General
23.—(1) Where a utility establishes criteria for the rejection of economic operators in accordance with regulation 26(1), 26(3), 27(1) or 27(2), it must exclude any economic operator which meets those criteria when making its selection of the economic operators to be awarded a contract, to be invited to tender for, or to negotiate the contract.
(2) A utility must make its selection of the economic operators to be awarded a contract, to be invited to tender for, or to negotiate the contract in accordance with the selection criteria established by it in accordance with regulations 26 and 27.
(3) A utility using the restricted or negotiated procedure with a call for competition must reduce, where appropriate and in accordance with regulation 27, the number of economic operators selected in accordance with paragraphs (1) and (2) of this regulation.
(4) Where a utility makes a call for competition in respect of a contract by publishing a notice on the existence of a qualification system, when making its selection of the economic operators to be invited to tender for or to negotiate that contract, the utility must—
(a)qualify economic operators in accordance with regulation 25; and
(b)apply the provisions of paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) which are relevant to the restricted procedure or the negotiated procedure to such qualified economic operators.
(5) A utility must verify that the tenders submitted by the economic operators which have been selected by the utility comply with the rules and requirements applicable to tenders and must award the contract on the basis of the criteria referred to in regulation 30.