Part 3Specific duties
Giving of reasons
I132Giving of reasons to unsuccessful participants
1
This section applies to a regulated procurement (other than F1a higher value regulated procurement).
2
A contracting authority must, as soon as reasonably practicable after deciding to exclude an economic operator from participating in the procurement process at any stage before the economic operator has submitted a tender, notify its decision to the economic operator.
3
A notice under subsection (2) must include the following information—
a
the names of the economic operators who have not been so excluded,
b
the criteria used to exclude the economic operator in question,
c
the contracting authority's scoring (if any), against those criteria, of the economic operator.
4
A contracting authority must, as soon as reasonably practicable after deciding to award a contract, notify its decision to all unsuccessful tenderers.
5
A notice under subsection (4) must include the following information—
a
the name of the successful tenderer,
b
the criteria used to award the contract,
c
the contracting authority's scoring, against those criteria, of the unsuccessful tenderer and the successful tenderer.
I233Request for further information
1
The following persons may request further information in relation to a regulated procurement (other than F2a higher value regulated procurement)—
a
an economic operator who was excluded from participating in the procurement process before it submitted a tender,
b
an unsuccessful tenderer,
c
the successful tenderer.
2
The request must be—
a
in writing, and
b
made before the end of the period of 30 days beginning on—
i
in the case of a person mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b), the day the person received a notice under section 32,
ii
in the case of the successful tenderer, the day on which it was notified of the decision to award the contract.
3
The contracting authority must, before the end of the period of 30 days beginning on the day it receives the request, provide the relevant information.
4
The relevant information is—
a
in the case of an economic operator excluded from the participating in the procurement process, a summary of the reasons why the economic operator was excluded,
b
in the case of an unsuccessful tenderer—
i
a summary of the reasons why the tenderer was unsuccessful, and
ii
the characteristics and relative advantages of the successful tender,
c
in the case of the successful tenderer, a description of any improvements the contracting authority considers the tenderer could have made to its tender.
I334Withholding information
Despite sections 32 and 33, the contracting authority may withhold information from a person if it considers that disclosure would—
a
impede law enforcement or otherwise be contrary to the public interest,
b
prejudice the commercial interests of any person, or
c
prejudice fair competition between economic operators.