Preservation of records
37.—(1) When these Regulations apply to the seeking of offers in relation to a contract, a utility must keep appropriate information on each contract sufficient to justify decisions taken in connection with—
(a)the qualification and selection of economic operators and the award of contracts; and
(b)the use of a procedure without a prior call for competition by virtue of regulation 17.
(2) When a utility decides not to apply these Regulations to the seeking of offers in relation to a contract in accordance with regulation 6, 7, 8, 9 or 11, it must keep appropriate information on such a contract sufficient to justify that decision.
(3) A utility must take appropriate steps to document the progress of contract award procedures conducted by electronic means.
(4) The information referred to in paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) must be preserved for at least 4 years from the date of the award of the contract.