Competitive Procedure With Negotiation

The procedures for the award of a public contract are set out in Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement and Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

The procedure is admissible if it can be demonstrated that, under normal market conditions, only a limited number of economic operators have the requisite capacity to supply the contracting authorities with the required goods or services. The procedure may also be used where technical specifications cannot be drawn up in such a way as to allow open competition.

The procedure must be announced in the Official Journal of the European Union and on publications specified by each Member State. The announcement must set out:

-the grounds justifying use of this procedure;

-the precise subject matter of the contract; and

-any selection criteria which will be applied.

After publication of the announcement, economic operators who wish to compete for the contract submit bids. These bids are opened publicly by the contracting authority and assessed in line with any award criteria specified in the contract notice. The contracting authority then carries out negotiations with those bidders who submitted bids which meet all of the eligibility requirements and were ranked highest according to the evaluation criteria published in advance. The aim of these negotiations is to agree on a new price or other revisions to improve value for money for the contracting authority whilst ensuring participation by at least three bidders throughout negotiations. After completing negotiations, contracting authorities award the contract to that bidder.