H. Electronic opening of tenders

Article 33. Opening of tenders

The Guide to Enactment refers to additional rules and techniques that might be needed, for instance to guard the confidentiality of tenders and prevent opening' of the tenders prior to the deadline for submission of tenders .

(i) Article 33 (1) (opening of tenders at the deadline)

(5) Where suppliers or contractors are permitted to follow the opening of the tenders through electronic means of communication used by the procuring entity in accordance with article 33 (4), they shall be deemed to have been permitted to be present at the opening of tenders in accordance with the requirements of article 33 (2).

Electronic opening of tenders (A CN.9 WG.I WP.38 Add.1, paras.

The Working Group decided that the Model Law should include an enabling provision to permit the opening of electronic tenders.

Proposed additional text for the Model Law revisions to article 33 of the Model Law, to address the opening of tenders submitted electronically

The electronic opening of tenders may require security related controls additional to those for other electronic procurement.

Such opening may be achieved through an electronic information system, which would automatically release and open the tenders at the date and time provided in the solicitation documents, and automatically transmit the information that would usually be publicly announced at the opening of tenders.

Without further provision, this procedure would apply to the opening of the initial tenders submitted under article 47 bis (3), and auction anonymity would be compromised.

In practical terms, this may involve creating a record of all access to the system before tenders are opened and detecting any unauthorized access.

In tendering procedures, articles 33 (2) and (3) also provide for the opening of tenders in the presence of participants, and the provision of information to suppliers on the identity and price of other tenders, to enable suppliers to monitor the application of the rules, but only once the tendering phase is complete.

Tender committee

The Working Group considered the technical issues raised by the electronic opening of tenders, and the level of detail regarding those issues that should be set out in the revised Model Law and Guide to Enactment.

In the light of the above, the Working Group may wish to include guidance to the opening of tenders electronically, setting out the solutions adopted to the matters discussed in paragraphs 29 and 30 above.

Article 30. Submission of tenders

A request for tenders (RFT) is a formal, structured invitation to suppliers, to bid, to supply products or services.

It was suggested that proposed paragraphs (4) and (5) of article 33 could be combined by inserting the words in accordance with the requirements of article 33 (2) before the words to be present at the opening of the tenders in paragraph (4), and deleting paragraph (5).

Thirdly, the authenticity of tenders must be established).

(3) Paragraph 3 considers the contents of initial tenders.

(iii) Electronic submission of tenders, proposals and quotations

It was also observed that the question of tender securities might need specific provision, in the light of the experience of certain delegations and observers that tender securities remained paper based documents, and simultaneous submission with electronic tenders might not be possible.

It was evident that all three had been prepared by the same company.

Electronic submission of tenders, proposals and quotations

A study of bidding behaviour in situations where bid rigging is suspected might identify patterns suggesting customer allocation or bid rotation.

Applying the principle of functional equivalence to the electronic submission of tenders, electronic tenders require the same legal value as tenders submitted in writing, signed and in a sealed envelope.

Competitive bidding was not systematically used (Angola and Namibia).

(c) The exact time and date of the receipt of tenders can be established

When reviewing tenders, procuring entities, it was said, should be allowed to seek justification of prices if they suspected abnormally low tenders.

(g) Article 30 (3) (extension of the deadline for submitting tenders)

(h) Article 30 (6) (requirement to return late tenders unopened)

The Advisory Committee understands that MONUC does not support the rationale for the increases and is currently going through a rebuttal process a decision on eventual re bidding is yet to be taken.

(l) Article 34 (3) (on tenders that the entity cannot accept) and

In procedures involving an electronic auction, some of these provisions apply to the initial tenders envisaged under paragraph 4 (a) of that draft article (that is, the tenders submitted and evaluated prior to the auction phase).

In particular, the EU welcomes work already under way in identifying cluster, or sectoral, bids.

It expects that the required practice for international bidding will be fully respected in the selection process for the external consultants.

Proposed additional text for the Guide to Enactment regarding the opening of tenders submitted electronically

The Normalization of Fatah

The procuring entity may, however, require that tenders include such features.

The Commission also established educational programs on the issue of affirmative action for women for members of tender committees.

The Civil Service Commission, added a segment in tender announcements regarding affirmative action for women, providing special measures for women and establishing educational programs on the issue of affirmative action for women and for members of tender committees.

Unlocking Climate Finance

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