not cover all the cases specified in regulations 192,

193 and 194(a), they may be replaced by a declaration on oath or, in

Member States or countries where there is no provision for

declarations on oath, by a solemn declaration made by the person

concerned before a competent judicial or administrative authority, a

notary or a competent professional or trade body, in the Member State

or country of origin or in the Member State or country where the

economic operator is established.

(5) The Director shall, where relevant, provide an official

declaration stating that the documents or certificates referred to in this

sub-regulation are not issued or that they do not cover all the cases

specified in regulations 192, 193 and 194(a). Such official

declarations shall be made available through the online repository of

certificates (e-Certis).

(1) Proof of the economic operator’s economic and

financial standing may, as a general rule, be provided by one or more

of the following

(a)

appropriate statements from banks or, where

appropriate, evidence of relevant professional risk indemnity

insurance;

(b) the presentation of financial statements or extracts

from the financial statements, where publication of financial

statements is required under the law of the country in which the

economic operator is established;

(c)

a statement of the undertaking’s overall turnover

and, where appropriate, of turnover in the area covered by the

contract for a maximum of the last three financial years

available, depending on the date on which the undertaking was

set up or the economic operator started trading, as far as the

information on these turnovers is available.

(2) Where, for any valid reason, the economic operator is

unable to provide the references requested by the contracting

authority, it may prove its economic and financial standing by any

other document which the contracting authority considers

appropriate.

Evidence of the economic operators’ technical abilities Means of proof

may be provided by one or more of the following means, in for

abilities.

accordance with the nature, quantity or importance, and use of the

works, supplies or services

(a)

by means of the following lists

(i) a list of the works carried out, at most, over

the past five years, accompanied by certificates of

satisfactory execution and outcome for the most important

works; where necessary in order to ensure an adequate

level of competition, contracting authorities may indicate

that evidence of relevant works carried out more than five

years before will be taken into account;

(ii) a list of the principal deliveries effected or the

main services provided over, at the most, the past three

years, with the sums, dates and recipients, whether public

or private, involved. Where necessary in order to ensure an

adequate level of competition, contracting authorities may

indicate that evidence of relevant supplies or services

delivered or performed more than three years before will

be taken into account;

(b) an indication of the technicians or technical bodies

involved, whether or not belonging directly to the economic

operator’s undertaking, especially those responsible for quality

control and, in the case of public works contracts, those upon

whom the contractor can call in order to carry out the work;

(c)

a description of the technical facilities and measures

used by the economic operator for ensuring quality and the

undertaking’s study and research facilities;

(d) an indication of the supply chain management and

tracking systems that the economic operator will be able to

apply when performing the contract;

(e)

where the products or services to be supplied are

complex or, exceptionally, are required for a special purpose, a

check carried out by the contracting authorities or on their

behalf by a competent official body of the country in which the

supplier or service provider is established, subject to that body’s

agreement, on the production capacities of the supplier or the

technical capacity of the service provider and, where necessary,

on the means of study and research which are available to it and

the quality control measures it will operate;

(f)

the educational and professional qualifications of

the service provider or contractor or those of the undertaking’s

managerial staff, provided that they are not evaluated as an

award criterion;

(g) an indication of the environmental management

measures that the economic operator will be able to apply when

performing the contract;

(h) a statement of the average annual manpower of the

service provider or contractor and the number of managerial

staff for the last three years;

(i)

a statement of the tools, plant or technical

equipment available to the service provider or contractor for

carrying out the contract;

(j)

an indication of the proportion of the contract which

the economic operator intends possibly to subcontract;

(k)

with regard to the products to be supplied

(i) samples, descriptions or photographs, the

authenticity of which must be certified where the

contracting authority so requests;

(ii) certificates drawn up by official quality

control institutes or agencies of recognised competence

attesting the conformity of products clearly identified by

references to technical specifications or standards.

(1) With a view to facilitating cross-border tendering,

the Government of Malta shall ensure that the information concerning

certificates and other forms of documentary evidence introduced in e-

Certis established by the Commission is constantly kept up-to-date.

(2) Contracting authorities shall have recourse to e-Certis and

shall require primarily such types of certificates or forms of

documentary evidence that are covered by e-Certis.

(1) Contracting authorities shall, where they require the Quality

production of certificates drawn up by independent bodies attesting assurance

standards and

that the economic operator complies with certain quality assurance environmental

management

standards, including on accessibility for disabled persons, refer to standards.

quality assurance systems based on the relevant European standards

series certified by accredited bodies. They shall recognise equivalent

certificates from bodies established in other Member States. They

shall also accept other evidence of equivalent quality assurance

measures where the economic operator concerned had no possibility

of obtaining such certificates within the relevant time limits for

reasons that are not attributable to that economic operator provided

that the economic operator proves that the proposed quality assurance

measures comply with the required quality assurance standards.

(2) Where contracting authorities require the production of

certificates drawn up by independent bodies attesting that the

economic operator complies with certain environmental management

systems or standards, they shall refer to the Eco-Management and

Audit Scheme (EMAS) of the Union or to other environmental

management systems as recognised in accordance with Article 45 of

Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 or other environmental management

standards based on the relevant European or international standards

by accredited bodies. They shall recognise equivalent certificates

from bodies established in other Member States.

(3) Where an economic operator had demonstrably no access

to the certificates mentioned in sub-regulation (2), or no possibility of

obtaining them within the relevant time limits for reasons that are not

attributable to that economic operator, the contracting authority shall

also accept other evidence of environmental management measures,

provided that the economic operator proves that these measures are

equivalent to those required under the applicable environmental

management system or standard.

(1) With regard to criteria relating to economic and Reliance on the

financial standing as set out pursuant to regulations 218 to 221, and to capacities

other entities.

criteria relating to technical and professional ability as set out

pursuant to regulations 222 and 223, an economic operator may,

where appropriate and for a particular contract, rely on the capacities

of other entities, regardless of the legal nature of the links which it

has with them. With regard to criteria relating to the educational and

professional qualifications as set out in regulation 232(f), or to the

relevant professional experience, economic operators may however

only rely on the capacities of other entities where the latter will

perform the works or services for which these capacities are required.

Where an economic operator wants to rely on the capacities of other

entities, it shall prove to the contracting authority that it will have at

its disposal the resources necessary, for example, by producing a

commitment by those entities to that effect.

(2) The contracting authority shall, in accordance with

regulations 225 to 233, verify whether the entities on whose capacity

the economic operator intends to rely, fulfils the relevant selection

criteria and whether he falls under any ground established under Part

VI. The contracting authority shall require that the economic operator

replaces an entity which does not meet a relevant selection criterion,

or in respect of which there are grounds for exclusion or has been

black listed under Part VI.

(3) Where an economic operator relies on the capacities of

other entities with regard to criteria relating to economic and financial

standing, the contracting authority may require that the economic

operator and those entities be jointly liable for the execution of the

contract.

(4) Under the same conditions, a group of economic operators

as referred to in regulation 58 may rely on the capacities of

participants in the group or of other entities.

(5) In the case of works contracts, service contracts and siting

or installation operations in the context of a supply contract,

contracting authorities may require that certain critical tasks be

performed directly by the tenderer itself or, where the tender is

submitted by a group of economic operators as referred to in

regulation 58, by a participant in that group.

The Minister shall have the authority to establish

regulations for drawing up of official lists of approved economic

operators and certification by bodies established under public or

private law.

Reduction of numbers of candidates, tenders and solutions

(1) In restricted procedures, competitive procedures

with negotiation, competitive dialogue procedures and innovation

partnerships, with an estimated value which falls under regulation

9(1)(b), contracting authorities may limit the number of candidates

meeting the selection criteria that they will invite to tender or to

conduct a dialogue, provided the minimum number, in accordance

with sub-regulation (2), of qualified candidates is available.

(2) The contracting authorities shall indicate, in the contract

notice or in the invitation to confirm interest, the objective and non-

discriminatory criteria or rules they intend to apply, the minimum

number of candidates they intend to invite and, where appropriate, the

maximum number.

(3) In the restricted procedure the minimum number of

candidates shall be five. In the competitive procedure with

negotiation, in the competitive dialogue procedure and in the

innovation partnership the minimum number of candidates shall be

three. In any event the number of candidates invited shall be

sufficient to ensure genuine competition.

(4) The contracting authorities shall invite a number of

candidates at least equal to the minimum number. However, where the

number of candidates meeting the selection criteria and the minimum

levels of ability as referred to in regulation 224 is below the minimum

number, the contracting authority may continue the procedure by

inviting the candidates with the required capabilities. In the context of

the same procedure, the contracting authority shall not include

economic operators that did not request to participate, or candidates

that do not have the required capabilities.

Where contracting authorities exercise the option of Reduction of the

reducing the number of tenders to be negotiated as provided for in number

tenders and

regulation 127(4) or of solutions to be discussed as provided for in solutions.

regulation 146, they shall do so by applying the award criteria stated

in the procurement documents. In the final stage, the number arrived

at shall make for genuine competition in so far as there are enough

tenders, solutions or qualified candidates.

Award of Contract

(1) Without prejudice to regulations or administrative Award criteria.

provisions concerning the price of certain supplies or the

remuneration of certain services, contracting authorities shall base the

award of public contracts on the most economically advantageous

tender.

(2) The most economically advantageous tender from the

point of view of the contracting authority shall be identified on the

basis of the price or cost, using a cost-effectiveness approach, such as

life-cycle costing in accordance with regulation 240, and may include

the best price-quality ratio, which shall be assessed on the basis of

criteria, including qualitative, environmental and, or social aspects,

linked to the subject-matter of the public contract in question. Such

criteria may comprise, for instance

(a)

quality, including technical merit, aesthetic and

functional characteristics, accessibility, design for all users,

social, environmental and innovative characteristics and trading

and its conditions;

(b) organisation, qualification and experience of staff

assigned to performing the contract, where the quality of the

staff assigned can have a significant impact on the level of

performance of the contract; or

(c)

after-sales service and technical assistance, delivery

conditions such as delivery date, delivery process and delivery

period or period of completion.

(3) The cost element may also take the form of a fixed price or

cost on the basis of which economic operators will compete on

quality criteria only.

(4) Award criteria shall be considered to be linked to the

subject-matter of the public contract where they relate to the works,

supplies or services to be provided under that contract in any respect

and at any stage of their life cycle, including factors involved in

(a)

the specific process of production, provision or

trading of those works, supplies or services; or

(b)

a specific process for another stage of their life

cycle.

(5) Award criteria shall be considered to be linked to the

subject-matter of the public contract even where the factors

established in sub-regulation (4) do not form part of their material

substance.

(6) Award criteria shall not have the effect of conferring an

unrestricted freedom of choice on the contracting authority. They

shall ensure the possibility of effective competition and shall be

accompanied by specifications that allow the information provided by

the tenderers to be effectively verified in order to assess how well the

tenders meet the award criteria. In case of doubt, contracting

authorities shall verify effectively the accuracy of the information and

proof provided by the tenderers.

(7) The contracting authority shall specify, in the procurement

documents, the relative weighting which it gives to each of the

criteria chosen to determine the most economically advantageous

tender, except where this is identified on the basis of price alone.

(8) Those weightings may be expressed by providing for a

range with an appropriate maximum spread.

(9) Where weighting is not possible for objective reasons, the

contracting authority shall indicate the criteria in decreasing order of

importance.

(1) Life-cycle costing shall to the extent relevant cover Life-cycle

parts or all of the following costs over the life cycle of a product, costing.

service or works

(a)

costs, borne by the contracting authority or other

users, such as

(i)

costs relating to acquisition;

(ii) costs of use, such as consumption of energy

and other resources;

(iii) maintenance costs;

(iv) end of life costs, such as collection and

recycling costs;

(b) costs imputed to environmental externalities linked

to the product, service or works during its life cycle, provided

their monetary value can be determined and verified; such costs

may include the cost of emissions of greenhouse gases and of

other pollutant emissions and other climate change mitigation

costs.

(2) Where contracting authorities assess the costs using a life-

cycle costing approach, they shall indicate in the procurement

documents the data to be provided by the tenderers and the method

which the contracting authority will use to determine the life-cycle

costs on the basis of those data.

(3) The method used for the assessment of costs imputed to

environmental externalities shall fulfil all of the following conditions

(a)

it is based on objectively verifiable and non-

discriminatory criteria. In particular, where it has not been

established for repeated or continuous application, it shall not

unduly favour or disadvantage certain economic operators;

(b)

it is accessible to all interested parties;

(c)

the data required can be provided with reasonable

effort by normally diligent economic operators, including

economic operators from third countries party to the GPA or

other international agreements by which the Union is bound.

(4) Whenever a common method for the calculation of life-

cycle costs has been made mandatory by a legislative act of the

Union, that common method shall be applied for the assessment of

life-cycle costs.

(5) A list of the common methods of calculation mentioned in

sub-regulation (4) is established in Annex XIII of Directive 2014/24/

EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February

2014 on public procurement.

(1) This regulation shall apply to every contract or

framework agreement covered by these regulations, and every time a

dynamic purchasing system is established, where the estimated value

of such procedures falls under regulation 9(1)(b).

(2) For every contract or framework agreement covered by

these regulations, and every time a dynamic purchasing system is

established, contracting authorities shall draw up a written report

which shall include at least the following

(a)

the name and address of the contracting authority,

the subject-matter and value of the contract, framework

agreement or dynamic purchasing system;

(b) where applicable, the results of the qualitative

selection and, or reduction of numbers pursuant to regulations

237 and 238, namely

(i) the names of the selected candidates or

tenderers and the reasons for their selection;

(ii) the names of the candidates or tenderers

rejected and the reasons for their rejection;

(c)

the reasons for the rejection of tenders found to be

abnormally low;

(d) the name of the successful tenderer and the reasons

why its tender was selected and, where known, the share of the

contract or framework agreement which the successful tenderer

intends to subcontract to third parties; and, where known at this

point in time, the names of the main contractor’s subcontractors,

if any;

(e)

for competitive procedures with negotiations and

competitive dialogues, the circumstances as laid down in

regulations 123 to 127 and 140 to 149 which justify the use of

those procedures;

(f)

for negotiated procedures without prior publication,

the circumstances referred to in regulations 150 to 156 which

justify the use of this procedure;

(g) where applicable, the reasons why the contracting

authority has decided not to award a contract or framework

agreement or to establish a dynamic purchasing system;

(h) where applicable, the reasons why other means of

communication than electronic means have been used for the

submission of tenders;

(i)

where applicable, conflicts of interests detected and

subsequent measures taken.

(3) This report shall not be required in respect of contracts

based on framework agreements where these are concluded in

accordance with regulations 171, 172 or 173(1)(a).

(4) To the extent that the contract award notice drawn up

pursuant to regulation 49 or regulation 163(2) contains the

information required in this regulation, contracting authorities may

refer to that notice.

(5) Contracting authorities shall document the progress of all

procurement procedures, whether or not those are conducted by

electronic means. To that end, they shall ensure that they keep

sufficient documentation to justify decisions taken in all stages of the

procurement procedure, such as documentation on communications

with economic operators and internal deliberations, preparation of the

procurement documents, dialogue or negotiation if any, selection and

award of the contract. The documentation shall be kept for a period of

at least three years from the date of award of the contract.

(6) The report, or its main elements, shall be communicated to

the Commission or the competent authorities, bodies or structures

where they so request.

(1) The authority responsible for the tendering process Informing

shall inform each candidate and tenderer of decisions reached candidates

tenderers.

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,

not to award a contract for which there has been a call for

competition, to recommence the procedure or not to implement a

dynamic purchasing system.

(2) On request from the candidate or tenderer concerned, the

authority responsible for the tendering process shall as quickly as

possible, and in any event within fifteen days from receipt of a

written request, inform

(a)

any unsuccessful candidate of the reasons for the

rejection of its request to participate;

(b) any unsuccessful tenderer of the reasons for the

rejection of its tender, including, for the cases referred to in

regulation 53(9) and (10), 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;

(c)

any tenderer that 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;

(d) any tenderer that has made an admissible tender of

the conduct and progress of negotiations and dialogue with

tenderers;

(e)

any unsuccessful tenderer of his right to appeal a

decision taken pursuant sub-regulation (1).

(3) Contracting authorities may decide to withhold certain

information referred to in sub-regulations (1) and (2), 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 or would otherwise be

contrary to the public interest, would prejudice the legitimate

commercial interests of a particular economic operator, whether

public or private, or might prejudice fair competition between

economic operators.

Abnormally Low Tenders and Variant Solutions

(1) Contracting authorities shall require economic

operators to explain the price or costs proposed in the tender where

tenders appear to be abnormally low in relation to the works, supplies

or services when the estimated value of these falls under regulation

9(1)(b).

(2) The explanations may in particular relate to

(a)

the economics of the manufacturing process, of the

services provided or of the construction method;

(b) the technical solutions chosen or any exceptionally

favourable conditions available to the tenderer for the supply of

the products or services or for the execution of the work;

(c)

the originality of the work, supplies or services

proposed by the tenderer;

(d) compliance with

obligations

established

in

regulations 13(m) and 16(k);

(e)

compliance with obligations referred to in regulation

60;

(f)

the possibility of the tenderer obtaining State aid.

(3) Failure by the economic operator to send his explanations

within the written time-frame imposed by the contracting authority,

shall be deemed as acceptance from the economic operator that his

tender is abnormally low.

(4) The contracting authority shall assess the information

provided by consulting the tenderer. It may only reject the tender

where the evidence supplied does not satisfactorily account for the

low level of price or costs proposed, taking into account the elements

referred to in sub-regulation (2).

(5) Contracting authorities shall reject the tender, where they

have established that the tender is abnormally low because it does not

comply with applicable obligations referred to in regulation 13(m)

and 16(k).

(6) Where a contracting authority establishes that a tender is

abnormally low because the tenderer has obtained State aid, the

tender may be rejected on that ground alone only after consultation

with the tenderer where the latter is unable to prove, within a

sufficient time limit fixed by the contracting authority, that the aid in

question was compatible with the internal market within the meaning

of Article 107 of the TFEU. Where the contracting authority rejects a

tender in those circumstances, it shall inform the Commission

thereof.

(1) For tenders having an estimated value which falls Variants.

under the provisions of regulation 9(1)(b), contracting authorities

may authorise or require tenderers to submit variants. They shall

indicate in the contract notice whether or not they authorise or require

variants. Variants shall not be authorised without such indication and

shall be linked to the subject-matter of the contract.

(2) Contracting authorities authorising or requiring variants

shall state in the procurement documents the minimum requirements

to be met by the variants and any specific requirements for their

presentation, in particular whether variants may be submitted only

where a tender, which is not a variant, has also been submitted. They

shall also ensure that the chosen award criteria can be applied to

variants meeting those minimum requirements as well as to

conforming tenders which are not variants.

(3) Only variants meeting the minimum requirements laid

down by the contracting authorities shall be taken into consideration.

(4) In procedures for awarding public supply or service

contracts, contracting authorities that have authorised or required

variants shall not reject a variant on the sole ground that it would,

where successful, lead to either a service contract rather than a public

supply contract or a supply contract rather than a public service

contract.

Part VIII

Performance of Contracts

Contract Performance and Modifications

Contracting authorities may lay down conditions relating

to the performance of a contract, provided that they are linked to the

subject-matter of the contract within the meaning of regulation 239(4)

and (5) and indicated in the call for competition or in the procurement

documents. Those conditions may include economic, innovation-

related, environmental, social or employment-related considerations.

(1) For tenders with an estimated value which falls

within regulation 9(1)(b) and upon the prior approval of the Director

a contracting authority can order modifications to the contract or

framework agreement without a new procurement procedure, in any

of the following cases

(a)

where the modifications, irrespective of their

monetary value, have been provided for in the initial

procurement documents in clear, precise and unequivocal

review clauses, which may include price revision clauses, or

options. Such clauses shall state the scope and nature of

possible modifications or options as well as the conditions

under which they may be used. They shall not provide for

modifications or options that would alter the overall nature of

the contract or the framework agreement;

(b) for additional works, services or supplies by the

original contractor that have become necessary and that were

not included in the initial procurement where a change of

contractor

(i) cannot be made for economic or technical

reasons such as requirements of interchangeability or

interoperability with existing equipment, services or

installations procured under the initial procurement; and

(ii) would cause significant inconvenience or

substantial duplication of costs for the contracting

authority

Provided that, any increase in price shall not exceed

50% of the value of the original contract;

(c)

where all of the following conditions are fulfilled

(i) the need for modification has been brought

about by circumstances which a diligent contracting

authority could not foresee;

(ii) the modification does not alter the overall

nature of the contract;

(iii) any increase in price is not higher than 50%

of the value of the original contract or framework

agreement;

(d) where a new contractor replaces the one to which

the contracting authority had initially awarded the contract as a

consequence of either

(i) an unequivocal review clause or option in

conformity with paragraph (a); or

(ii) universal or partial succession into the

position of the initial contractor, following corporate

restructuring, including takeover, merger, acquisition or

insolvency, of another economic operator that fulfils the

criteria for qualitative selection initially established

provided that this does not entail other substantial

modifications to the contract and is not aimed at

circumventing the application of these regulations; or

(iii) in the event that the contracting authority

itself assumes the main contractor’s obligations towards its

subcontractors;

(e)

where the modifications, irrespective of their value,

are not substantial within the meaning of sub-regulation (5).

(2) The Director or the contracting authorities having

modified a contract in the cases set out under paragraphs (b) and (c)

of sub-regulation (1) shall publish a notice to that effect in the

Official Journal of the European Union. Such notice shall contain the

information set out in Schedule 9 part G and shall be published in

accordance with regulation 43.

(3) Without any need to verify whether the conditions set out

under paragraphs (a) to (d) of sub-regulation (5) are met or ask for the

approval of the Director, contracts may equally be modified without a

new procurement procedure in accordance with these regulations

being necessary where the value of the modification is below both of

the following values

(a)

the thresholds set out in Schedule 5; and

(b) 10% of the initial contract value for service and

supply contracts and 15% of the initial contract value for works

contracts

Provided that the modification may not alter the overall

nature of the contract or framework agreement. Where several

successive modifications are made, the value shall be assessed on the

basis of the net cumulative value of the successive modifications.

(4) For the purpose of the calculation of the price mentioned in

sub-regulations (3) and (1)(b) and (c), the updated price shall be the

reference value when the contract includes an indexation clause.

(5) A modification of a contract or a framework agreement

during its term shall be considered to be substantial within the

meaning of sub-regulation (1)(e), where it renders the contract or the

framework agreement materially different in character from the one

initially concluded. In any event, without prejudice to the provisions

of sub-regulations (1) and (3), a modification shall be considered to

be substantial where one or more of the following conditions is met

(a)

the modification introduces conditions which, had

they been part of the initial procurement procedure, would have

allowed for the admission of candidates other than those

initially selected or for the acceptance of a tender other than that

originally accepted or would have attracted additional

participants in the procurement procedure;

(b) the modification changes the economic balance of

the contract or the framework agreement in favour of the

contractor in a manner which was not provided for in the initial

contract or framework agreement;

(c)

the modification extends the scope of the contract or

framework agreement considerably;

(d) where a new contractor replaces the one to which

the contracting authority had initially awarded the contract in

cases other than those provided for under sub-regulation (1)(d).

(6) A new procurement procedure in accordance with these

regulations shall be required for other modifications of the provisions

of a public contract or a framework agreement during its term than

those provided for under sub-regulation (1) and (3).

(1) When a modification, repetition of works or services Approval of

or additional deliveries are requested of a tender with an estimated modifications.

value which falls under regulation 9(1)(b) and which cumulatively are

to exceed the amounts established under Schedule 5 and also the 10%

of the initial contract value for contracts or services and supplies or

exceed the 15% of the initial contract value for works as the case may

be, the contracting authority shall seek the approval of the Director

which shall precede the commencement of the modification.

(2) In exceptional circumstances where the urgent nature of

the modification to be carried out is such that the contracting

authority cannot request the approval of the Director provided for

under sub-regulation (1), the contracting authority may proceed with

the modification subject that it adheres to the conditions mentioned in

these regulations and acquires from the Director at least a preliminary

permission.

(3) The contracting authority shall, within a time-frame

specified by the Director, furnish the latter with all the relevant

information as indicated in regulation 248 and failure to do so will

lead to the automatic revocation of the preliminary permission as well

as to the consequences mentioned in these regulations.

(4) Following the submission of the request in terms of

regulation 248, the Director will review the information submitted

and shall give his approval only if the modification carried out

respects the conditions in regulation 246.

(1) Requests for modifications of a tender with an

estimated value which falls under regulation 9(1)(b) shall be

submitted to the Director only by contracting authorities.

(2) In its request for approval the contracting authority shall

provide the following

(a)

the reasons which brought about the need for this

modification;

(b) the effect on the total cost of the tender and any

effect on the recurrent expenditure that will ensue;

(c)

the time-frame expected for the execution of the

modification;

(d) the written consent of the contractor to carry out the

modification;

(e)

the legal basis for such a request whether it is being

made under regulation 246 or regulations 151, 152, 153 or 154.

In granting or refusing such a request for modification, the

Director shall assess whether the request is one that is allowed under

these regulations. The Director shall establish under which regulation

this modification is being approved and where possible he must

determine the procedure to be followed in future by the contracting

authority in order to avoid the necessity of modifications.

The Director is to keep a full record of modification

requests, including the name of the contractor involved and details of

the documents specified in regulation 248.

When a modification is carried out without seeking the

prior approval of the Director, the Director cannot be requested to

give a retroeffective approval of the modification and thus shall

abstain from taking any cognisance of it. The responsibility of this

unapproved modification shall vest in the head of that contracting

authority in accordance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

If the Director refuses to give his approval for a request for

modification, the contracting authority shall execute the contract as

issued in the procurement documents

Provided that where this is not possible the contract is to be

terminated and a fresh procurement process be carried out in line with

what is established under these regulations.

The decision of the Director relating to the refusal of a Decision of the

modification is final and cannot be contested by the contracting Director is final.

authority in a court or tribunal.

Any modification carried out against the expressed refusal Unlawful

of the Director shall be deemed to be founded on an unlawful modifications.

consideration and the contractor shall have no right for compensation

with respect to that modification unless he shows that he was unaware

of the refusal of the Director.

Following a request by the Director, the Attorney General Action to

on behalf of the Government may institute civil proceedings in a recoup

payments.

court of law for the restoration of payments received by a contractor

in bad faith in relation to modifications which have been prohibited

by the Director. Such action shall not be subject to any prescriptive

period.

A contractor shall desist from executing a modification Duty on

which requires the approval of the Director unless the contracting contractors.

authority provides him with a written confirmation of the said

approval. If the contractor carries out the modification nonetheless,

he shall be deemed to have acted in bad faith and thus he shall not be

entitled to any compensation with respect to that modification, so

long as such modification was not approved by the Director or when

the contracting authority proceeded with the modification without

seeking the prior approval of the Director. Any payments received by

the contractor in this regard may be restored in the same manner as

provided in regulation 255.

When approving a modification, the Director must indicate Financial rate of

the financial rate or any sum which should be paid by the contracting the

modification.

authority in respect of that modification and the time-frame when

such modification should be executed.

(1) Disputes between the contracting authority and the Disputes on

contractor on whether a particular task forms part of the contract or modifications.

else constitutes a modification to the original contract shall not delay

or suspend the continuation of contract, however the contractor shall

have the right to assert his claim against the contracting authority to

receive additional payment for that task if it results that it does not

form part of the original contract.

(2) Such action for additional compensation by the contractor

shall be barred by prescription on the lapse of two years to be

reckoned from the day when the contractor becomes aware or could

have become aware of that task.

A contractor cannot claim any increase whatsoever in price Increase in

prices.

of commodities to be used in a public contract unless otherwise

provided in the procurement document.

(1) Contracting authorities falling under Schedule 3

shall obtain the prior approval of the head of their contracting

authority instead of that of the Director when carrying out a

16. modification.

(2) Contracting authorities falling under Schedule 16 must, as

long as the call for tenders has been published by the Ministerial

Procurement Unit, obtain the prior approval of their Permanent

Secretary instead of that of the Director when carrying out

modifications.

Termination of Contacts

(1) Contracting authorities inter alia can terminate any

contract during its term, where

(a)

the contract has been subject to a substantial

modification, which would have required a new procurement

procedure pursuant to regulation 246;

(b) the contractor has, at the time of contract award,

been in one of the situations referred to in regulation 192 and

should therefore have been excluded from the procurement

procedure;

(c)

the contract should not have been awarded to the

contractor in view of a serious infringement of the obligations

under the Treaties and Directive 2014/24/EU of the European

Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public

procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC that has been

declared by the Court of Justice of the European Union in a

procedure pursuant to Article 258 of the TFEU;

(d) the contractor fails to discharge any obligation

which he has contracted.

(2) If the contracting authority has no valid reason for the

termination, it is to compensate the contractor for all his expenses and

work and to pay him a sum to be fixed by the court, according to

circumstances, but not exceeding the profits which the contractor

could have made by the contract.

(3) If the contracting authority has valid reason for the

termination, it is to pay the contractor only such sum which shall not

exceed the actual proven expenses and work of the contractor.

(4) Any payment made in advance to the contractor before the

termination of the contract shall be applied to the sums due in terms

of sub-regulations (2) or (3) and the contractor shall return any

resulting excess to the contracting authority.

(5) The contract shall be immediately terminated when the

contracting authority informs the contractor, by any means

whatsoever, of its decision to terminate the contract, and this without

the need of any authorization or confirmation by any court or board.

(6) Contracting authorities listed under Schedule 16 must, in

so far as the call for tenders has been published by the Ministerial

Procurement Unit, obtain the approval of their Permanent Secretary

before terminating a contract.

(7) (a)

The Director has the right to issue a decision

terminating any contract or agreement that could have been reached

or signed with a contractor if it transpires that the award of that

contract has been made in breach of these regulations or else by

discriminating between economic operators.

(b) The decision leading to the termination of the

contract in accordance with this sub-regulation must be made in

writing and must include the findings and the reasons.

(c)

A copy of this decision must be delivered to the

contractor, who has the right to contest it by filing a compliant before

the Review Board as explained under regulation 283.

(d) The termination of the contract will remain

suspended as long as the time limit for the submission of the

complaint in front of the Review Board or the Court of Appeal lapses

and during the duration of these same procedures.

(e)

A contractor shall have no right to be compensated

for the actual loss or loss of profits, where the decision to terminate

the contract is confirmed, with the exception that the contractor will

have the right to receive compensation he deserves for the work that

he demonstrates to have carried out.

Part IX

Remedies

Remedies before Closing Date of a Call for Competition

Prospective candidates and tenderers may, prior to the Remedies

closing date of a call for competition, file a reasoned application before

date of a call for

before the Public Contracts Review Board

competition.

(a)

to set aside or ensure the setting aside of decisions

including clauses contained in the procurement document and

clarification notes taken unlawfully at this stage or which are

proven to be impossible to perform; or

(b) to determine issues relating to the submission of an

offer through the government’s e-procurement platform; or

(c)

to remove discriminatory technical, economic or

financial specifications which are present in the call for

competition, in the contract documents, in clarifications notes or

in any other document relating to the contract award procedure;

or

(d) to correct errors or to remove ambiguities of a

particular term or clause included in a call for competition, in

the contract documents, in clarifications notes or in any other

document relating to the contract award procedure; or

(e)

to cancel the call for competition on the basis that

the call for competition is in violation of any law or is likely to

violate a particular law if it is continued.

(1) The application by the complainant shall be affixed

on the notice board of the Public Contracts Review Board and shall

also be published on the website of the same board.

(2) The Public Contracts Review Board shall notify the

contracting authority and, or the Director about this request.

(3) It shall be the responsibility of the prospective candidates

or tenderers to visit the website of the Public Contracts Review Board

and be aware of the latest information published online.

The contracting authority and any interested party may,

within five days from the date when the application is uploaded on

the website of the Public Contracts Review Board, file a written reply.

Such replies shall also be affixed to the notice board of the Review

Board and uploaded online.

The Public Contracts Review Board shall decide the

application with urgency after hearing the parties, provided that not

more than one sitting may be fixed for such purpose. The final

decision of the Public Contracts Review Board may be appealed by

the aggrieved party before the Court of Appeal as provided in

regulations 284, 285, 286, 288 and 290.

Pending the decision of the Public Contracts Review Board

the process of the call for tenders shall be suspended.

In its final decision the Public Contracts Review Board New deadline

must always establish the new deadline for the submission of tenders. for

submission of

tenders.

The contracting authority shall abide by the decision of the Implementation.

Public Contracts Review Board in the shortest time possible and

where the contracting authority fails to implement the decision of the

Public Contracts Review Board the latter may report the matter to the

Minister responsible for that contracting authority.

Any application filed in terms of this Part shall be without Charges for this

type of

any charge.

application.

Appeals from decisions taken after the closing date

for the submissions of an offer

Where the estaimated value of the public contract meets or Appeals from

exceeds five thousand euro (€5,000) any tenderer or candidate decisions

after the closing

concerned, or any person, having or having had an interest or who has date

submissions of

been harmed or risks being harmed by an alleged infringement or by an offer.

any decision taken including a proposed award in obtaining a

contract, a rejection of a tender or a cancellation of a call for tender

after the lapse of the publication period, may file an appeal by means

of an objection before the Public Contracts Review Board, which

shall contain in a very clear manner the reasons for their complaints.

The objection shall be filed within ten calendar days Filing of the

following the date on which the contracting authority or the authority application.

responsible for the tendering process has by fax or other electronic

means sent its proposed award decision or the rejection of a tender or

the cancellation of the call for tenders after the lapse of the

publication period.

The communication to each tenderer or candidate Communication

concerned of the proposed award or of the cancellation of the call for to

or candidate.

tenders shall be accompanied by a summary of the relevant reasons

relating to the rejection of the tender as set out in regulation 242 or

the reasons why the call for tenders is being cancelled after the lapse

of the publication period, and by a precise statement of the exact

standstill period.

The objection shall only be valid if accompanied by a Deposit.

deposit equivalent to 0.50 per cent of the estimated value set by the

contracting authority of the whole tender or if the tender is divided

into lots according to the estimated value of the tender set by the

contracting authority for each lot submitted by the tenderer, provided

that in no case shall the deposit be less than four hundred euro (€400)

or more than fifty thousand euro (€50,000) which may be refunded as

the Public Contracts Review Board may decide in its decision.

The Secretary of the Public Contracts Review Board shall

immediately notify the Director, the Ministerial Procurement Unit

and, or the contracting authority, as the case may be, that an objection

had been filed with his authority thereby immediately suspending the

award procedure.

The Department of Contracts, the Ministerial Procurement

Unit or the contracting authority involved, as the case may be, shall

be precluded from concluding the contract during the period of ten

calendar days allowed for the submission of appeals. The award

process shall be completely suspended if an appeal is eventually

submitted.

The procedure to be followed in submitting and

determining appeals as well as the conditions under which such

appeals may be filed shall be the following

(a)

any decision by the General Contracts Committee,

the Ministerial Procurement Unit or the Special Contracts

Committee or by the contracting authority, shall be made public

by affixing it to the notice-board of the Department of

Contracts, the Ministerial Procurement Unit or of the office of

the contracting authority, as the case may be, or by uploading it

on government’s e-procurement platform prior to the award of

the contract if the call for tenders is administered by the

Department of Contracts;

(b) the appeal of the complainant shall also be affixed to

the notice-board of the Public Contracts Review Board and shall

be communicated by fax or by other electronic means to all

participating tenderers;

(c)

the contracting authority and any interested party

may, within ten calendar days from the day on which the appeal

is affixed to the notice board of the Review Board and uploaded

where applicable on the government’s e-procurement platform,

file a written reply to the appeal. These replies shall also be

affixed to the notice board of the Review Board and where

applicable they shall also be uploaded on the government’s e-

procurement platform;

(d) the authority responsible for the tendering process

shall within ten days forward to the chairman of the Public

Contracts Review Board all documentation pertaining to the call

for tenders in question including files and tenders submitted;

(e)

the secretary of the Review Board shall inform all

the participants of the call for tenders, the Department of

Contracts, the Ministerial Procurement Unit and the contracting

authority of the date or dates, as the case may be, when the

appeal will be heard;

(f)

when the oral hearing is concluded, the Public

Contracts Review Board, if it does not deliver the decision on

the same day, shall reserve decision for the earliest possible date

to be fixed for the purpose, but not later than six weeks from the

day of the oral hearing

Provided that for serious and justified reasons

expressed in writing by means of an order notified to all the

parties, the Public Contracts Review Board may postpone the

judgment for a later period;

(g) the secretary of the Review Board shall keep a

record of the grounds of each adjournment and of everything

done in each sitting;

(h) after evaluating all the evidence and after

considering all submissions put forward by the parties, the

Public Contracts Review Board shall decide whether to accede

or reject the appeal or even cancel the call if it appears to it that

this is best in the circumstances of the case.

Ineffectiveness of a contract

(1) An interested party or a tenderer may file an Ineffectiveness

application before the Public Contracts Review Board to declare that of a contract.

a contract with an estimated value which meets or exceeds the

threshold established under Schedule 5 is ineffective.

(2) An interested party may only request the Public Contracts

Review Board to declare a signed contract ineffective if the authority

responsible for the tendering process has awarded a contract without

prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the

European Union without this being permissible in accordance with

Directive 2014/23/EC, Directive 2014/24/EC and Directive 2014/25/

(3) Any tenderer may also request the Public Contracts

Review Board to declare a contract ineffective in the following two

instances

(a)

when, notwithstanding an appeal is lodged before

the Public Contracts Review Board, the authority responsible

for the tendering process concludes the contract before a final

decision is given by the Public Contracts Review Board; or

(b) when the contract is concluded by a contracting

authority or the authority responsible for the tendering process

before the expiry of the period for the filing of an appeal as

provided for in regulation 271.

(4) The provisions of sub-regulation (2) shall not apply where

(a)

the authority responsible for the tendering process or

the contracting authority considers that the award of a contract

without prior publication of a contract notice in the Official

Journal of the European Union is permissible in accordance

with Directive 2014/24/EC and Directive 2014/25/EC;

(b) the authority responsible for the tendering process or

the contracting authority has published in the Official Journal of

the European Union a notice as described in Article 3a of

Directive 89/665 or Article 3a of Directive 92/13 expressing its

intention to conclude the contract, and;

(c)

the contract has not been concluded before the

expiry of a period of at least ten calendar days with effect from

the day following the date of the publication of this notice.

(5) An interested party or a bidder cannot proceed before a

court or tribunal to challenge an award or a lack of award of a call for

tender processed according to these regulations and they cannot ask

for damages unless they have first resorted to all the remedies

afforded under these regulations.

Apart from the declaration for the ineffectiveness of a

contract the applicant may request the Public Contracts Review Board

to liquidate and order the authority responsible for the tendering

process and the contracting authority to compensate him for actual

damages suffered.

The application must be served to the authority responsible

for the tendering process, the contracting authority and to all

signatories of the contract sought to be declared ineffective, who shall

have twenty days to file a reply.

(1) If the Public Contracts Review Board declares a

contract to be ineffective, it shall impose penalties on the authority

responsible for the tendering process and the contracting authority

after assessing in its decision all relevant factors, including the

seriousness of the infringement and the behaviour of those

authorities.

(2) The Public Contracts Review Board may not consider a

contract ineffective, even though it has been awarded illegally, on the

grounds mentioned in regulation 277, if the Public Contracts Review

Board finds, after having examined all relevant aspects, that the

overriding reasons relating to a general interest require that the effects

of the contract shall be maintained.

The penalties imposed by the Public Contracts Review Penalties.

Board shall consist of

(a)

the imposition of fines on the authority responsible

for the tendering process and the contracting authority or the

central government authority, as the case may be, in the amount

of fifteen per cent of the tender value but not exceeding fifty

thousand euro (€50,000); or

(b)

the shortening of the duration of the contract

Provided that the award of damages prescribed in

regulation 278 shall not be considered as an appropriate alternative

penalty for the purposes of this regulation.

Applications for the ineffectiveness of a contract shall be Admissibility of

applications.

deemed admissible if they are made

(a)

before the expiry of at least thirty calendar days with

effect from the day following the date on which

(i) the authority responsible for the tendering

process or the contracting authority published a contract

award notice, provided that this notice includes

justification of the decision to award the contract without

prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal

of the European Union; or

(ii) the authority responsible for the tendering

process or the contracting authority informed the tenderers

and candidates concerned of the signing of the contract;

and

(b) in any other case before the expiry of a period of at

least six months with effect from the day following the date of

the signing of the contract.

(1) When the Director issues a decision cancelling a Appeal from

contract or an agreement according to regulation 261(7) he has to adecision

cancelling a

contract.

deliver this decision to the contractor affected by the cancellation.

The contractor shall have ten days from the notification of this

decision to file a motivated objection before of the Review Board.

(2) This objection is valid only if accompanied by a deposit of

four hundred euro (€400), which deposit can be forfeited or may be

refunded in whole or in part according to the decision taken by the

Review Board in its decision.

(3) The Secretary of the Review Board shall immediately

notify the Director that an objection had been filed with his authority,

thereby immediately suspending the decision cancelling the contract.

(4) The filed objection shall be affixed to the notice-board of

the Review Board.

(5) The Director has the right to file a written reply to the

objection within ten days from the date he is notified with a copy of

the objection, which reply is also to be affixed on the notice board of

the Review Board.

(6) The secretary of the Review Board shall inform all

interested parties of the date or dates, as the case may be, when the

objection will be heard.

(7) When the oral hearing is concluded, the Public Contracts

Review Board, if it does not deliver the decision on the same day,

shall reserve decision for the earliest possible date to be fixed for the

purpose, but not later than six weeks from the day of the oral hearing

Provided that for serious and justified reasons expressed in

writing by means of an order notified to all the parties, the Review

Board may postpone the judgment for a later period.

(8) The Secretary of the Review Board shall keep a record of

the grounds of each adjournment and of everything done in each

sitting.

(9) After evaluating all the evidence and after considering all

submissions put forward by the parties, the Review Board shall

decide whether to accede, reject the appeal on the cancellation of the

contract.

(10) Any decision taken in terms of this regulation is subject to

an appeal before the Court of Appeal according to the time-frames

and obligations established under these regulations.

Court of Appeal

Any party who feels aggrieved by a decision taken by the Appeal to the

Review Board may appeal to the Court of Appeal as constituted in Court

Appeal.

accordance with article 41(1) of the Code of Organization and Civil Cap. 12.

Procedure by means of an application filed in the registry of that court

within twenty calendar days from the date on which that decision has

been made public.

The appeal application shall be addressed against the Parties to the

authority responsible for the tendering process, the contracting appeal.

authority, the recommended tenderer, if any, and any other party

involved in the proceedings before the Public Contracts Review

Board, who may file a written reply within twenty days from the date

of service

Provided that if the appellant fails to try to serve the appeal

application on all the parties above-mentioned within two weeks of

the filing of the appeal, the Court, after hearing during the first sitting

of the appeal the reasons why service was not effected, may declare

by means of a decree delivered in open court that the appeal is

deserted with expenses to be borne by the appellant.

(1) The Court of Appeal shall set down the cause for Hearing.

hearing at an early date, in no case later than two months from the

date on which the appeal is brought before it and shall cause notice of

such date to be given to the parties to the suit who, on their part, shall

assume the responsibility to visit the court registry and be aware of

the latest information regarding the appointment for the hearing of the

case.

(2) After appointing the application for hearing, and after

listening to the oral submissions made by all parties, the Court shall

decide the application on its merits, within the shortest time possible

but not any later than four months from the day when the appeal had

been filed and the parties have been duly notified. Pending the

decision of the Court the process of the call for tenders shall be

suspended.

(3) In its decision the court has the power to cancel the

tendering process if it appears to it that this is the best solution in the

circumstances of the case; in this case no party will have the right to

request damages because of the decision cancelling the call.

The Department of Contracts and a contracting authority Appeal by the

may only refer a matter to the Court of Appeal in relation to a Director

contracting

decision taken by the Review Board relating to the ineffectiveness of authority.

a contract or the award of damages.

If, during the hearing of the appeal, the Court finds that the

application is frivolous and vexatious, the Court may impose on the

party so guilty a penalty, to be paid to the contracting authority, of

between one thousand euro (€1,000) and five thousand euro (€5,000).

(1) The Court vacations mentioned in Court Practice

and Procedure and Good Order Rules shall not hold back the hearing

of the appeals filed under these regulations, during the court

vacations.

(2) In any case the Court may, for serious and necessary

reasons, by means of a decree, extend for a reasonable period the

judicial time limits that are imposed on it according to these

regulations.

No application for a re-trial from a decision of the Court of

Appeal may be made if, after the final decision has been given, the

public contract has been signed between the contracting authority and

the recommended tenderer and no request for the suspension of the

execution of the decision has been made.

Part X

Revocation

These regulations revoke the Public Procurement

Regulations, 2010, without prejudice to anything done or omitted to

be done thereunder.

2010. Schedule 1

List of contracting authorities

Office of the Prime Minister/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department

of Corporate Services

Ministry for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral

Manifesto/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate

Services

Ministry for Foreign Affairs/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department

of Corporate Services

Ministry for Education and Employment/Permanent Secretary’s Office/

Operations Department

Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure/Permanent Secretary’s Office/

Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for Gozo/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of

Corporate Services

Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties/

Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Business/Permanent

Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for Finance/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of

Corporate Services

Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity/Permanent Secretary’s

Office/Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government/Permanent

Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for Tourism/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of

Corporate Services

Ministry for Home Affairs and National Security/Permanent Secretary’s

Office/Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate

Change/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate

Services

Ministry for Competitiveness and Digital, Maritime and Services

Economy/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate

Services

Ministry for Health/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of

Corporate Services

Malta Standards Authority

Broadcasting Authority

Centre for Development, Research and Training

Internal Audit and Investigations Directorate

EuroMedITI Ltd

Armed Forces of Malta

Industrial Projects and Services Ltd

Public Service Commission

Government Printing Press

Electoral Office

Mediterranean Academy for Diplomatic Studies

International Institute on Ageing

Planning and Priorities Co-ordination Division

Funds and Programme Division

Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA)

Malta Communications Authority

Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation p.l.c.

Malta Government Technology Investments Limited (MGTIL)

Transport Malta

Paying Agency

Malta Resources Authority/Regulator for Energy and Water Services

Building and Engineering

•

Construction and Maintenance

•

EU Affairs Department

•

Cleansing and Maintenance Department

•

Building Construction Industry Department

•

Financial Management Department

•

Project Design and Implementation Department

•

Agriculture and Fisheries Regulation Department

•

Strategy and Support Division

•

Services Division

•

Building Industry Consultative Council

•

Manufacturing and Services

•

Fisheries Control

•

Food and Veterinary Services

•

Oil Exploration

•

WasteServ Malta Ltd.

•

Rural Development and Aquaculture

•

European Union Programmes Agency

•

National Archives

•

Department of Regulatory Compliance

•

Directorate for EU and International Affairs

•

Examinations

•

Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools

•

Foundation for Educational Services

•

Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti

•

Institute for Tourism Studies

•

Junior College

•

Jobsplus

•

Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology

•

National Commission for Higher Education

•

Maltese National Commission for UNESCO

•

SportMalta

•

Malta Libraries

•

Public Broadcasting Services Ltd.

•

University of Malta

•

Malta Council for Science and Technology

•

Lotteries and Gaming Authority

•

Malta Statistics Authority

•

Malta Financial Services Authority

•

Malta Stock Exchange

•

Customs Department

•

Contracts Department

•

Lotteries Department

•

Inland Revenue Department

•

Treasury Department

•

Economic Policy Division

•

VAT Division

•

Gozo Channel (Operations) Ltd.

•

Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit

•

Enemalta p.l.c.

•

Water Services Corporation

•

Malta Air Traffic Services Ltd. (MATS)

•

Malta Enterprise

•

Malta Industrial Parks Ltd.

•

MGI/MIMCOL

•

Tax Compliance Unit

•

Collective Bargaining Unit

•

Privatisation Unit

•

Capital Transfer Duty

•

Local Government Department

•

Police Department

•

Local Councils

•

Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS)

•

Civil Protection

•

Civil Registration

•

Public Registry

•

Land Registry

•

Correctional Services

•

Elderly and Community Care

•

Occupational Health and Safety Authority

•

National Blood Transfusion Centre

•

Foundation for Medical Services

•

Health

•

Mater Dei Hospital

•

Mount Carmel Hospital

•

Zammit Clapp Hospital

Malta Tourism Authority

Environment and Resources Authority

Planning Authority

Mediterranean Conference Centre

St James Cavalier Creativity Centre

Hertitage Malta

National Council for Culture and the Arts

National Orchestra Ltd

Superintendence of Cultural Heritage

Manoel Theatre

Aċċess

Appoġġ

Attorney General

Identity Malta

National Employment Authority

Housing Authority

Malta Arbitration Centre

Foundation for Social Welfare Services

Benefit Fraud and Investigations

Judicial

Welfare Committee

Data Protection Commission

Commission on Domestic Violence

Commission for the Promotion of Equality for Men and Women

National Commission on the abuse of drugs, alcohol and other

dependencies

National Commission for Persons with Disability

National Commission for the Family

Malta Council for Economic and Social Development

Industrial and Employment Relations

Sapport

Sedqa

Social Security

Social Welfare Standards

Office of the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations

Office of the Commissioner for Children.

Medicines Authority

Cooperatives Board

Consumer and Competitive Division

Commerce Division

Malta National Laboratory

Notary to Government

Government Property Division

Joint Office

Projects Malta Ltd

Central Procurement Supplies Unit

Employment Commission

Aġenzija Żgħażagħ

National Literacy Agency

Institute for Education

Schedule 2

Contracting Authorities falling within the competence

of the Department of Contracts

Office of the Prime Minister/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department

of Corporate Services

Ministry for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral

Manifesto/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate

Services

Ministry for Foreign Affairs/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department

of Corporate Services

Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure/Permanent Secretary’s Office/

Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for Gozo/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of

Corporate Services

Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties/

Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Business/Permanent

Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for Finance/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of

Corporate Services

Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity/Permanent Secretary’s

Office/Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government/Permanent

Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate Services

Ministry for Tourism/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of

Corporate Services

Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate

Change/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate

Services

Ministry for Competitiveness and Digital, Maritime and Services

Economy/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of Corporate

Services

Ministry for Health/Permanent Secretary’s Office/Department of

Corporate Services

•

Malta Standards Authority

•

Broadcasting Authority

•

Centre for Development, Research and Training

•

Internal Audit and Investigations Directorate

•

Industrial Projects and Services Ltd

•

Information

•

Public Service Commission

•

Government Printing Press

•

Electoral Office

•

Mediterranean Academy for Diplomatic Studies

•

International Institute on Ageing

•

Planning and Priorities Co-ordination Division

•

Funds and Programme Division

•

Malta Communications Authority

•

Transport Malta

•

Paying Agency

•

Malta Resources Authority

•

Building and Engineering

•

Construction and Maintenance

•

EU Affairs Department

•

Cleansing and Maintenance Department

•

Building Construction Industry Department

•

Financial Management Department

•

Project Design and Implementation Department

•

Agriculture and Fisheries Regulation Department

•

Strategy and Support Division

•

Services Division

•

Building Industry Consultative Council

•

Manufacturing and Services

•

Fisheries Control

•

Food and Veterinary Services

•

Oil Exploration

•

WasteServ Malta Ltd.

•

Rural Development and Aquaculture

•

Department of Regulatory Compliance

•

Directorate for EU and International Affairs

•

Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti

•

Institute for Tourism Studies

•

Public Broadcasting Services Ltd.

•

Lotteries and Gaming Authority

•

Malta Statistics Authority

•

Malta Financial Services Authority

•

Malta Stock Exchange

•

Customs Department

•

Contracts Department

•

Lotteries Department

•

Inland Revenue Department

•

Treasury Department

•

Economic Policy Division

•

VAT Division

•

Gozo Channel (Operations) Ltd.

•

Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit

•

Enemalta p.l.c.

•

Water Services Corporation

•

Malta Air Traffic Services Ltd. (MATS)

•

Malta Enterprise

•

Malta Industrial Parks Ltd.

•

Tax Compliance Unit

•

Collective Bargaining Unit

•

Privatisation Unit

•

Capital Transfer Duty

•

Local Government Department

•

Civil Registration

•

Public Registry

•

Land Registry

•

Elderly and Community Care

•

Occupational Health and Safety Authority

•

National Blood Transfusion Centre

•

Foundation for Medical Services

•

Health

•

Mater Dei Hospital

•

Mount Carmel Hospital

•

Zammit Clapp Hospital

•

Malta Tourism Authority

•

Environment and Resources Authority

Planning Authority

Mediterranean Conference Centre

St James Cavalier Creativity Centre

Hertitage Malta

National Council for Culture and the Arts

National Orchestra Ltd

Superintendence of Cultural Heritage

Manoel Theatre

Aċċess

Appoġġ

Attorney General

Identity Malta

Housing Authority

Malta Arbitration Centre

Foundation for Social Welfare Services

Benefit Fraud and Investigations

Judicial

Welfare Committee

Data Protection Commission

Commission on Domestic Violence

Commission for the Promotion of Equality for Men and Women

National Commission on the abuse of drugs, alcohol and other

dependencies

National Commission for Persons with Disability

National Commission for the Family

Malta Council for Economic and Social Development

•

Industrial and Employment Relations

•

Sapport

•

Sedqa

•

Social Security

•

Social Welfare Standards

•

Office of the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations

•

Office of the Commissioner for Children.

•

Medicines Authority

•

Cooperatives Board

•

Consumer and Competitive Division

•

Commerce Division

•

Malta National Laboratory

•

Notary to Government

•

Government Property Division

•

Joint Office

•

Projects Malta Ltd

•

Central Procurement Supplies Unit

Schedule 3

List of Contracting Authorities who shall administer their own public procurement

•

EuroMedITI Ltd.

•

Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation P.L.C.

•

Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA)

•

Malta Government Technology Investments Limited (MGTIL).

•

MGI/MIMCOL

•

Local Councils

Schedule 4

List of Central Purchasing Bodies

•

Department of Contracts

•

Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA)

Schedule 5

Values of thresholds pursuant to regulation 9

The value of the thresholds, net of VAT, applicable to public contracts, is

(a)

EUR 5,225,000 for public works contracts;

(b) EUR 135,000 for public supply and service contracts awarded by

central government authorities and design contests organised by such authorities;

where public supply contracts are awarded by contracting authorities operating in

the field of defence, that threshold shall apply only to contracts concerning

products covered by Schedule 7;

(c) EUR 209,000 for public supply and service contracts awarded by sub-

central contracting authorities and design contests organised by such authorities;

that threshold shall also apply to public supply contracts awarded by central

government authorities that operate in the field of defence, where those contracts

involve products not covered by Schedule 7;

(d) EUR 750,000 for public service contracts for social and other specific

services listed in Schedule 14.

Schedule 6

Central Government Authorities

Department of Contracts

Schedule 7

List of Products referred to in Schedule 5 paragraph (B)

with regard to Contracts awarded by Contracting Authorities

in the field of Defence

This list is to reflect Annex 1 point 3 of the GPA

Salt, sulphur, earths and stone, plastering materials, lime and

cement

Metallic ores, slag and ash

Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation,

bituminous substances, mineral waxes except: ex 27.10: special

engine fuels

Inorganic chemicals, organic and inorganic compounds of

precious metals, of rare-earth metals, of radioactive elements

and of isotopes except: ex 28.09: explosives ex 28.13

explosives ex 28.14: tear gas ex 28.28: explosives ex 28.32

explosives ex 28.39: explosives ex 28.50: toxic products ex

28.51: toxic products ex 28.54: explosives

Organic chemicals except: ex 29.03: explosives ex 29.04

explosives ex 29.07: explosives ex 29.08: explosives ex 29.11

explosives ex 29.12: explosives ex 29.13: toxic products ex

29.14: toxic products ex 29.15: toxic products ex 29.21: toxic

products ex 29.22: toxic products ex 29.23: toxic products ex

29.26: explosives ex 29.27: toxic products ex 29.29: explosives

Pharmaceutical products

Fertilisers

Tanning and dyeing extracts, tannings and their derivatives,

dyes, colours, paints and varnishes, putty, fillers and stoppings,

inks

Essential oils and resinoids, perfumery, cosmetic or toilet

preparations

Soap, organic surface-active agents, washing preparations,

lubricating preparations, artificial waxes, prepared waxes,

polishing and scouring preparations, candles and similar

articles, modelling pastes and ‘dental waxes’

Albuminoidal substances, glues, enzymes

Photographic and cinematographic goods

Miscellaneous chemical products, except: ex 38.19: toxic

products

Artificial resins and plastic materials, celluloses esters and

ethers, articles thereof, except: ex 39.03: explosives

Rubber, synthetic rubber, factice, and articles thereof, except

ex 40.11: bullet-proof tyres

Raw hides and skins (other than fur skins) and leather

Articles of leather, saddlery and harness, travel goods,

handbags and similar containers, articles of animal gut (other

than silk-worm gut)

Fur skins and artificial fur, manufactures thereof

Wood and articles of wood, wood charcoal

Cork and articles of cork

Manufactures of straw of esparto and of other plaiting

materials, basketware and wickerwork

Paper-making material

Paper and paperboard, articles of paper pulp, of paper or of

paperboard

Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the

printing industry, manuscripts, typescripts and plans

Headgear and parts thereof

Umbrellas, sunshades, walking-sticks, whips, riding-crops and

parts thereof

Prepared feathers and down and articles made of feathers or of

down, artificial flowers, articles of human hair

Articles of stone, of plaster, of cement, of asbestos, of mica and

of similar materials

Ceramic products

Glass and glassware

Pearls, precious and semi-precious stones, precious metals,

rolled precious metals, and articles thereof; imitation jewellery

Iron and steel and articles thereof

Copper and articles thereof

Nickel and articles thereof

Aluminium and articles thereof

Magnesium and beryllium and articles thereof

Lead and articles thereof

Zinc and articles thereof

Tin and articles thereof

Other base metals employed in metallurgy and articles thereof

Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons and forks, of base metal,

parts thereof, except: ex 82.05: tools ex 82.07: tools, parts

Miscellaneous articles of base metal

Boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, parts thereof,

except: ex 84.06: engines ex 84.08: other engines ex 84.45

machinery ex 84.53: automatic data-processing machines ex

84.55: parts of machines under heading No 84.53 ex 84.59

nuclear reactors

Electrical machinery and equipment, parts thereof, except: ex

85.13: telecommunication equipment ex 85.15: transmission

apparatus

Railway and tramway locomotives, rolling-stock and parts

thereof, railway and tramway tracks fixtures and fittings, traffic

signalling equipment of all kinds (not electrically powered),

except: ex 86.02: armoured locomotives, electric ex 86.03

other armoured locomotives ex 86.05: armoured wagons ex

86.06: repair wagons ex 86.07: wagons

Vehicles, other than railway or tramway rolling-stock, and parts

thereof, except: ex 87.08: tanks and other armoured vehicles ex

87.01: tractors ex 87.02: military vehicles ex 87.03: breakdown

lorries ex 87.09: motorcycles ex 87.14: trailers

Ships, boats and floating structures, except: ex 89.01A

warships

Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking,

precision, medical and surgical instruments and apparatus, parts

thereof, except: ex 90.05: binoculars ex 90.13: miscellaneous

instruments, lasers ex 90.14: telemeters ex 90.28: electrical and

electronic measuring instruments ex 90.11: microscopes ex

90.17: medical instruments ex 90.18: mechano-therapy

appliances ex 90.19: orthopaedic appliances ex 90.20: X-ray

apparatus

Manufacture of watches and clocks

Musical instruments, sound recorders or reproducers, television

image and sound recorders or reproducers, parts and

accessories of such articles

Furniture and parts thereof, bedding, mattresses, mattress

supports, cushions and similar stuffed furnishings, except: ex

94.01A: aircraft seats

Articles and manufactures of carving or moulding material

Brooms, brushes, powder-puffs and sieves

Miscellaneous manufactured articles

Schedule 8

Requirements relating to Tools and Devices for the Electronic Receipt of Tenders,

Requests for Participation as well as Plans and Projects

in Design Contests

Tools and devices for the electronic receipt of tenders, requests for

participation as well as plans and projects in design contests must at least

guarantee, through technical means and appropriate procedures, that

(a)

the exact time and date of the receipt of tenders, requests to

participate and the submission of plans and projects can be determined

precisely;

(b) it may be reasonably ensured that, before the time limits laid

down, no-one can have access to data transmitted under these requirements;

(c)

only authorised persons may set or change the dates for opening

data received;

(d) during the different stages of the procurement procedure or of the

design contest access to all data submitted, or to part thereof, must be

possible only for authorised persons;

(e)

only authorised persons must give access to data transmitted and

only after the prescribed date;

(f)

data received and opened in accordance with these requirements

must remain accessible only to persons authorised to acquaint themselves

therewith;

(g) where the access prohibitions or conditions referred to under

paragraphs (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) are infringed or there is an attempt to do

so, it may be reasonably ensured that the infringements or attempts are

clearly detectable.

Schedule 9

Information to be included in Notices

Part A

Information to be included in notices of the publication of a prior information

notice on a buyer profile

1. Name, identification number (where provided for in national

legislation), address including NUTS code, telephone, fax number, email and

internet address of the contracting authority and, where different, of the service

from which additional information may be obtained.

2. Type of contracting authority and main activity exercised.

3. Where appropriate, indication that the contracting authority is a

centralised purchasing body; or that any other form of joint procurement is or may

be involved.

4. CPV codes.

5. Internet address of the ‘buyer profile’ (URL).

6. Date of dispatch of the notice of the publication of the prior information

notice on the buyer profile.

PART B

Information to be included in prior information notices (as referred to in

regulation 41)

I.

Information to be included in all cases

1. Name, identification number (where provided for in national

legislation), address including NUTS code, telephone, fax number, email and

internet address of the contracting authority and, where different, of the service

from which additional information may be obtained.

2. E-mail or internet address at which the procurement documents will be

available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge.

Where unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, is not available for

the reasons set out in regulation 49(1), an indication of how the procurement

documents can be accessed.

3. Type of contracting authority and main activity exercised.

4. Where appropriate, indication that the contracting authority is a

centralised purchasing body or that any other form of joint procurement is or may

be involved.

5. CPV codes; where the contract is divided into lots, this information

shall be provided for each lot.

6. NUTS code for the main location of works in case of works contracts or

NUTS code for the main place of delivery or performance in supply and service

contracts; where the contract is divided into lots, this information shall be provided

for each lot.

7. Brief description of the procurement: nature and extent of works, nature

and quantity or value of supplies, nature and extent of services.

8. Where this notice is not used as a means of calling for competition,

estimated date(s) for publication of a contract notice or contract notices in respect

of the contract(s) referred to in this prior information notice.

9. Date of dispatch of the notice.

10. Any other relevant information.

11. Indication whether the contract is covered by the GPA.

II. Additional information to be supplied where the notice is used as a

means of calling for competition

1. A reference to the fact that interested economic operators shall advise

the authority of their interest in the contract or contracts.

2. Type of award procedure (restricted procedures, whether or not

involving a dynamic purchasing system, or competitive procedures with

negotiation).

3. Where appropriate, indication whether a framework agreement is

involved.

4. As far as already known, time-frame for delivery or provision of

products, works or services and duration of the contract.

5. As far as already known, conditions for participation, including

(a)

where appropriate, indication whether the public contract is

restricted to sheltered workshops, or whether its execution is restricted to the

framework of protected job programmes;

(b) where appropriate, indication whether the provision of the service

is reserved by law, regulation or administrative provision to a particular

profession;

(c)

brief description of selection criteria.

6. As far as already known, brief description of criteria to be used for

award of the contract.

7. As far as already known, estimated total magnitude for contract(s);

where the contract is divided into lots, this information shall be provided for each

8. Time limits for receipt of expressions of interest.

9. Address where expressions of interest shall be transmitted.

10. Language or languages authorised for the presentation of candidatures

or tenders.

11. Where appropriate, indication whether

(a)

electronic submission of tenders or requests to participate will be

required/accepted,

(b)

electronic ordering will be used,

(c)

electronic invoicing will be used,

(d)

electronic payment will be accepted.

12. Information whether the contract is related to a project and /or

programme financed by Union funds.

13. Name and address of the body responsible for review and, where

appropriate, mediation procedures. Precise information concerning time limits for

review procedures, or, if need be, the name, address, telephone number, fax

number and e-mail address of the service from which this information may be

obtained.

PART C

Information to be included in contract notices (as referred to in regulation 42

1. Name, identification number (where provided for in national

legislation), address including NUTS code, telephone, fax number, email and

internet address of the contracting authority and, where different, of the service

from which additional information may be obtained.

2. E-mail or internet address at which the procurement documents will be

available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge.

Where unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, is not available for

the reasons set out in regulation 49, an indication of how the procurement

documents can be accessed.

3. Type of contracting authority and main activity exercised.

4. Where appropriate, indication that the contracting authority is a central

purchasing body or that any other form of joint procurement is involved.

5. CPV codes; where the contract is divided into lots, this information

shall be provided for each lot.

6. NUTS code for the main location of works in case of works contracts or

NUTS code for the main place of delivery or performance in supply and service

contracts; where the contract is divided into lots, this information shall be provided

for each lot.

7. Description of the procurement: nature and extent of works, nature and

quantity or value of supplies, nature and extent of services. Where the contract is

divided into lots, this information shall be provided for each lot. Where

appropriate, description of any options.

8. Estimated total order of magnitude of contract(s); where the contract is

divided into lots, this information shall be provided for each lot.

9. Admission or prohibition of variants.

10. Time-frame for delivery or provision of supplies, works or services and,

as far as possible, duration of the contract

(a)

in the case of a framework agreement, indication of the planned

duration of the framework agreement, stating, where appropriate, the reasons

for any duration exceeding four years; as far as possible, indication of value

or order of magnitude and frequency of contracts to be awarded, number and,

where appropriate, proposed maximum number of economic operators to

participate;

(b) in the case of a dynamic purchasing system, indication of the

planned duration of that system; as far as possible, indication of value or

order of magnitude and frequency of contracts to be awarded.

11. Conditions for participation, including

(a)

where appropriate, indication whether the public contract is

restricted to sheltered workshops, or whether its execution is restricted to the

framework of protected job programmes;

(b) where appropriate, indication whether the provision of the service

is reserved by law, regulation or administrative provision to a particular

profession; reference to the relevant law, regulation or administrative

provision;

(c)

a list and brief description of criteria regarding the personal

situation of economic operators that may lead to their exclusion and of

selection criteria; minimum level(s) of standards possibly required;

indication of required information (self-declarations, documentation).

12. Type of award procedure; where appropriate, reasons for use of an

accelerated procedure (in open and restricted procedures and competitive

procedures with negotiation).

13. Where appropriate, indication whether

(a)

a framework agreement is involved,

(b)

a dynamic purchasing system is involved,

(c)

an electronic auction is involved (in the event of open or

restricted procedures or competitive procedures with negotiation).

14. Where the contract is to be subdivided into lots, indication of the

possibility of tendering for one, for several or for all of the lots; indication of any

possible limitation of the number of lots that may be awarded to any one tenderer.

Where the contract is not subdivided into lots, indication of the reasons therefor,

unless this information is provided in the individual report.

15. In the case of a restricted procedure, a competitive procedure with

negotiation, a competitive dialogue or an innovation partnership, where recourse is

made to the option of reducing the number of candidates to be invited to submit

tenders, to negotiate or to engage in dialogue: minimum and, where appropriate,

proposed maximum number of candidates and objective criteria to be used to

choose the candidates in question.

16. In the case of a competitive procedure with negotiation, a competitive

dialogue or an innovation partnership, indication, where appropriate, of recourse to

a staged procedure in order gradually to reduce the number of tenders to be

negotiated or solutions to be discussed.

17. Where appropriate, particular conditions to which performance of the

contract is subject.

18. Criteria to be used for award of the contract or contracts. Except where

the most economically advantageous offer is identified on the basis of price alone,

criteria representing the most economically advantageous tender as well as their

weighting shall be indicated where they do not appear in the specifications or, in

the event of a competitive dialogue, in the descriptive document.

19. Time limit for receipt of tenders (open procedures) or requests to

participate (restricted procedures, competitive procedures with negotiation,

dynamic purchasing systems, competitive dialogues, innovation partnerships).

20. Address to which tenders or requests to participate shall be transmitted.

21. In the case of open procedures

(a)

time frame during which the tenderer must maintain its tender,

(b)

date, time and place for the opening of tenders,

(c)

persons authorised to be present at such opening.

22. Language or languages in which tenders or requests to participate must

be drawn up.

23. Where appropriate, indication whether

(a)

electronic submission of tenders or requests to participate will be

accepted,

(b)

electronic ordering will be used,

(c)

electronic invoicing will be accepted,

(d)

electronic payment will be used.

24. Information whether the contract is related to a project and/or

programme financed by Union funds.

25. Name and address of the body responsible for review and, where

appropriate, mediation procedures. Precise information concerning deadlines for

review procedures, or if need be, the name, address, telephone number, fax number

and email address of the service from which this information may be obtained.

26. Date(s) and reference(s) of previous publications in the Official Journal

of the European Union relevant to the contract(s) advertised in this notice.

27. In the case of recurrent procurement, estimated timing for further

notices to be published.

28. Date of dispatch of the notice.

29. Indication whether the contract is covered by the GPA.

30. Any other relevant information.

PART D

Information to be included in contract award notices (as referred to in

regulation 43)

1. Name, identification number (where provided for in national

legislation), address including NUTS code, telephone, fax number, email and

internet address of the contracting authority and, where different, of the service

from which additional information may be obtained.

2. Type of contracting authority and main activity exercised.

3. Where appropriate, indication whether the contracting authority is a

central purchasing body or that any other form of joint procurement is involved.

4. CPV codes.

5. NUTS code for the main location of works in case of works contracts or

NUTS code for the main place of delivery or performance in supply and service

contracts.

6. Description of the procurement: nature and extent of works, nature and

quantity or value of supplies, nature and extent of services. Where the contract is

divided into lots, this information shall be provided for each lot. Where

appropriate, description of any options.

7. Type of award procedure; in the case of negotiated procedure without

prior publication, justification.

8. Where appropriate, indication whether

(a)

a framework agreement was involved,

(b)

a dynamic purchasing system was involved.

9. Criteria referred to in regulation 239 which were used for award of the

contract or contracts. Where appropriate, indication whether the holding of an

electronic auction was involved (in the event of open or restricted procedures or

competitive procedures with negotiation).

10. Date of the conclusion of the contract(s) or of the framework

agreement(s) following the decision to award or conclude it/them.

11. Number of tenders received with respect of each award, including

(a)

number of tenders received from economic operators which are

small and medium enterprises,

(b) number of tenders received from another Member State or from a

third country,

(c)

number of tenders received electronically.

12. For each award, name, address including NUTS code, telephone, fax

number, email address and internet address of the successful tenderer(s) including

(a)

information whether the successful tenderer is small and medium

enterprise,

(b) information whether the contract was awarded to a group of

economic operators (joint venture, consortium or other).

13. Value of the successful tender (tenders) or the highest tender and lowest

tender taken into consideration for the contract award or awards.

14. Where appropriate, for each award, value and proportion of contract

likely to be subcontracted to third parties.

15. Information whether the contract is related to a project and /or

programme financed by Union funds.

16. Name and address of the body responsible for review and, where

appropriate, mediation procedures. Precise information concerning the deadline

for review procedures, or if need be, the name, address, telephone number, fax

number and email address of the service from which this information may be

obtained.

17. Date(s) and reference(s) of previous publications in the Official Journal

of the European Union relevant to the contract(s) advertised in this notice.

18. Date of dispatch of the notice.

19. Any other relevant information.

PART E

Information to be included in design contest notices (as referred to in

regulation 46)

1. Name, identification number (where provided for in national

legislation), address including NUTS code, telephone, fax number, email and

internet address of the contracting authority and, where different, of the service

from which additional information may be obtained.

2. E-mail or internet address at which the procurement documents will be

available for unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge.

Where unrestricted and full direct access, free of charge, is not available for

the reasons set out in regulation 49 an indication of how the procurement

documents can be accessed.

3. Type of contracting authority and main activity exercised.

4. Where appropriate, indication whether the contracting authority is a

central purchasing body or that any other form of joint procurement is involved.

5. CPV codes; where the contract is divided into lots, this information

shall be provided for each lot.

6. Description of the principal characteristics of the project.

7. Number and value of any prizes.

8. Type of design contest (open or restricted).

9. In the event of an open design contest, time limit for the submission of

projects.

10. In the event of a restricted design contest

(a)

number of participants contemplated,

(b)

names of the participants already selected, if any,

(c)

criteria for the selection of participants,

(d)

time limit for requests to participate.

11. Where appropriate, indication that the participation is restricted to a

specified profession.

12. Criteria to be applied in the evaluation of the projects.

13. Indication whether the jury’s decision is binding on the contracting

authority.

14. Payments to be made to all participants, if any.

15. Indication whether any contracts following the design contest will or

will not be awarded to the winner or winners of the design contest.

16. Date of dispatch of the notice.

17. Any other relevant information.

PART F

Information to be included in notices of the results of a contest (as referred to

in regulation 46(3) and (4))

1. Name, identification number (where provided for in national

legislation), address including NUTS code, telephone, fax number, email and

internet address of the contracting authority and, where different, of the service

from which additional information may be obtained.

2. Type of contracting authority and main activity exercised.

3. Where appropriate, indication whether the contracting authority is a

central purchasing body or that any other form of joint procurement is involved.

4. CPV codes.

5. Description of the principal characteristics of the project.

6. Value of the prizes.

7. Type of design contest (open or restricted).

8. Criteria which were applied in the evaluation of the projects.

9. Date of the jury decision.

10. Number of participants.

(a)

Number of participants who are SMEs.

(b)

Number of participants from abroad.

11. Name, address including NUTS code, telephone, fax number, email

address and internet address of the winner(s) of the contest and indication whether

the winner(s) are small and medium enterprises.

12. Information whether the design contest is related to a project or

programme financed by Union funds.

13. Date(s) and reference(s) of previous publications in the Official Journal

of the European Union relevant to the project(s) concerned by this notice.

14. Date of dispatch of the notice.

15. Any other relevant information.

PART G

Information to be included in notices of modifications of a contract during its

term (as referred to in regulation 246 (1) and (2))

1. Name, identification number (where provided for in national

legislation), address including NUTS code, telephone, fax number, email and

internet address of the contracting authority and, where different, of the service

from which additional information may be obtained.

2. CPV codes.

3. NUTS code for the main location of works in case of works contracts or

NUTS code for the main place of delivery or performance in supply and service

contracts.

4. Description of the procurement before and after the modification: nature

and extent of the works, nature and quantity or value of supplies, nature and extent

of services.

5. Where applicable, increase in price caused by the modification.

6. Description of the circumstances which have rendered necessary the

modification.

7. Date of contract award decision.

8. Where applicable, the name, address including NUTS code, telephone,

fax number, email address and internet address of the new economic operator or

operators.

9. Information whether the contract is related to a project and/or

programme financed by Union funds.

10. Name and address of the oversight body and the body responsible for

review and, where appropriate, mediation procedures. Precise information

concerning the deadline for review procedures, or if need be, the name, address,

telephone number, fax number and email address of the service from which this

information may be obtained.

11. Date(s) and reference(s) of previous publications in the Official Journal

of the European Union relevant to the contract(s) concerned by this notice.

12. Date of dispatch of the notice.

13. Any other relevant information.

PART H

Information to be included in contract notices concerning contracts for social

and other specific services (as referred to in regulation 163(1))

1. Name, identification number (where provided for in national

legislation), address including NUTS code, email and internet address of the

contracting authority.

2. NUTS code for the main location of works in the case of works or

NUTS code for the main place of delivery or performance in the case of supplies

and services.

3. Brief description of the contract in question including CPV codes.

4. Conditions for participation, including

-

where appropriate, indication whether the contract is restricted to

sheltered workshops, or whether its execution is restricted to the

framework of protected job programmes,

-

where appropriate, indication whether the execution of the service is

reserved by law, regulation or administrative provision to a particular

profession.

5. Time limit(s) for contacting the contracting authority in view of

participation.

6. Brief description of the main features of the award procedure to be

applied.

PART I

Information to be included in prior information notices for social and other

specific services (as referred to in regulation 163(1))

1. Name, identification number (where provided for in national

legislation), address including NUTS code, email and internet address of the

contracting authority.

2. Brief description of the contract in question including the estimated

total value of the contract and CPV codes.

3. As far as already known

(a)

NUTS code for the main location of works in case of works or

NUTS code for the main place of delivery or performance in case of supplies

and services;

(b) time-frame for delivery or provision of supplies, works or

services and duration of the contract;

(c)

conditions for participation, including

-

where appropriate, indication whether the public contract is

restricted to sheltered workshops, or whether its execution is

restricted to the framework of protected job programmes;

-

where appropriate, indication whether the execution of the service is

reserved by law, regulation or administrative provision to a particular

profession;

(d) brief description of the main features of the award procedure to

be applied.

4. A reference to the fact that interested economic operators shall advise

the contracting authority of their interest in the contract or contracts and time

limits for receipt of expressions of interest and address to which expressions of

interest shall be transmitted.

PART J

Information to be included in contract award notices concerning contracts for

social and other specific services (as referred to in regulation 163(2))

1. Name, identification number (where provided for in national

legislation), address including NUTS code, email and internet address of the

contracting authority.

2. Brief description of the contract in question including CPV codes.

3. NUTS code for the main location of works in case of works or NUTS

code for the main place of delivery or performance in case of supplies and

services.

4. Number of tenders received.

5.

6. For each award, name, address including NUTS code, email address and

internet address of the successful economic operator or operators.

7. Any other relevant information.

Schedule 10

Information to be included in the Procurement Documents relating to Electronic

Auctions

(Regulation 185)

Where contracting authorities have decided to hold an electronic auction, the

procurement documents shall include at least the following details

(a)

the features, the values for which will be the subject of electronic

auction, provided that such features are quantifiable and can be expressed in

figures or percentages;

(b) any limits on the values which may be submitted, as they result

from the specifications relating to the subject of the contract;

(c)

the information which will be made available to tenderers in the

course of the electronic auction and, where appropriate, when it will be made

available to them;

(d)

the relevant information concerning the electronic auction

process;

(e)

the conditions under which the tenderers will be able to bid and,

in particular, the minimum differences which will, where appropriate, be

required when bidding;

(f)

the relevant information concerning the electronic equipment

used and the arrangements and technical specifications for connection.

Schedule 11

Features concerning Publication

1. Publication of notices

The notices referred to in regulations 41, 42, 43, 46 and 169 shall be sent by

the contracting authorities to the Publications Office of the European Union and

published in accordance with the following rules

Notices referred to in regulations 41, 42, 43, 46 and 169 shall be published by

the Publications Office of the European Union or by the contracting authorities in

the event of a prior information notice published on a buyer profile in accordance

with regulation 41.

In addition, contracting authorities may publish this information on the

Internet on a ‘buyer profile’ as referred to in paragraph 2(b) hereunder.

The Publications Office of the European Union shall give the contracting

authority the confirmation referred to in regulation 44(4).

2. Publication of complementary or additional information

(a)

except where otherwise provided for in regulation 49(2) and (3),

contracting authorities shall publish the procurement documents in their

entirety on the internet;

(b) the buyer profile may include prior information notices as

referred to in regulation 41, information on ongoing invitations to tender,

scheduled purchases, contracts concluded, procedures cancelled and any

useful general information, such as a contact point, a telephone and a fax

number, a postal address and an e-mail address. The buyer profile may also

include prior information notices used as a means of calling for competition,

which are published at national level pursuant to regulation 45.

3. Format and procedures for sending notices electronically

The format and procedure for sending notices electronically as established by

the Commission are made accessible at the Internet address ‘http://

simap.europa.eu’.

Schedule 12

Contents of the Invitations to submit a Tender, to Participate in

the Dialogue or to confirm Interest

(Regulation 242)

1. The invitation to submit a tender or to participate in the dialogue

provided for under regulation 242 must contain at least

(a)

a reference to the call for competition 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

regulations 225, and 230 to 232 and, where appropriate, regulation 234 or to

supplement the information referred to in those regulations, and under the

conditions laid down in regulations 225, and 230 to 232 and regulation 234;

(e)

the relative weighting of criteria for the award of the contract or,

where appropriate, the descending order of importance for such criteria,

where they are not given in the contract notice, in the invitation to confirm

interest, in the technical specifications or the descriptive document.

However, in the case of contracts awarded through a competitive dialogue or

an innovation partnership, the information referred to in paragraph (b) shall not

appear in the invitation to participate in the dialogue or to negotiate but it shall

appear in the invitation to submit a tender.

Schedule 13

List of International Social and Environmental Conventions

-

ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and the Protection of the

Right to Organise;

-

ILO Convention 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining;

-

ILO Convention 29 on Forced Labour;

-

ILO Convention 105 on the Abolition of Forced Labour;

-

ILO Convention 138 on Minimum Age;

-

ILO Convention 111 on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation);

-

ILO Convention 100 on Equal Remuneration;

-

ILO Convention 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labour;

-

Vienna Convention for the protection of the Ozone Layer and its

Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the Ozone Layer;

-

Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of

Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (Basel Convention);

-

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (Stockholm

POPs Convention);

-

Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain

Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (UNEP/

FAO) (The PIC Convention) Rotterdam, 10 September 1998, and its 3

regional Protocols.

Schedule 14

Services referred

(Regulation 162)

CPV Code

79611000-0; 75200000-8; 75231200-6; 75231240-8; 79622000-0

[Supply services of domestic help personnel]; 79624000-4 [Supply

services of nursing personnel] and 79625000-1 [Supply services of

medical personnel] from 85000000-9 to 85323000-9; 85143000-3,

98133100-5, 98133000-4 and 98200000-5 and 98500000-8 [Private

households with employed persons] and 98513000-2 to 98514000-9

[Manpower services for households, Agency staff services for

households, Clerical staff services for households, Temporary staff for

households, Home-help services and Domestic services]

85321000-5 and 85322000-2, 75000000-6 [Administration, defence

and social security services], 75121000-0, 75122000-7, 75124000-1;

from 79995000-5 to 79995200-7; from 80000000-4 Education and

training services to 80660000-8; from 92000000-1 to 92342200-2;

from 92360000-2 to 92700000-8;

79950000-8 [Exhibition, fair and congress organisation services],

79951000-5 [Seminar organisation services], 79952000-2 [Event

services], 79952100-3 [Cultural event organisation services],

79953000-9 [Festival organisation services], 79954000-6 [Party

organisation services], 79955000-3[Fashion shows organisation

services], 79956000-0 [Fair and exhibition organisation services]

CPV Code

75300000-9

75310000-2, 75311000-9, 75312000-6, 75313000-3, 75313100-4, Benefit services

75314000-0, 75320000-5, 75330000-8, 75340000-1

98000000-3; 98120000-0; 98132000-7; 98133110-8 and 98130000-3 Other community, social

98131000-0

55100000-1 to 55410000-7; 55521000-8 to 55521200-0 [55521000-8 Hotel

Catering services for private households, 55521100-9 Meals-on- services

wheels services, 55521200-0 Meal delivery service]. 55520000-1

Catering services, 55522000-5 Catering services for transport

enterprises, 55523000-2 Catering services for other enterprises or

other institutions, 55524000-9 School catering services 55510000-8

Canteen services, 55511000-5 Canteen and other restricted-clientele

cafeteria services, 55512000-2 Canteen management services,

55523100-3 School-meal services

79100000-5 to 79140000-7; 75231100-5

75200000-8 to 75231000-4

75231210-9 to 75231230-5; 75240000-0 to 75252000-7; 794300000- Prison related services,

7; 98113100-9

CPV Code

79700000-1 to 79721000-4 [Investigation and security services,

Security services, Alarm- monitoring services, Guard services,

Surveillance services, Tracing system services, Absconder-tracing

services, Patrol services, Identification badge release services,

Investigation services and Detective agency services] 79722000-

1[Graphology services], 79723000-8 [Waste analysis services]

98900000-2 [Services provided by extra-territorial organisations and

bodies] and 98910000-5 [Services specific to international

organisations and bodies]

64000000-6 [Postal and telecommunications services], 64100000-7

[Post and courier services], 64110000-0 [Postal services], 64111000-7

[Postal services related to newspapers and periodicals], 64112000-4

[Postal services related to letters], 64113000-1 [Postal services related

to parcels], 64114000-8 [Post office counter services], 64115000-5

[Mailbox rental], 64116000-2 [Post-restante services], 64122000-7

[Internal office mail and messenger services]

50116510-9 [Tyre-remoulding services], 71550000-8 [Blacksmith

services]

Schedule 15

List of the Activities

In the event of any difference of interpretation between the CPV and the NACE,

the CPV nomenclature will apply

NACE Rev 1

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

Construction

This division includes: 45000000

construction of new

buildings and works,

restoring and common

repairs.

45.1

Site preparation

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

45.11

Demolition

and This class includes

45110000

wrecking

of

earth - demolition

of

buildings;

buildings and other

moving

structures,

-

clearing of building

sites,

-

earth

moving

excavation,

landfill, levelling

and grading of

construction sites,

trench

digging,

rock

removal,

blasting, etc.,

-

site preparation for

mining,

-

overburden

removal and other

development and

preparation

of

mineral properties

and sites.

This

class

also

includes

-

building

site

drainage,

-

drainage

of

agricultural

or

forestry land.

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

45.12

Test drilling and This class includes

45120000

boring

- test drilling, test

boring and core

sampling

for

construction,

geophysical,

geological

or

similar purposes.

This class excludes

-

drilling

of

production oil or

gas

wells,

see

11.20,

-

water well drilling,

see 45.25,

-

shaft sinking, see

45.25,

-

oil and gas field

exploration,

geophysical,

geological

and

seismic surveying,

see 74.20.

45.2

Building

of

45200000

complete

constructions or

parts thereof; civil

engineering

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

45.21

General

This class includes

45210000

construction

of

buildings and civil - construction of all

Except

types of buildings

engineering works

-

45213316

construction

of

45220000

civil engineering

45231000

constructions,

45232000

-

bridges, including

those for elevated

highways, viaducts,

tunnels

and

subways,

-

long-distance

pipelines,

communication and

power lines,

-

urban

pipelines,

urban

communication and

power lines,

-

ancillary

urban

works,

-

assembly

and

erection

of

prefabricated

constructions

on

the site.

This class excludes

-

service

activities

incidental to oil and

gas extraction, see

11.20,

-

erection

of

complete

prefabricated

constructions from

self-manufactured

parts

not

of

concrete,

see

divisions 20, 26

and 28,

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

- construction work,

other

than

buildings,

for

stadiums,

swimming pools,

gymnasiums, tennis

courts, golf courses

and other sports

installations,

see

45.23,

-

building

installation,

see

45.3,

-

building

completion,

see

45.4,

-

architectural

and

engineering

activities,

see

74.20,

-

project

management

for

construction,

see

74.20.

45.22

Erection of roof This class includes

45261000

covering

and

- erection of roofs,

frames

-

roof covering,

-

waterproofing.

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

45.23

Construction

of This class includes

45212212 and

highways, roads,

DA03

airfields and sport - construction

of

highways,

streets,

45230000

facilities

roads,

other

except

vehicular

and

pedestrian ways,

- 45231000

-

construction

of

- 45232000

railways,

of - 45234115

-

construction

airfield runways,

-

construction work,

other

than

buildings,

for

stadiums,

swimming pools,

gymnasiums, tennis

courts, golf courses

and other sports

installations,

-

painting

of

markings on road

surfaces and car

parks.

This class excludes

-

preliminary earth

moving, see 45.11.

45.24

Construction

of This class includes 45240000

water projects

construction of

-

waterways, harbour

and river works,

pleasure

ports

(marinas),

locks,

etc.,

-

dams and dykes,

-

dredging,

-

subsurface work.

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

45.25

Other construction This class includes

45250000

work

involving

- construction acti- 45262000

special trades

vities specialising

in

one

aspect

common

to

different kinds of

structures,

requiring

specialised skill or

equipment,

-

construction

of

foundations,

including

pile

driving,

-

water well drilling

and construction,

shaft sinking,

-

erection of non-

self-manufactured

steel elements,

-

steel bending,

-

bricklaying

and

stone setting,

-

scaffolds and work

platform erecting

and

dismantling,

including renting of

scaffolds and work

platforms,

-

erection

of

chimneys

and

industrial ovens.

This class excludes

-

renting of scaffolds

without

erection

and

dismantling,

see 71.32.

45.3

Building

45300000

installation

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

45.31

Installation

of This class includes

45213316

electrical wiring

installation in buildings

45310000

and fittings

or other construction

Except

projects of

wiring - 45316000

-

electrical

and fittings,

-

telecommunication

s systems,

-

electrical

heating

systems,

-

residential antennas

and aerials,

-

fire alarms,

-

burglar

alarm

systems,

-

lifts and escalators,

-

lightning

conductors, etc.

45.32

Insulation

work This class includes

45320000

activities

-

installation

in

buildings or other

construction

projects of thermal,

sound or vibration

insulation.

This class excludes

-

waterproofing, see

45.22.

45.33

Plumbing

This class includes

45330000

-

installation

in

buildings or other

construction

projects of

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

- plumbing

and

sanitary equipment,

-

gas fittings,

-

heating,

ventilation,

refrigeration or air-

conditioning

equipment

and

ducts,

-

sprinkler systems.

This class excludes

-

installation

of

electrical heating

systems, see 45.31.

45.34

Other

building This class includes

45234115

installation

- installation

of 45316000

illumination

and

signalling systems 45340000

for roads, railways,

airports

and

harbours,

-

installation

in

buildings or other

construction

projects of fittings

and fixtures n.e.c.

45.4

Building

45400000

completion

45.41

Plastering

This class includes

45410000

-

application

in

buildings or other

construction

projects of interior

and exterior plaster

or stucco, including

related

lathing

materials.

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

45.42

Joinery

This class includes

45420000

installation

-

installation of not

self-manufactured

doors,

windows,

door and window

frames,

fitted

kitchens, staircases,

shop fittings and

the like, of wood or

other materials,

-

interior completion

such as ceilings,

wooden

wall

coverings, movable

partitions, etc.

This class excludes

-

laying of parquet

and other wood

floor coverings, see

45.43.

45.43

Floor and

wall This class includes

45430000

covering

-

laying,

tiling,

hanging or fitting

in buildings or

other construction

projects of

-

ceramic, concrete

or cut stone wall or

floor tiles,

-

parquet and other

wood

floor

coverings carpets

and linoleum floor

coverings,

-

including of rubber

or plastic,

-

terrazzo, marble,

granite or slate

floor

or

wall

coverings,

-

wallpaper.

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

Section F

CONSTRUCTION

Division

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

45.44

Painting

and This class includes

45440000

glazing

-

interior

and

exterior painting of

buildings,

-

painting of

civil

engineering

structures,

-

installation

of

glass, mirrors, etc.

This class excludes

-

installation

of

windows,

see

45.42.

45.45

Other

building This class includes

45212212 and

completion

DA04

- installation

of

private swimming 45450000

pools,

-

steam

cleaning,

sand blasting and

similar

activities

for

building

exteriors,

-

other

building

completion

and

finishing

work

n.e.c.

This class excludes

-

interior cleaning of

buildings and other

structures,

see

74.70.

45.5

Renting

of

45500000

construction

or

demolition

equipment

with

operator

NACE Rev 1

CPV code

CONSTRUCTION

Group

Class

Subject

Notes

45.50

Renting

of This class excludes

45500000

construction

or

- renting

of

demolition

construction

or

equipment

with

demolition

operator

machinery

and

equipment without

operators,

see

71.32.

Schedule 16

List of Contracting Authorities who shall administer their own public procurement

in accordance with the provisions of these regulations up to the value

of two hundred and fifty thousand euro (€250,000)

Ministry for Home Affairs and National Security/Permanent Secretary’s

Office/ Department of Corporate Services

Armed Forces of Malta

Police Department

Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS)

Civil Protection Department

Department for Correctional Services

Ministry for Education and Employment/Permanent Secretary’s Office/

Operations Department

European Union Programmes Agency

National Archives

Examinations

Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools

Foundation for Educational Services

Junior College

Jobsplus

B

•

Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology

•

National Commission for Higher Education

•

Maltese National Commission for UNESCO

•

SportMalta

•

Malta Libraries

•

University of Malta

•

Malta Council for Science and Technology

•

National Employment Authority

•

Employment Commission

•

Aġenzija Żgħażagħ

•

National Literacy Agency

•

Institute for Education

€17.01