Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Section 2 Time-limits

Article 33 Time-limits for receipt of requests to participate and for receipt of tenders

1. When fixing the time-limits for receipt of requests to participate and tenders, contracting authorities/entities shall take particular account of the complexity of the contract and the time required for drawing up tenders, without prejudice to the minimum time-limits set by this Article.

2. In restricted procedures, negotiated procedures with the publication of a contract notice and use of a competitive dialogue, the minimum time-limit for receipt of requests to participate shall be 37 days from the date on which the contract notice is sent.

In the case of restricted procedures, the minimum time-limit for the receipt of tenders shall be 40 days from the date on which the invitation is sent.

3. When contracting authorities/entities have published a prior information notice, the minimum time-limit for the receipt of tenders under the second subparagraph of paragraph 2 may, as a general rule, be shortened to 36 days, but under no circumstances to less than 22 days.

The time-limit shall run from the date on which the invitation to tender was sent.

The shortened time-limits referred to in the first subparagraph shall be permitted, provided that the prior information notice has included all the information required for the contract notice set out in Annex IV, insofar as that information is available at the time the notice is published and that the prior information notice was sent for publication between 52 days and 12 months before the date on which the contract notice was sent.

4. Where notices are drawn up and transmitted by electronic means in accordance with the format and procedure for sending notices set out in point 3 of Annex VI, the time-limit for the receipt of the requests to participate referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 2 may be shortened by seven days.

5. The time-limits for receipt of tenders referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 2 may be reduced by five days where the contracting authority/entity offers unrestricted and full direct access by electronic means to the contract documents and any supporting documents from the date of publication of the notice in accordance with Annex VI, specifying in the text of the notice the Internet address at which this documentation is accessible.

This reduction may be added to that referred to in paragraph 4.

6. If, for whatever reasons, the contract documents and supporting documents or additional information, although requested in good time, are not supplied within the time-limits set out in Article 34, or where tenders can be made only after a visit to the site or after on-the-spot inspection of the documents supporting the contract documents, the time-limits for the receipt of tenders shall be extended so that all economic operators concerned may be aware of all the information needed to produce tenders.

7. In the case of restricted procedures and negotiated procedures with publication of a contract notice, where urgency renders impracticable the minimum time-limits laid down in this Article, contracting authorities/entities may fix:

• a time-limit for receipt of requests to participate which may not be less than 15 days from the date on which the contract notice is dispatched, or less than 10 days if the notice was sent by electronic means, in accordance with the format and procedure for sending notices set out in point 3 of Annex VI; and

• in the case of restricted procedures, a time-limit for receipt of tenders which shall not be less than 10 days from the date of the invitation to tender,