By way of derogation from Article 1(6) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU, all the capabilities of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism may be used in the context of the procurement and delivery of medical countermeasures under the procedures provided for in this Regulation.

By way of derogation from Article 172(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, the contracting authorities shall be entitled to request the delivery of goods or services as from the date of sending the draft contracts resulting from the procurement carried out for the purposes of this Regulation. Draft contracts shall be sent no later than 24 hours as from the award.

By way of derogation from Article 172(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, the Commission may modify the contracts referred in paragraph 2 of this Article as necessary to adapt to the evolution of the current health crisis.

By way of derogation from point 30 of Section 2 of Chapter 1 of Annex I to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, and for the purposes of awarding the contracts referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, the authorising officer may merge the content of the evaluation report and the award decision into a single document and sign it. The electronic signature referred to in point 30.1 of Section 2 of Chapter 1 of Annex I to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 and signatures of ensuing contracts may be substituted by a confirmation through a secured email or simply scanned signature.

As relevant, the derogations set out in paragraphs (1) to (4) of this Article, as well as the necessary derogations to the Joint Procurement Agreement referred to in Article 5 of Decision No 1082/2013/EU, shall apply to all procedures for medical countermeasures, whether new or ongoing at the time of the entry into force of this Regulation, with a view to awarding on the basis of evaluated offers within a deadline of 24 hours.

The derogations set out in this Article shall apply until 31 January 2022.