What is an Open Tender or procedure?
Open tender/ procedure
27.—(1) In open procedures, any interested economic operator may submit a tender in response
to a contract notice.
(this is a single stage tender process i.e. no pre-qualification)
(2) The minimum time limit for the receipt of tenders shall, subject to paragraphs (4) to (6), be
35 days from the date on which the contract notice is sent.
(The open tender must be available for 35 days before the deadline )
(3) The tender shall be accompanied by the information for qualitative selection that is requested
by the contracting authority.
(All documents required for the supplier to be able to submit a bona fide bid should be available)
(4) Where contracting authorities have published a prior information notice which was not itself
used as a means of calling for competition, the minimum time limit for the receipt of tenders as
laid down in paragraph (2) may be shortened to 15 days, provided that both of the following
conditions are fulfilled:—
(where a PIN notice is used but not for the purpose of a competition but only for advance warning to the market)
(a) the prior information notice included all the information required for the contract notice
in section I of part B of Annex V to the Public Contracts Directive insofar as that
information was available at the time the prior information notice was published;
(b) the prior information notice was sent for publication between 35 days and 12 months
before the date on which the contract notice was sent.
(the PIN notice should be issued before the minimum time required for the Open Tender)
(5) Where a state of urgency duly substantiated by the contracting authority renders
impracticable the time limit laid down in paragraph (2), it may fix a time limit which shall be not
less than 15 days from the date on which the contract notice is sent.
(15 days an option for emergencies- in reference to paragraph 2)
(6) The contracting authority may reduce by 5 days the time limit for receipt of tenders set out in
paragraph (2) where it accepts that tenders may be submitted by electronic means in accordance
with regulation 22.