Main provisions of the Draft Law

In short

This law establishes the rules for public procurement in the Republic of Lithuania, covering the procedures, responsibilities of participants, and how disputes are handled. Its main goal is to ensure fair and transparent acquisition of goods, services, and works by public bodies.

What it regulates

The procedure for public procurement.
The rights, obligations, and responsibility of participants in procurement procedures.
The procedure for the control of public procurement.
The settling of disputes related to public procurement.

Who it concerns

Contracting authorities, including state and local authorities, certain public or private legal persons, and associations thereof.
Suppliers (tenderers, candidates) who offer goods, services, or works.

Key points

Contracting authorities must ensure equality of treatment, non-discrimination, and transparency.
The main goal is to acquire necessary supplies, services, or works using resources rationally and economically.
Information indicated as confidential by either the contracting authority or suppliers generally cannot be disclosed, except as provided by law.
Procurement commences upon receipt of a notice by the Public Procurement Office, or by sending invitations to tender, or when the contracting authority requests prices and conditions from suppliers.

Įstatymo tekstas

Main provisions of the Draft Law official translation LAW ON PUBLIC PROCUREMENT 13 August 1996, No. I-1491 Revised version of the Law as of 3 December 2002 No. IX-1217 (as amended by 16 December 2003 No. IX-1894) Vilnius Article

Revised Version of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Public Procurement The Law on Public Procurement of the Republic of Lithuania shall be amended and set forth to read as follows: "LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA ON PUBLIC PROCUREMENT CHAPTER I GENERAL PROVISIONS Article
Scope of the Law
This Law establishes the procedure of public procurement, the rights, obligations and responsibility of participants in the procurement procedures, as well as the procedure for the control of public procurement and settling of disputes.
The provisions of the Law have been harmonised with the EU legal acts referred to in the annex to the Law. Article
Definitions
“Open procedure (simplified open procedure)” means the procedure when any interested supplier may submit a tender.
“Tenderer” is a supplier that submitted a tender.
“Electronic means” means wire, fax or other telecommunication terminal equipment designed for data transmission.
“Usual commercial practice” means a practice when the contracting authority procures supplies, services or works following the procurement rules laid down by it and the public procurement principles set forth in this Law from a supplier that offers the lowest price or gives the most economically advantageous proposal.
“Candidate” is any supplier seeking an invitation to take part in a restricted or a negotiated procedure.
“Statement of confidentiality” is a statement made in writing by a member or expert of the public procurement commission or any other person whereby such member or expert or other person undertakes not to furnish information to third parties, where disclosure of such information would be contrary to the requirements of this Law or public interests or would harm the legitimate interests of the suppliers and contracting authority participating in the procurement procedure.
“Pre-qualification selection” means a procurement procedure whereby the contracting authority selects, on the basis of the qualification criteria laid down in the contract documents, candidates eligible to be invited to submit their tenders.
“Impeccable reputation” means individuals other than those listed below: 1) persons who were convicted of a serious offence or an offence against the civil service, or of economic or financial offences, irrespective of whether the conviction has expired or not; 2) persons who were convicted of a deliberate offence, if the conviction has not expired; 3) persons who violated the requirements of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Adjustment of Public and Private Interests in the Public Service; 4) persons who abuse alcohol, narcotic, toxic or psychotropic substances; 5) persons convicted by an effective court judgement of a corruption offence; 6) persons who have been convicted under the Code of Administrative Violations of Law for the violation of public procurement procedure.
“Negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice (simplified negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice)” means the procedure in which the contracting authority negotiates the contract terms and conditions with one or several invited suppliers.
“Declaration of impartiality” means a written statement given by a member or expert of the public procurement commission declaring his impartiality with respect to the suppliers.
“Request” means a document whereby the supplier expresses his willingness to take part in the procurement procedures.
“Tender” means a document submitted by the supplier offering to supply products, provide services or perform works under the terms fixed by the contracting authority.
“Tender security and security for the performance of the public procurement contract” means the method of ensuring the fulfilment of an obligation laid down by the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania.
“Contract documents” means documents describing the objective of procurement and contract terms and conditions that are published or presented by the contracting authority to the suppliers; these documents include a contract notice, an invitation to tender, technical specifications, draft contract and other documents and explanations to these documents.
“Design contest (simplified design contest)” means the procurement procedures which enable the jury to select a supplier/suppliers who submitted the best plan or design (usually for area planning, building planning, architecture and engineering or data processing), with or without the award of a prize, a bonus or other award, and then invite such supplier to participate in the procurement procedures.
“In writing” means any expression in a form of writing. It includes information that is transmitted and stored by electronic means, provided the security of the contents is ensured and the signature is identifiable.
“Restricted procedure (simplified restricted procedure)” means the procedure in which tenders may be submitted only by those suppliers who were invited by the contracting authority.
“Negotiated procedure with publication of a contract notice (simplified negotiated procedure with publication of a contract notice)” means the procedure in which all suppliers may submit a request to participate, and the contracting authority negotiates the terms of contract with all or only with the selected suppliers.
“Technical specification” means contract documents containing technical requirements to be met by the goods, services or works offered by the suppliers.
“Supplier (supplier, service provider, contractor)” is any economic entity who may be either a natural person, or a private legal person, or a public legal person or any group of such persons which is able to offer or is offering goods, services or works.
“Public procurement of works ” means public procurement having as its object either the execution, or both execution and design, of works related to one of the activities referred to in Annex I of this Law, or the execution, by whatever means, of work corresponding to the requirements specified by the contracting authority. Work means the outcome of building or civil engineering, works taken as a whole that is sufficient of itself to fulfil an economic and technical function. The objective of procurement is to award a public sales-purchase contract.
“Public procurement of services” means public procurement having as its object A- and B-type services listed in Annex II to this Law, as well as procurement having as its object the supplies and services listed in Annex II of this Law, where the value of such services exceeds that of supplies, or procurement having as its object services listed in Annex II of this Law and works listed in Annex I of this Law, where these works are incidental to the principal object of the services contract. The objective of procurement is to award a public sales-purchase contract.
“Public procurement” (hereinafter referred to as “procurement”) means the procurement of supplies, services or works performed by the contracting authorities subject to the rules set forth in this Law. The objective of procurement is to award a public sales-purchase contract.
“Public procurement of supplies” means public procurement contracts involving the purchase, lease, rental or hire purchase, with or without option to buy, of supplies (raw material, products, equipment buildings and other items of any form), including siting and installation or other services necessary for preparing the supplies (products) for use. The objective of procurement is to award a public sales-purchase contract.
“Public sales-purchase contract” (hereinafter referred to as “public contract”) means contracts for pecuniary interest concluded in writing between one or more suppliers and one contracting authority and having as their objects supplies of products, execution of works or provision of services. Article
Contracting Authority
A contracting authority shall be: 1) any state or local authority; 2) any public or private legal person meeting the conditions set forth in paragraph 2 of this Article; 3) any association of authorities specified in subparagraph 1 and/or of public or private legal persons referred to in subparagraphs 2 of this paragraph; 4) any legal persons engaged in water, energy, transport or telecommunication activity, referred to in Article 55

(1)of this Law.

A public of private legal person (with the exception of state or local authorities) shall be deemed to be a contracting authority, if all or part of its activities is intended for meeting needs of general interest, not having an industrial or commercial character, and meets at least one of the following conditions: 1) the activities thereof are financed, for more than 50 %, with state or municipal budget resources, or with other resources from state or municipal monetary funds, or with the resources of other public or private legal persons specified in this paragraph; 2) it is subject to management (supervision) by the state or local authorities, or other public or private legal persons specified in this paragraph; 3) it has an administrative, management or supervisory body, more than half of whose members are appointed by the state or local authorities or by public or private legal persons specified in this paragraph.
The Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it must approve the lists of contracting authorities (including military units and services of the national defence system).
The institution which approves the lists specified in paragraph 3 hereof must ensure that the lists are updated on a regular basis. Article
Main Principles of Public Procurement and Compliance with them
Contracting authorities shall take all necessary steps to ensure compliance with the principles of equality of treatment, non-discrimination and transparency.
The main goal of the procurement is to acquire supplies, services or works necessary for the contracting authority by following the principles referred to in paragraph 1 above, and making a rational and economic use of the resources allocated for this purpose.
Where a contracting authority grants special or exclusive rights to provide public services to another body, which is not the contracting authority, the instrument granting these rights shall stipulate that the body in question must abide by the principles established in paragraph 1 of this Article when awarding contracts for supplies necessary for the provision of public services. Article
Confidentiality
Except in the cases provided for in the laws, the contracting authority and suppliers may not disclose any information the confidential nature whereof has been indicated by the contracting authority or supplier.
The contracting authority, members of the Public Procurement Commission, experts or other persons may not disclose any information in relation to the completed procurement procedures, where disclosure of such information would be contrary to the laws, would harm the legitimate commercial interests of the parties or prejudice fair competition. Article
Commencement and Completion of the Procurement
The procurement shall commence upon receipt by the Public Procurement Office of a notice of procurement submitted by the contracting authority, or a prior call for competition submitted by the contracting authority operating in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors; in negotiated or simplified negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice - upon sending invitations to tender to the candidate (candidates); or, in case of procurement following the usual commercial practice - when the contracting authority approaches a supplier (suppliers) requesting to offer prices and conditions for the purchase of supplies, services or works.
The procurement shall be completed: 1) upon conclusion of the contract (preliminary agreement) or selection of the winner in the design contest, who is not invited to participate in the further procurement procedure; 2) when all tenders are rejected; 3) when procurement procedures are terminated; 4) when no tenders or requests to participate are filed within the specified time limits; 5) the tender validity period expires and the contract is not concluded due to the reasons that are beyond the suppliers' control.
At any time before the award of the contract, upon receipt of the consent from the Public Procurement Office, the contracting authority shall have the right to terminate the simplified procurement procedures should the circumstances arise that could not have been predicted in advance (supplies, services or works are no longer needed, or there are no funds to pay for them). The consent of the Public Procurement Commission shall not be needed for terminating procurement procedures carried out following the usual commercial practice. In cases where the value of such contract exceeds the thresholds specified in Article 10 of this Law, the contracting authority shall notify the Public Procurement Office of the termination of procurement procedure and request publication of a notice of termination in the Official Journal of the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities and in the supplement “Informaciniai praneðimai" (Information notices) to the official gazette “Valstybės žinios”. Article
Public Procurement Office
Public Procurement Office is an institution operating under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, which co-ordinates the activities of procurement, supervises compliance of procurement activities with this Law and the implementing legislation, is governed by this and other laws, legal acts and international obligations of the Republic of Lithuania and its own regulations and is financed from the State Budget. Regulations of the Public Procurement Office shall be subject to approval by the Government.
Public Procurement Office shall fulfil the following functions: 1) draft and submit to the Government for approval public procurement legislation; 2) draft and adopt, within the scope of its competence, public procurement legislation; 3) supervise the compliance during public procurement procedures with the Law on Public Procurement and the requirements of related implementing legislation, carry out measures to prevent violations of the above laws; 4) approve the methodology of drawing up technical requirements of contract documents; 5) collect, store and analyse information about public procurement, whether intended or in process, as well as about the awarded public contracts and the contract performance results, and communicate such information to the state or local authorities and the general public; 6) analyse and assess the procurement system and draw up proposals for its improvement; 7) organise the training of the contracting authorities’ public servants or employees responsible for procurement and train the said persons; 8) offer consultations to contracting authorities and suppliers or make arrangements for their consulting on issues of procurement; 9) when deciding the issues of procurement, maintain contacts with the relevant foreign institutions and international organisations; 10) specify the mandatory requirements for notices (pre-information notices, contract notices, invitations to tender, contract award notices, contract performance results and other procurement notices); 11) approve the methods of calculating the estimated contract value; 12) approve the methods of determining pricing rules; 13) approve standard forms of procurement reports; 14) prepare and submit to the EU Commission, within the time limits and in the form set by the Commission, annual statistics on procurement of supplies, services and works as well as any other information that may be requested; 15) forward the notices of the contracting authority for publication in the Official Journal, as well as ensure publication of the notices and other relevant information submitted by the contracting authorities; 16) notify the EU Commission of the public contracts referred to in Article 9

(4)and Article 34

(4)of this Law; 17) file with the EU Commission a request for reconciliation referred to in Article 105 of this Law; 18) engage in other activities prescribed by legislation.

Rights of the Public Procurement Office: 1) to be provided by the contracting authority with information relating to procurement; 2) to be provided by the contracting authority, Public Procurement Commission or its members as well as experts taking part in procurement procedures explications of procurement-related actions or decisions; 3) to present contract documents and tenders submitted by suppliers for additional expert examination; 4) upon ascertaining violations of law, to obligate the contracting authority to suspend or terminate procurement procedures, revoke or change the decisions or actions which are not in conformity with the requirements of this Law; 5) in the cases provided for in this Law to give consent to the contracting authority to reject all tenders, terminate procurement procedures as well as, upon the receipt of the supplier's claim, make a decision not to suspend procurement procedures; 6) to take an administrative action in the manner prescribed by law against the persons who violate this Law. Article
Calculating the Value of Contracts
The value of public supply contracts shall be estimated at the beginning of the procurement procedure referred to in Article 6

(1)of this Law.

Contracting authorities may not split up the value of the contract with the intention of avoiding the application of the procurement procedure set forth in this Law. The contract maybe split up only if all parts of the contract so split will be subject to the same procurement procedure as chosen for the whole contract according to the provisions of this Law.
The choice of the method for calculating a contract may not be done with the intention of excluding them from the scope of this Law.
The value of public contracts for supplies or services shall be calculated by applying the methods of calculating the contract value of supplies or services approved by the Public Procurement Office, and in case of works account shall be taken of all works necessary to complete the object concerned.
In the event the public supplies or services contract is awarded once in the current fiscal year or within 12 months from the start of the procurement without the possibility of extension, then the value of the procurement shall be the estimated value of the contract intended to award.
In the case of supply or service contracts which are regular in nature (i.e., several contracts within 12 months) or which are to be renewed within a given period, the contract value shall be calculated in one of the following ways: 1) the contract value shall be the actual value of similar procurement contracts defined in the methods for calculating the value of procurement contracts for supplies or services, approved by the Public Procurement Office, and awarded during the preceding fiscal year or the preceding 12 months adjusted (if possible) to take account of the changes in quantity or value which would occur in the course of the 12 months following the initial contract; 2) or the estimated aggregate value of the similar procurement contracts defined in the methods for calculating the value of procurement contracts for supplies or services, approved by the Public Procurement Office, awarded during the 12 months following the first delivery, or during the contract period if that is longer than 12 months.
Where a proposed supply contract provides for a possibility of extension (option), the basis for calculating the estimated contract value shall be the highest possible total of the purchase, inclusive of the option clauses.
In the case of contracts for the lease, rental or hire purchase, with or without option to buy, of goods, the estimated contract value shall be calculated as follows: 1) in the case of fixed-term contracts, if that term is less than or equal to 12 months, the total estimated value for the term of the contract or, if the term of the contract is greater than 12 months, the total value of the intended contract, including the estimated residual value (value at which the goods are bought); 2) in the case of contracts without a fixed term or whose term cannot be defined, the monthly value of the contract multiplied by
For the purposes of calculating the estimated contract value for services, the contracting authority shall take account of the following: 1) of the premium or any other remuneration payable, in the case of insurance services, 2) as regards banking or other financial services, of fees, commissions and interest as well as other types of remuneration payable into the bank, 3) of estimated value of services, where the public services contract is awarded to the winner of the design contest; 4) of the aggregate value of prizes, premiums or other forms of remuneration payable to the winners where service contracts are awarded after design contests.
In the case of contracts for services not specifying the total price (i.e., specifying only pricing rules), the estimated contract value shall be calculated on the basis of: 1) in the case of fixed-term contracts, where their term is 48 months or less, the total contract value; 2) in the case of contracts of indefinite duration or with a term of more than 48 months, the monthly value of the contract multiplied by
When calculating the value of public works contracts, account shall be taken of the estimated value both of the execution of the works and design (where the works are both executed and designed), and the supplies needed to carry out the works and made available to the contractor by the contracting authorities.
If proposed procurement of supplies of the same type may lead to several contracts being awarded at the same time, the value of the procurement shall be the total estimated value of these several contracts.
Where the works and services are procured by awarding several contracts at the same time, the values of these contracts, calculated according to the provisions of this Article, shall be added. The value of procurement so calculated shall apply for all lots. Whether or not this total amount is equal to or greater than the applicable international threshold, the contracting authority may apply the provisions of the procedure laid down in Chapter IV of this Law to any lots, where the value of any of the lots, VAT excluded, is up to LTL 276,224 (EUR 80,000), in the case of service contracts, or LTL 3,452,800 (EUR 1,000,000) in the case of works contracts, if the total value of the lots is up to 20% of the total value of the contract.
The calculation of the value of a preliminary agreement shall be based on adding up the estimated value of all the contracts envisaged for the total term of the agreement. Article
Excluded Contracts
The following contracts shall be exempt from the application of this Law: 1) public contracts related to state secrets as they are defined by laws, or official secrets established by laws if the contracts are awarded by entities engaged in operational activities, where supply of products or services or performance of works must be accompanied by special security measures in accordance with the laws or regulations adopted by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or when the protection of the basic interests of the state security so requires. The procedure for awarding contracts of the type shall be set by the Government of Lithuania pursuant to the basic provisions of this and other Laws, which ensure protection of state or official secrets as well as other interests of the state; 2) contracts awarded by the Lithuanian Army units stationed in foreign states under international agreements. The procedure for awarding contracts of this type shall laid down by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania; 3) procurement or lease of land, the existing buildings or other immovables, or acquisition of the title thereto, except for the procurement of financial services related to the above procurement contracts - financial services shall be procured subject to the requirements this Law. The procedure of procurement or lease of land, existing buildings or other immovables, or acquisition of the title thereto shall be established by the Government; 4) repealed; 5) contracts awarded pursuant to other rules and for other purposes according to an international agreement concluded in conformity with the EC Treaty between Lithuania and one or more third countries, which are not EU members, and covering supplies, works, services intended for the implementation or exploitation of a project by the signatory states; all agreements shall be communicated to the Commission; 6) contracts awarded pursuant to the particular procedure of an international organisation; [until 2004.05.01 7) contracts awarded pursuant to Article 296 of the EC Treaty. The procedure of procurement under the above provisions shall be set forth by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. [from 2004.05.01 7) contracts awarded pursuant to Article 296 of the EC Treaty. The procedure of procurement under the above provisions as well as the procedure sof compensation in the event of purchasing of arms, munitions, explosives or other military supplies hall be set forth by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. *8) contracts awarded according to other procedural rules pursuant to an international agreement concluded with respect to supplies, works, services intended for the implementation or use of the common project of the signatory states; *9) contracts awarded pursuant to the provisions of Article 121 of the Europe Agreement establishing an Association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Lithuania, of the other part. The procedure for awarding the above contracts as well as the compensation procedure in the event of procurement of arms, munitions, explosives or other military supplies hall be set forth by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.
In case of public services contracts, the following service contracts shall be excluded form the scope of this Law: 1) employment contracts; 2) contracts for financial services connected with monetary, exchange rate, state debt management, treasury agency, foreign stocks management policies, as well as financial services in other activities in connection with the creation, issue, purchase, sale, assignment or transfer of securities and other financial instruments; 3) contracts for services provided by the Bank of Lithuania; 4) contracts for financial services provided by international financial institutions; 5) contracts for services of arbitration and reconciliation; 6) contracts for the acquisition of time for radio and television programme development, preparation for broadcasting, broadcasting of already developed radio and television broadcasts. The above procurement procedure shall be laid down by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania; [until 2004.05.01 7) contracts for public fixed telephone services; [from 2004.05.01 7) repealed; 8) contracts for research and development services, except for those research and development services the benefit from which is used solely for business needs of the contracting authority and which are fully paid for by the contracting authority; 9) public service contracts awarded by another contracting authority which enjoys the relevant exclusive rights granted under the appropriate legal act in line with the EU requirements.
The requirements of this Law shall not be applicable with respect to the following contracts awarded by the contracting authorities in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors: 1) contracts awarded for the purposes other than those referred to in subparagraphs 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of Article 55

(2)or for such activities which are carried out in a third country and do not involve the physical use of networks and geographical area of the EU member states; 2) contracts awarded for the purpose of resale or lease of the procurement object to the third parties provided the contracting authority has no special or exclusive rights to resell or lease objects of such contracts, and other economic entities are free to resell or lease the procurement object under the same terms and conditions as the contracting authority; 3) contracts awarded for the purpose of acquiring services from affiliated undertakings or when the services are acquired by an undertaking established by several contracting authorities for the purpose of carrying out activities specified in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Article 55

(2)of this Law, from one of the contracting authorities which established the undertaking or from one of its affiliated undertakings, provided that at least 80% of the average turnover of that undertaking with respect to services arising within the Community for the preceding three years derives from the provision of such services by affiliated undertakings. Where more than one undertaking affiliated with the contracting authority provides the same service or similar services, the total turnover in the Community deriving from the provision of services by those undertakings shall be taken into account; 4) contracts awarded for the purpose of delivering one or several telecommunication services, if other entities may offer the same services in the same geographical area under the same conditions; 5) contracts which contracting authorities engaged in the water management sector award for the purchase of water for production or supply of drinking water; 6) contracts which contracting authorities engaged in the energy sector award for the purchase of energy or fuel for the production of electricity or heat. The procedure for awarding contracts of this type shall be set forth by the Government.

The contracting authority must notify the Public Procurement Office of the contracts specified in paragraph 3 (1, 2, 4) above, provided the contracting authority regards the above contracts as excluded. The Public Procurement Office shall be responsible for communicating this information to the EU Commission upon its request.
An affiliated undertaking means any undertaking the annual accounts of which are consolidated with those of the contracting authority, or, where the annual accounts of the undertaking are not consolidated with those of the contracting authority pursuant to the laws of the Republic of Lithuania, any other undertaking directly or indirectly dependent on the contracting authority or undertaking over which any other undertaking may exercise, directly or indirectly, a dominant influence or which may exercise a dominant influence over the contracting authority or which, in common with the contracting authority, is subject to the dominant influence of another undertaking by virtue of ownership, financial participation, or the rules which govern it. Direct or indirect dominant influence shall be presumed, accordingly, to mean the holding of over 50% of capital, control of the majority of the votes or authority to appoint more than half of the members of the undertaking's managing bodies. Upon the request of the European Commission, the contracting authority shall provide it with information about procurement from affiliated undertakings: 1) company names of the affiliated undertakings; 2) the nature and value of the service contracts concerned; 3) such proof as may be deemed necessary by the Commission that the relationship between the undertaking to which the contracts are awarded and the contracting authority complies with the requirements of this Article. * Note. subparagraphs 8 and 9 of Article 9

(1)shall be repealed as of the day of Lithuania's accession to the European Union. Article

International Threshold Values
The international threshold values net of VAT are fixed to be as follows: 1) LTL 448,864 (EUR 130,000) for public supply and service contracts, except those referred to in this paragraph, subparagraph 4, awarded or design contest is carried out by contracting authorities which are on the list of contracting authorities belonging to the central state administration system, approved by the Government or an institution authorised by it, whereas when contracts are awarded by the national defence authorities that are on the above list, this threshold value shall apply only to contracts involving products covered by the list of products approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania; 2) LTL 690,560 (EUR 200,000) when contracts for procurement of goods that are not on the list of goods approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania are awarded by defence authorities, which are on the list of contracting authorities belonging to the state administration system, approved by the Government or an institution authorised by it; 3) LTL 690,560 (EUR 200,000) where supplies and services are procured by contracting authorities other than those listed in the list of contracting authorities belonging to the central state administration system approved by the Government or an institution authorised by it; 4) LTL 690,560 (EUR 200,000) where the public contract concerns telecommunications services of category 5 (codes 7524, 7525 and 7526) and research and development services of category 8 as listed in the list of A-type services in Annex II, and such contracts are awarded or design contests are carried out by all types of contracting authorities; 5) LTL 17,264,000 (EUR 5,000,000) for public works contracts.
The international threshold values net of VAT for the contracts awarded by contracting authorities operating the water, energy, transport or telecommunications sectors shall be as follows: 1) LTL 2,071,680 (EUR 600,000) where public supplies or services contract are awarded or the design contest is carried out by the contracting authority operating in the field of telecommunications; 2) LTL 1,381,120 (EUR 400,000) where public supplies or services contracts are awarded or the design contest is carried out by the contracting authorities operating in the field of water, energy or transport; 3) LTL 17,264,000 (EUR 5,000,000) for works contracts. Article
Peculiarities of Public Contracts
Public contracts other than those referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, the value whereof is equal to or greater than the thresholds specified in this Law, Article 10

(1), shall be subject to the procurement rules set forth in Chapter II of this Law. 2. Contracts of the value equal to or greater than the thresholds specified in Article 10

(2)and awarded by the contracting authorities operating in the water, energy, transport or telecommunications sectors shall be subject to the procurement rules set forth in Chapter III of this Law.

Where the contracting authority subsidises directly more than 50% of a works contract falling under group 45.2 of category 45 on the list in the Annex I to this Law, or a work contract relating to construction of hospitals and other health care institutions, facilities intended for sports, recreation and leisure, school and university buildings and buildings used for administrative purposes, it shall follow the provisions of this Law when procuring all works necessary for construction of the object concerned.
Where the contracting authority subsidises directly more than 50% of an individual contract concerning services that are procured in relation to the works contracts referred to in paragraph 3 above, then all such services contracts shall be awarded subject to the provisions of this Law.
Where the procurement could be subject to the provisions both in Chapter II and Chapter III of this Law, whereas the objective of procurement cannot be divided, then such procurement shall be subject to the rules set forth either in Chapter II or Chapter III of this Law, depending on which purpose of the procurement is more important.
Where any lot of the procurement is subject to the provisions contained in Chapter III of this Law, while it is not possible to determine, in an objective manner, the provisions of which Chapter - II or III - should apply with respect to the remaining lots of the contract, such procurement shall be subject to the rules set forth in Chapter III.
Public contracts the value whereof is below the international thresholds, as well as the public contracts referred to in this Law, Article 8

(13)shall be subject to the procurement rules set forth in Chapter IV of this Law.

The peculiarities of public contracts for the procurement of B-type services listed in Annex II to this Law shall be specified in Chapter IV.
Where B-type services listed in Annex II to this Law are procured together with A-type services listed in the same Annex II, and the value of such services exceeds the threshold fixed for B-type services, the procurement procedure shall be chosen based on the provisions of paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of this Article.
Contracts whereby the concession is granted to the supplier shall be subject to the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Concessions. Article
Authorising another Contracting Authority to Award a Public Contract
The contracting authority may authorise another contracting authority (hereinafter referred to as “the authorised entity”) to organise and carry out the procurement procedures until the award of the contract. For this purpose, the contracting authority shall formulate the tasks for the authorised entity and give all the powers necessary to carry out these tasks. The authorisation shall be executed following the procedure set forth in the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania.
The responsibility for the tasks assigned to the authorised entity shall rest with the contracting authority, while the authorised entity shall be responsible for the execution of the tasks. The contracting authority shall be responsible for the conclusion and implementation of the contract. Article
Procurement Commission
For arranging and executing procurement, the contracting authority must, or, if the usual commercial procedure is followed, may appoint the Public Procurement Commission (hereinafter - Commission), set its tasks and grant it the powers required for the fulfilment of said tasks. Should the contracting authority decide to authorise another contracting authority to perform these acts for it, these acts shall be performed by the authorised entity. The Commission shall work according to the work regulations approved by the founder, shall be responsible to the founder, and shall execute only the tasks or assignments of the founder that are given in writing. The contracting authority which forms the Commission shall be liable for its actions.
The Commission shall be formed on the instruction (order) of the contracting authority of at least 3 natural persons. The members of the Commission, except for the Chairperson, may also be employed on a contract basis. The Commission shall function on behalf of the contracting authority within the scope of the powers granted to it. The Commission shall function from the day of adoption of the decision concerning its formation until the fulfilment of all tasks given by the founding authority in writing, or until the decision to terminate the procurement is taken. The Commission shall adopt decisions at the meetings by a simple majority vote, voting by open ballot. In the event of a tie, the Chairperson of the Commission shall have a casting vote. The Commission’s decisions shall be recorded in the minutes. The minutes shall specify the reasons of the Commission's decision, give explanations and the opinion of each Commission member. The minutes shall be signed by all the members present at the Commission meeting. The Chairperson of the Commission shall be either the head of the entity which formed the Commission or a person authorised by him. When appointing the Commission members, regard must be had to their knowledge in the area of economics, technology, and legislation as well as their cognisance of this Law and other legal acts regulating public procurement. Only persons with impeccable reputation may be appointed members or Chairperson of the Commission. The entity which forms the Commission shall have the right invite experts.
Except in cases prescribed by the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania, the Commission members and the experts invited by the contracting authority shall be prohibited from providing third persons with any information concerning the contents of the tenders submitted by suppliers.
Every Commission member and expert may take part in the work of the Commission only upon signing the declaration of impartiality and the statement of confidentiality.
Commission members and experts shall be held liable for their work under the laws of the Republic of Lithuania. Article
Communication and Information Exchange
All communication and information exchange between the contracting authority and suppliers may be performed by letter, by fax, by electronic means in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article, by telephone under the circumstances referred to in paragraph 5, or by a combination of those means, according to the choice of the contracting authority.
Communication and information exchange shall be carried out in such a way as to ensure that the integrity of data and the confidentiality of tenders and of all information supplied by economic entities are preserved, and that the contracting authorities examine the content of tenders only after the expiration of the time-limit fixed for submitting them.
The means of communication chosen must be generally available (i.e., all suppliers can use them) and thus not restrict economic entities' access to the procurement procedures.
In case electronic means are chosen for communication and information exchange purposes, the following rules shall apply: 1) the technical characteristics of the tools to be used for communicating by electronic means must be compatible with the information and communication technology products in general use, and may not unreasonably restrict the possibilities of the economic entities to take part in the procurement procedure; 2) the information so communicated, including the measures serving to protect the contents from unauthorised access, must be accessible to the interested parties (contracting authority, suppliers); 3) the receipt of requests and tenders must be confirmed by the contracting authority; 4) a candidate or tenderer must submit, before expiry of the time limit laid down for receipt of tenders, the documents in proof of his qualifications specified in the contract which may not be transmitted by electronic means of communication.
Requests for participation in procurement procedures may be filed in writing or submitted by telephone. Where requests for participation are submitted by telephone, a written confirmation must be sent before expiry of the time limit fixed for their submission.
Contracting authorities shall have the right to request that requests for participation in procurement procedures submitted by fax must be confirmed by post or by electronic means. Any such requirement, together with the deadline for sending confirmation by post or electronic means, must be stated by the contracting authority in the contract notice. Article
Contract
The contracting authority shall offer the contract of procurement to the supplier whose tender is recognised as the successful tender in accordance with the provisions of this Law. In the event only one supplier was invited to take part in the negotiated procedure, the contract shall be awarded to such supplier, provided that he meets qualification requirements laid down by the contracting authority. The supplier shall be invited to conclude the contract by a written notice informing him that his tender has been recognised as the successful tender, or as the acceptable tender in case of the negotiated procedure with one supplier, and be indicated the date by which he is to arrive and conclude the procurement contract.
If the supplier, who has been given a proposal of contract award, refuses the award in writing or fails to present security for the performance of the procurement contract prescribed by contract documents or fails to come to sign the procurement contract by the date specified by the contracting authority, or refuses to conclude the contract under the conditions laid down in the contract documents, or a group of legal entities fails to establish a legal person as prescribed in paragraph 4 of this Article, he shall be considered to have refused the award of the procurement contract. In such event the contracting authority shall propose awarding the contract to the supplier whose tender in the descending order of tenders is next after that of the successful tenderer who refused the contract award.
When awarding the procurement contract, the price given in the successful tender, as well as the contract terms and conditions specified the contract documents may not be altered.
If the contract is awarded to a group of economic entities who submitted a tender under the joint activity agreement, the contracting authority may request that such group of economic entities acquire a certain legal form, where this is necessary in order to duly execute the procurement contract. The requirement for legal form may be set in the contract documents. If, when selecting the legal form, the contracting authority requests that the group of legal persons whose tender has been recognised as the successful tender establish a legal person, it shall conclude the contract with the established legal person. Having established a legal person, the economic entities shall provide a security for the obligations of the legal person established by them, relating to the performance of the contract. A notice to the effect shall also be made in the contract documents.
After the award of the contract the contracting authority shall as soon as possible, but not later than within 3 working days dispatch a notice of the results of the award procedure to other tenderers.
The contract shall cover the following items: 1) rights and obligations of the parties; 2) the object of the contract - supplies, services or works, and their exact quantities or scope (if possible); 3) the price or pricing rules; 4) price and rates adjustment for inflation, if the term of the contract exceeds 1 year; 5) adjustment of the price and rates due to the changes in tax rates; 6) payment procedures; 7) deadlines for discharging obligations; 8) security for discharging obligations; 9) dispute settlement procedure; 10) procedure for termination of the contract; 11) the contract period; 12) provisions typical to the preliminary agreements, if relevant .
The contract of procurement shall be concluded in writing, except for the case specified in Article 99

(4)of this Law. Article

Report on the Procurement Procedures
The contracting authority shall present a report to the Public Procurement Office on any contract awarded according to Chapters II, III and IV of this Law, including the cases where a preliminary agreement is signed, but excluding contracts awarded within the framework of preliminary agreement, contracts awarded applying the usual commercial practice and contracts awarded in accordance with the procedure established in Article 64

(2)of this Law.. The report shall include: 1) the name, code, address, telephone number of the contracting authority; 2) the type of procedure; when the negotiated procedure is selected - the reasons for choosing it as indicated in Articles 44, 45, 58 and 65; 3) short description of the contract or preliminary agreement, and the contract value; 4) the names and addresses of the suppliers who submitted tenders; 5) the names of the candidates not invited to submit tender (to negotiate) as well as the reasons for refusal to invite; 6) the names of the tenderers whose tenders were rejected and the reasons for rejection; 7) description of tender evaluation and comparison procedure, and the conclusion of the Commission regarding the successful tender, the name of the successful tenderer and motives for the selection of that tender; 8) the share of funds that the successful tenderer intends to allocate to third parties subcontracted for the purpose of implementing the contract or the preliminary agreement, should such information be available to the contracting authority; 9) if the procurement procedures were terminated or in case of failure to award the contract for any other reasons, the reasons for the failure to awards the contract; 10) other information prescribed by the Public Procurement Office. 2. The report shall be drafted and delivered to the Public Procurement Office within 14 days after the date of finalising the procurement procedures. The Public Procurement Office shall forward the relevant information to the EU Commission. 3. The contracting authority shall furnish to the Public Procurement Office a report about the contracts. The contracting authority specified in subparagraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 3

(1)of this Law shall furnish reports about the contracts awarded in the course of the financial year following the usual commercial practice, whereas the contracting authority indicated in subparagraph 4 of a 3

(1)of this Law shall submit reports about all principal contracts awarded under preliminary agreements in one financial year and about the contracts awarded under Article 63

(2)of this Law. Reports shall be submitted within 30 days after the end of the reporting financial year. 4. The contracting authority shall within 14 days submit to the Public Procurement Office a report about any executed or terminated contract, except for the contract awarded following the usual commercial practice or according to the procedure established in Article 64

(2)- of this Law.

The report referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be obligatory even if the public contract concerns B-type services listed in Annex II of this Law.
The information specified in this Article, paragraph 1, subparagraphs 1-4 shall be furnished to any person at his request.
The information specified in this a, paragraph 1, subparagraphs 5-9 shall be furnished to any candidate or tenderer at his request.
The report on the procurement procedures and the procurement reports shall be drawn up and submitted using standard forms approved by and complying with the requirements set by the Public Procurement Office. The date given in the reports shall be entered in the computerised data base. Article
Preservation of Documents The performed procurement contracts, requests, tenders, contract documents and documents relating to examination and evaluation of requests and tenders, other procurement related documents shall be preserved in the manner prescribed by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Archives. CHAPTER II CONTRACTS AWARDED BY STATE OR LOCAL AUTHORITIES, OTHER PUBLIC OR PRIVATE LEGAL PERSONS MEETING THE CONDITIONS OF ARTICLE 3

(2)OF THIS LAW, ASSOCIATIONS OF ONE OR SEVERAL STATE OR LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND(OR) OTHER PUBLIC OR PRIVATE LEGAL PERSONS MEETING THE CONDITIONS OF ARTICLE 3

(2)OF THIS LAW SECTION ONE GENERAL PROVISIONS Article

Contract Notices
In cases referred to in this Law, the contracting authority shall: 1) publish a prior information notice of any planned procurement in cases referred to in this Article, paragraph 2; 2) publish a contract notice of each specific procurement, including the procurement for which a preliminary agreement is to be awarded; 3) publish a contract or a preliminary agreement award notice, as well as the notice of the design contest results.
Prior information notice about any procurement, including procurement for which a preliminary agreement is to be awarded, shall be compulsory in the following cases: 1) where value of a supply or services contract to be awarded in the next 12 months, estimated according to the provisions of Article 8 of this Law, is LTL 2,589,600 (EUR 750,000) or more; 2) where the estimated value of a public works contract is LTL 17,264,000 (EUR 5,000,000) or more.
A prior information notice about the contracts that the contracting authority intends to award shall contain the following: 1) for public supplies contracts - the nature of products concerned, the estimated total value and quantity of products to be procured in the next 12 months; the product CPA reference number; 2) for public service contracts - the category of services, the estimated total value of service contracts to be awarded in the next 12 months; CPA reference number of the services; 3) for public works contracts - the nature and scope of work, and estimated value of works concerned; 4) name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address of the contracting authority and address, if different from the contracting authority's address, at which additional information may be obtained; 5) information on whether the procurement concerned is subject to the WTO GPA; 6) the date of dispatch of the prior information notice; 7) other information prescribed by the Public Procurement Office.
The contracting authority shall publish prior information notices without delay at the beginning of the financial year in case of supplies and services contracts, and, in case of public works contracts, immediately after making the decision to approve construction of objects.
Except in cases where the contract is awarded by way of negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice, the contracting authority shall publish a separate contract notice of every contract containing the following information: 1) name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address of the contracting authority where the technical specification and other support documents may be obtained, as well as the address, if different, of the service from which a copy of technical specifications and other support documentation may be obtained; 2) intended procurement of products, works or services; 3) type of the contract award procedure; 4) information that suppliers must submit their requests for participation in writing, as well as the deadline for submission of such requests; 5) the fee for contract documents where such fee has been fixed and the manner of payment; 6) where applicable, prohibition of variants; 7) final date fixed for receipt of tenders and the address to which they must be sent, the language or languages in which they must be drawn up; 8) list of documents, including the proof of the supplier’s qualification, to be appended to the tender; 9) in cases specified in this Law - criteria for selection of candidates; minimum number of candidates to be selected; 10) the date of dispatch of the contract notice (the date when the notice was dispatched from the Public Procurement Office); 11) any other information requested by the Public Procurement Office.
The contracting authority shall publish a contract award notice, as well as a notice about the results of the design contest as prescribed by Article 19 of this Law. Such notices shall be dispatched as soon as possible, but not later than within 48 days after the contract is awarded or the results of the design contest are announced.
The contract award notice shall not contain any confidential information, where release of such information would impede law enforcement or otherwise be contrary to the public interest, would harm the legitimate commercial interests of suppliers, or prejudice the free competition between them. The contract award notices, nevertheless, shall contain at least the same information as in the contract notice.
The Public Procurement Office shall fix the standard forms and requirements for notices. Article
Publication of Notices
Notices (prior information notices, contract notices, contract award notices or design contest reports ) shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, as well as in "Informaciniai praneðimai" (the information supplement to the official gazette "Valstybës žinios" and the website of the official gazette.
In addition, contracting authorities may publish contract notices in publications or websites other than those specified in paragraph 1 above.
The contracting authority shall submit to the Public Procurement Office all notices to be published in the publications specified in paragraph 1 above. The Public Procurement Office shall forward all notices conforming to the requirements of this Law for publication in the journals referred to in paragraph 1 above within 3 working days after receipt thereof, and inform the contracting authority concerned about the date and means of dispatch. The date of dispatch so established shall serve as the starting date for calculation of time limits for sending notices, and as the PIN or contract notice dispatch date. The contracting authority must keep the documents confirming the dispatch of notices specified in this Article at the fixed date.
Notices shall be submitted in the manner specified by the Public Procurement Office.
The notices may not be published in other publications prior to the date of dispatch thereof to the Office of Official Publications of the European Communities. The same notices published in different publications shall contain the same information.
In case of urgency, the contracting authority may request that the Public Procurement Office dispatch without delay the relevant notice to the Office of Official Publications of the European Communities by electronic means.
Contract notices shall be published in an official language of the Community as chosen by the contracting authority (this publication of the notice shall be considered as the authentic text). A summary of the notice shall be published in any other official language of the European Union.
The contracting authority shall also publish notices of public contracts the value whereof at the time of publication is below the international thresholds, but it is likely that the value of the contract or contracts awarded will increase above the thresholds as a result of the procurement procedures. Article
Contract documents
In contract documents the contracting authority shall give comprehensive information about the contract conditions and award procedures with the exception of the cases laid down in this Law.
The contract documents shall include: 1) instructions to suppliers (how to draw up tenders); 2) supplier qualification requirements, including qualification requirements for a group of individual suppliers who submitted one tender, or a group of suppliers acting under a joint activity agreement; 3) supplier qualification assessment procedure and the minimum number of candidates to be invited to submit their tenders, where the contracting authority has the right to restrict the number of tenderers in cases specified in this Law; 4) documents required to prove supplier qualifications; 5) indication of the products, services or works concerned, amounts, the nature of services incidental to the main public supplies contract, time limits for delivery of products, rendering of services and performance of works; 6) technical specifications; 7) tender evaluation criteria and conditions; 8) terms and conditions of the contract proposed to the parties by the contracting authority, and a draft contract (if available); 9) indication if variants are allowed and minimum requirements to the variants; 10) indication of the possibility of tendering for one, for several or for all the lots, as well as description of such lots; 11) information about price calculation and the manner of indication thereof in the tenders. The price shall include all relevant taxes; 12) tender security and contract performance security requirements; 13) deadline, place and manner for receipt of tenders; 14) ways how the suppliers may request clarification of the contract documents and where to obtain information about the meeting of the contracting authority with suppliers (if any), also ways in which the contracting authority may on its own initiative clarify (revise) contract documents (without changing the subject matter of the announced information and presenting the clarification (revision) to all suppliers to whom the contracting authority has presented contract documents); 15) the date until which the tender shall be valid or required tender validity period; 16) place, date and time fixed for the opening of tenders; 17) tender opening and tender evaluation procedures; 18) information that the prices offered will be in Litas. If the prices are quoted in foreign currency, they will be converted into Litas at the exchange rate fixed by the Bank of Lithuania on the last day of the period set for receipt of tenders; 19) names, surnames, addresses, telephone and fax numbers of the public servants or employees of the contracting authority, or members of the procurement commission (one or several) authorised to keep in touch with the suppliers (contractors) and obtain from them, without any mediators, information regarding the procurement procedures; 20) any other requirements set by the Public Procurement Office under this Law or other procurement legislation; 21) reference to the PIN published in the official gazette “Valstybes žinios” (supplement “Informaciniai praneðimai”) and a special publication of the Office of Official Publications of the European Communities, other publications and the Internet in case of the publication of a prior information notice.
Prior information notices and contract notices shall be a constituent part of the contract documents. The contracting authority may choose not to repeat information provided in the notices, unless requested by the suppliers.
The contracting authority shall draft contract documents in compliance with the provisions of this Law.
The contracting authority may specify in the contract documents the existing legislation regulating labour protection and working conditions, and request that suppliers append to their tenders their confirmation that they and their subcontractors will meet the specified requirements. The contracting authority may also require to provide information on subcontracting and subcontractors.
Contract documents shall be drawn up in Lithuanian. In addition, contract documents may also be drawn up in English, German, French or Russian. Article
Technical Specification
Supplies, services or works in procurement shall be described in technical specifications contained in contract documents.
Technical specifications must ensure competition and be non-discriminatory with respect to suppliers, as well as encourage, where applicable, offering the alternative technical solutions.
Technical specifications shall be formulated by any of the following methods or their combination: 1) by referring to a standard, technical regulation or norm; 2) by describing functional characteristics or performance requirements; these characteristics or requirements must be precise and clear so as to allow the suppliers to draw up tenders, and the contracting authority to acquire the necessary supplies, services or works.
The contracting authority shall reject all tenders offering supplies, services or works that fail to meet the technical specifications.
Technical specifications shall be defined by reference to the Lithuanian standards implementing European standards or by reference to European technical approvals, or, when these do not exist, international standards or other national standards or national technical approvals, or any other technical reference approved by the national standardisation institution, provided that the reference is accompanied by the indication that suppliers may refer to other standards or technical references approved by national standardisation institutions of other EU member states, that are equivalent to the national standards or technical references. The contracting authority shall have no right to reject a tender on the grounds that the products, services or works tendered do not comply with the standards indicated in the technical specification, where the tenderer can show in his tender, by whatever appropriate means, that the solutions he proposes satisfy in an equivalent manner the requirements defined by the technical specifications.
Where a contracting authority describes the procurement object in terms of performance or functional requirements, it may not reject a tender for products, services or works which comply with a national standard transposing a European standard, with a European technical approval, a common technical specification, an international standard, a technical reference system established by a European standardisation institution, and in his tender the tenderer proves to the satisfaction of the contracting authority and by any appropriate means that the product, service or work in compliance with the standard meets the functional or performance requirements of the contracting authority.
Technical specifications shall not refer to goods of specific make or source, or a particular process, or to trade marks, patents, types or a specific origin or production, except where the contracting authorities are unable to give a description of the subject matter of the contract using specifications which are sufficiently precise and fully intelligible or the necessary object may be offered only by a particular supplier. In such case the contracting authority must specify that it will accept products or services that are equivalent in terms of their properties by adding the words “or equivalent”.
Appropriate means referred to in paragraphs 5 and 6 above might be constituted by a technical dossier of the manufacturer or a test report by a recognised body. "Recognised bodies" are test and calibration laboratories, and certification and inspection bodies which comply with applicable European standards. Contracting authorities shall accept conformity certificates from recognised bodies established in the EU member states. Article
Providing with Contract Documents
The contracting authority may provide the supplier with contract documents: 1) upon supplier’s request; 2) together with the invitation to tender; 3) by placing on the Internet or using other electronic means.
The contracting authority must provided the suppliers with the contract documents within 6 days after the receipt of the request for provision with contract documents. Suppliers shall request the contract documents no later than 6 days before the deadline fixed for receipt of tenders or requests to participate. If, on the basis of Article 40

(5)or Article 48

(5)(cases of urgency), the contracting authority reduces the time limits fixed for receipt of requests and tenders, the time limit for providing with contract documents and the time limit for the suppliers' request for contract documents shall be reduced to 4 days.

The time-limits for providing with contract documents referred to in this Article, paragraph 2, shall not apply if the contracting authority immediately after the date of despatch of a contract notice or invitation to tender provides the suppliers with the contract documents by electronic means directly and free of charge.
The contracting authority may not provide the contract documents before the contract notice is published as specified in Article 19

(3). When providing the contract documents, the contracting authority shall observe the principles of equality and non-discrimination of suppliers.

The contracting authority may fix for all suppliers a single rate fee payable for the contract documents. The fee shall consist of the actual costs of copying and sending of the documents to the suppliers. An additional fee may be charged for translation of documents into a foreign language; this fee shall consist of the translation costs. Article
Submission of Requests and Tenders
The contracting authority shall specify the deadline for submission of requests or tenders by indicating in the contract documents the date and the hour. In the event a tender is received after the specified date and hour, it shall be returned to the supplier unopened.
The minimum time limits for the receipt of requests or tenders shall be counted from the date when the contract notice was dispatched from the Public Procurement Office to a special publication of the Office of Official Publications of the European Communities or to the official gazette “Valstybes žinios” (supplement “Informaciniai praneðimai”) or the date of dispatch of the invitations to candidates.
All minimum time-limits for the receipt of requests or tenders fixed by the contracting authority may not be shorter than those set in Articles 38, 40, 48 or 60 of this Law, and shall be sufficiently long to give interested parties reasonable time for drawing up and submitting their tenders. When fixing these time limits, the contracting authority shall take account of the complexity of the public procurement and the time required for drawing up requests and tenders.
If, for whatever reason, the contract documents or parts thereof, although requested in good time, have not been supplied within the fixed time-limits, or where it transpires after the submission of contract documents that tenders can be made only after a visit to the site or after on-the-spot inspection of the documents supporting the contract documents, the time-limits for the receipt of tenders shall be extended so that they only apply once all suppliers concerned are aware of all the information needed to produce a tender.
A request or tender may be submitted on the basis of a joint activity agreement by a group of economic entities. The group of economic entities shall not be required to establish a new legal person in order to submit a request or tender.
The contracting authority shall indicate in the contract documents, that the request or tender has to be submitted in writing and duly signed by the supplier or a person authorised by the supplier. It shall also request to submit the tenders in sealed and stamped envelopes. If the contracting authority intends to choose the most economically advantageous tender, in the contract documents it shall request the suppliers to submit two sealed and stamped envelopes: one with the price offer, the other with the remaining parts of the tender (technical data and other information and documents). The two envelopes shall be put into another sealed and stamped envelope. The pages of the tender (with supplements) must be numbered and bound, and endorsed by the supplier’s signature and seal on the backside of the last page. Only the tender security documents may be presented loose and not numbered. The requirement to submit the tender or parts thereof in envelopes and to submit the tender bound shall not be applicable if the contracting authority accepts tenders transmitted using the electronic means.
The tenders may be submitted by electronic means only on the condition that: 1) the electronic means employed ensure that the contracting authority or other suppliers will access the contents of the tenders only after the expiry of the period fixed for receipt of tenders; 2) the tender contains all information requested in the contract documents; 3) upon submission of the tender by electronic means, the supplier immediately forwards a confirmation of the submitted tender by non-electronic means, or provides the contracting authority, by non-electronic means, with a certified copy of the tender.
Upon the supplier's request, the contracting authority shall furnish a confirmation of the receipt of the tender by specifying the date and time of receipt. Article
Tender Validity Period. Modifying and Revoking Tenders
A tender shall be valid for a period of time specified by the supplier. The period may not be shorter than that set in the contract documents. If the tender does not specify the period of its validity, it shall be considered to be valid for the period indicated in the contract documents.
As long as the tender validity period has not expired, the contracting authority may request suppliers to extending the validity period until the specified date. Any supplier may reject such a request without loosing his right to the tender security.
A supplier who agrees to extend the tender validity period and notifies the contracting authority thereof in writing, shall extend the validity period of the tender or provide a new tender security. If the supplier fails to respond to the request made by the contracting authority as regards extension of the tender validity period, or does not extend the validity period or fails to provide a new guarantee to secure the tender, then it shall be deemed that such supplier rejected the request of the contracting authority.
At any time before the deadline for receipt of tenders the supplier may modify or revoke his tender without loosing the right to the security of his tender. Any such modification or notification about the tender being revoked shall be deemed valid, if the contracting authority received such notification before the deadline fixed for the receipt of tenders. Article
Tender Security and Security for the Performance of the Contract
The contracting authority may request that the effectiveness of tenders, and the performance of the contract be guaranteed by the security for the performance of obligations, established by the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania.
The contracting authority may not reject the tender security or the security for the performance of the contract on the grounds that the security was issued not by an economic entity of the Republic of Lithuania, provided that the tender security and the security for the performance of the contract and the supplier who issued the security conform to the requirements set forth in the contract documents.
Prior to submitting a tender, a supplier may request the contracting authority to confirm that it finds the proposed tender security acceptable. In such case the contracting authority shall respond to the supplier’s request within 3 working days from the receipt of the request. Such confirmation shall not preclude the contracting authority from rejecting the tender security upon receipt of information that the issuer has become insolvent or defaulted on its obligations to the contracting authority or other economic entities, or otherwise lacks creditworthiness. Article
Opening of Tenders
Tenders shall be opened at the meeting of the Procurement Commission. The meeting shall be held at the place and tenders shall be opened on the day, at the hour specified in the contract documents. As used in this Law, the initial examination of the tenders received buy electronic means shall be equivalent to the opening of tenders. The day and the hour must coincide with the deadline for receipt of tenders. The change of the deadline for receipt of tenders shall result in the change of the date for opening tenders. At the fixed time, the Commission shall open all tenders received within the time limits fixed for their submission. All suppliers who submitted tenders or their representatives shall have the right to be present during the tender opening procedure, except in cases where the contract is awarded by way of negotiated procedure with or without publication of a contract notice.
If the contracting authority chose to evaluate tenders as the most economically advantageous tenders, the tenders shall be opened at two meetings of the Procurement Commission. The envelopes containing technical offer shall be opened during the first, and envelopes with the price offers - during the second meeting of the Commission. The second meeting may take place only after the contracting authority verifies the compliance with the technical and qualification requirements against the levels fixed in the contract documents, and assesses the technical merits of the tenders and, in cases specified in this Law, the qualification of suppliers. The contracting authority shall communicate in writing the results of such verification and assessment to all suppliers concerned, indicating the time and place of the second meeting Commission.
Envelopes shall be opened by one member of the Commission in the presence of the suppliers who submitted their tenders or their representatives. Envelopes shall be opened even if the supplier or its representative is not present at the meeting.
After opening of the envelope, all members of the Commission present at the meeting shall sign on the backside of the last page of the tender.
The outcomes of the opening procedure shall be recorded into the minutes of the meeting, the compulsory prerequisites whereof shall be defined by the Public Procurement Office.
During the procedure of opening envelopes with technical data of the tender, the Commission shall announce the company name of the supplier and the main technical data of the tender to all the suppliers or their representatives present in the meeting. Should at least one supplier or its representative request so, the Commission shall announce all technical data of the tender that will be taken into account when evaluating the tenders.
During the procedure of opening of envelopes with price offers, the Commission shall announce the company name of the supplier and the price offered to all the suppliers or their representatives present in the meeting.
The information announced during the envelope opening procedures shall be communicated in writing to all suppliers concerned who were not present, if they request so. Each supplier or its representative taking part in the envelope opening procedure shall have the right to examine the publicly announced information; however, when communicating such information, the contracting authority may not disclose the confidential information provided in the tender.
The subsequent tender analysis, evaluation and comparison procedures shall be conducted by the Commission alone, not in the presence of the suppliers. Article
Variants
The contracting authority shall indicate in the contract notice whether or not it authorises variants (i.e., tenders offering contract conditions or characteristics of the contract object other than those specified in the contract documents). Variants shall be allowed only where the criterion for the award of the contract is that of the most economically advantageous tender. Only variants meeting the minimum requirements laid down by the contracting authority shall be taken into consideration.
The contracting authority shall state in the contract documents the minimum specifications to be respected by the variants and any specific requirements for their presentation.
In the procedures for awarding public supplies or services contracts, the contracting authority which has admitted variants, may not reject a variant on the sole ground that it would lead to a service contract rather than a public supplies contract or vice versa. Article
Verifying Suppliers’ Qualification
The contracting authority must verify whether a supplier is competent, reliable and capable of executing the contract. Therefore the contracting authority may define in the contract documents the minimum requirements for the qualification of candidates or suppliers (right to engage in a certain activity, financial, economic, technical and production capability) and request that candidates or suppliers provide the information and documents proving their qualification as specified in the contract documents.
The minimum levels of qualification requirements for candidates or tenderers fixed by the contracting authority may not have the restrictive effect on competition, and must be reasonable, clear and precise. The contracting authority may request from the suppliers only such information that is necessary to identify whether the supplier meets the financial, economic and technical requirements. The requirements may not prejudice the supplier's right to protect intellectual property, production or trade secrets. Requirements to the qualification, as well as to the information and documents to be supplied by the candidates or tenderers shall be set following the provisions of Article 29, 30, 31 and 32 of this Law. Upon request of the competent state or local authorities, the contracting authority must furnish the justification of the qualification requirements.
If a candidate or tenderer can prove to the contracting authority that it will have at its disposal the resources of other economic entities for the execution of the contract, it shall have the right to rely on the capacities of such other economic entities.
Where a supplier for any valid reason may not provide the documents requested by the contracting authority, he may prove his economic or financial standing by any other documents or proof to the satisfaction of the contracting authority.
The contracting authority may not reject the request to participate or tender on the sole ground that it was submitted either by a legal or natural person.
In the event the candidate or tenderer provided incomplete and imprecise qualification information, the contracting authority shall request, without prejudice to the public procurement principles, that the candidate or tenderer remove such shortcomings.
The contracting authority shall reject the request to participate or the tender of the candidate or supplier, if his qualification is below the minimum level of qualification established in the contract documents, or if the candidate or supplier failed to respond to the request of the contracting authority to revise the imprecise or incomplete information about its qualification.
The qualification of candidates or tenderers shall be assessed on the basis of the criteria and procedures set forth in the contract documents. The Commission shall verify qualification of each candidate or tenderer, and communicate in writing the results of verification to each candidate or tenderer. Only those candidates or tenderers shall be allowed to continue in the procurement procedure, the qualification whereof meets the qualification requirements of the contracting authority. Article
Limitations on Suppliers’ Participation in Procurement Procedure
The contracting authority may establish in the contract documents that a request or tender shall be rejected if the candidate or tenderer: 1) is bankrupt or is being wound up or has entered into an arrangement with creditors or has suspended or limited business activities or who is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure under national laws and regulations; 2) is the subject of proceedings for a declaration of bankruptcy, for an order for compulsory winding up or for an arrangement with creditors or of any other similar proceedings under national laws and regulations; 3) has been convicted by a court judgement of any offence concerning his professional conduct; 4) has been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the contracting authorities can justify; 5) has not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which he is established or the country in which the contracting authority is established; 6) has not fulfilled obligations relating to the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which he is established or the country in which the contracting authority is established; 7) is guilty of serious misrepresentation in supplying the information required under this Article or failure to supply the information.
Where the contracting authority requests the economic entity to provide proof that none of the cases quoted in paragraph 1(1, 2, 3, 5, 6) of this Article applies to him, it shall accept as sufficient evidence: 1) in cases referred to in paragraph 1 (1,2,3) of this Article, the production of an extract from the “judicial record” or, failing this, of an equivalent document issued by a competent judicial or administrative authority in the country of origin in the country whence that person comes showing that the requirements have been met; 2) in cases referred to of paragraph 1 (5 ,6) of this Article, a certificate issued by the competent authority of the Republic of Lithuania or other EU member-state concerned.
Where the country in question does not issue the documents or certificates referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, or where these do not cover all the cases quoted in paragraph 1 (1,2,3) of this Article, they may be replaced by any other documents and information acceptable to the contracting authority.
The Public Procurement Office shall compile a list of the authorities of the Republic of Lithuania, competent to issue the documents referred to in paragraph 2, and furnish the list to the EU member-states, the EU Commission, and, if requested, to the contracting authorities and suppliers . Article
Suitability to Pursue Professional Activity A contracting authority in contract documents may request the candidates or tenderers to prove being listed in the relevant professional or activity registers of the country in which they are registered, or to provide a special statement or reference evidencing their right to pursue the relevant professional activity or to provide a declaration on oath or certificate. Article
Economic and Financial Standing of Candidates or Tenderers
The contracting authority shall have the right to specify the requirements for the economic and financial standing of the candidates or tenderers, and request to provide one or more of the following references: 1) appropriate statements from banks or evidence of relevant professional risk indemnity insurance; 2) balance-sheets or extracts from the balance-sheets, where publication of the balance-sheet is required under the law of the country in which the economic entity is established; 3) a statement of the overall turnover and, where appropriate, of turnover in the area covered by the contract for a maximum of the last 3 financial years available or since the date of registration or commencing the activity in the area concerned, where the company was registered or commenced activity less than 3 years ago.
In the contract documents contracting authorities shall specify which reference or references the candidates or tenderers have to provide in order to prove their financial and economic standing.
If, for any valid reason, the economic entity is unable to provide the references requested by the contracting authority and specified in paragraph 1, he may prove his economic and financial standing by any other document which the contracting authority considers appropriate. Article
Technical Capability of Candidates and Tenderers
The contracting authority may define in the contract documents the requirements for technical capability of the candidates and tenderers and request to provide one or more of the documents (proofs) referred to in paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this Article.
In the procedures for awarding public supply contracts, the contracting authority may require evidence of the candidates' or tenderers' technical capability to be furnished by one or more of the following means: 1) a list of the principal deliveries effected in the past three years, with the total amounts, dates and recipients involved by providing documents in the form of certificates of delivery issued by recipients, or, if such certificates can not be obtained due to the reasons outside the candidate's or tundra's control - simply declared by the candidate or tenderer to have been effected; 2) a description of the candidate's or tundra's technical facilities, its measures for ensuring quality and its study and research facilities; 3) indication of the technicians or technical bodies involved, whether or not belonging directly to the candidate or tenderer; 4) samples, description and/or photographs of the products to be supplied, the authenticity of which must be certified by the candidate or tenderer if the contracting authority so requests; 5) certificates drawn up by quality control agencies of recognised competence attesting the conformity of products clearly identified by references to specifications or standards; 6) where the products to be supplied are complex or, exceptionally, are required for a special purpose, a check carried out by the contracting authorities or on their behalf by a competent official body of the country, where the entity is registered, on the technical capability of the candidate or tenderer and if necessary on his study and research facilities and quality control measures, within the meaning of Article 21

(8)of this Law. 3. In the procedures for awarding public service contracts, contracting authorities may request the candidates or tenderers to furnish the following means, one or several, as the evidence of their technical capability, skill, efficiency, experience and reliability meeting the set requirements: 1) the service provider's educational and professional qualifications and/or those of the firm's managerial staff and, in particular, those of the person or persons responsible for providing the services; 2) an indication of the technicians or technical bodies involved, whether or not belonging directly to the candidate or tenderer; 3) a list of the principal services provided in the past three years, with the total amounts, dates and recipients involved by providing documents in the form of certificates of delivery issued by recipients, or, if such certificates can not be obtained due to the reasons outside the candidate's or tundra's control - simply declared by the candidate or tenderer to have been effected; 4) a statement of the candidate's or tundra's average annual manpower and the number of managerial staff for the last three years; 5) a statement of the tools and plants available to the candidate or tenderer for carrying out the services; 6) where the services to be provided are complex or are required for a special purpose, a check carried out by the contracting authority or on its behalf by a competent official of the country, in which the contracting authority is registered, on the technical capability of the candidate or tenderer and, if necessary, on his study and research facilities and quality control measures, within the meaning of Article 21

(8)of this Law; 7) an indication of the proportion of the contract which the service provider may intend to sub-contract.

In the procedure of awarding public works contracts, evidence of the candidate's or tundra's technical capability, skill, efficiency, experience and reliability may be furnished by one or several of the statements below: 1) the contractor's educational and professional qualifications and/or those of the firm's managerial staff, and, in particular, those of the person or persons responsible for carrying out the works; 2) a list of the works carried out over the past five years, accompanied by certificates of satisfactory execution for the most important works; the certificates shall indicate the value, date and site of the works, and shall specify whether they were carried out according to the rules of the trade and properly completed; where necessary, the competent authority shall submit these certificates to the contracting authority direct; 3) a statement of the technical equipment available to the contractor for carrying out the works; 4) a statement of the firm's average annual manpower and the number of managerial staff for the last three years; 5) a statement about any intended subcontracting and scope of subcontracting.
Should contracting authorities require in the contract documents the production of certificates drawn up by competent bodies attesting the compliance of the economic entity with certain quality assurance standards, they shall refer to quality assurance systems based on the relevant international or European standards series certified by bodies conforming to the European standards series concerning certification. They shall recognise equivalent certificates from bodies established in the EU member states. They shall also accept other evidence of equivalent quality assurance measures from the candidates or tenderers who have no access to such certificates or no possibility of obtaining them within the relevant time limits. Article
Evaluation and Comparison of Tenders
The contracting authority may request the tenderers to explain their tenders. However, the contracting authority may not request, suggest or allow changing the subject matter of the tender submitted by open or restricted procedure, including the price or any other material changes, due to which an irregular tender would become acceptable. This provision is not applicable in the process of verifying the qualification of the candidates or tenderers. When awarding contracts by way of negotiations with or without publication of a contract notice, the price and other contract conditions may be negotiated, but the result of negotiations documented in the record of negotiations may not be changed
The contracting authority shall reject the tender, if: 1) the tenderer who submitted it fails to meet the minimum qualification requirements set out in the contract documents; 2) the tender fails to meet the requirements set forth in the contract documents; 3) all tenderers offered too high prices, which are unacceptable for the contracting authority; 4) repealed
Where the contracting authority has to reject all tenders it must obtain a consent from the Public Procurement Office to do so.
The criteria on which the contracting authority shall base the award of contracts shall be: 1) when award is made to the most economically advantageous tender for the contracting authority, various criteria directly linked to the subject of the public contract in question: for example, quality, price, technical merit, aesthetic and functional characteristics, environmental characteristics, running costs, cost-effectiveness, after-sales service and technical assistance, delivery date, delivery period or period of completion; 2) the lowest price only.
In the case referred to in this Article, paragraph 4, subparagraph 1, the contracting authority shall specify, in the contract documents, the relative weighting which it gives to each of the criteria chosen to determine the most economically advantageous tender. This weighting can be expressed by providing for a range within which the value attributed to each criteria shall be stated. In exceptional cases, where the purpose of procurement does not allow technically to establish the relative weight of the criteria, the contracting authority shall specify the priority order (order of importance) of the evaluation criteria in the tender documents. The methods of establishing criteria for evaluation of the most economically advantageous tenders shall be drawn up by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania or an institution authorised by it.
Where the contracting authority evaluates tenders by their economic advantage, it shall first verify and asses the technical data of the tender, and, after communicating the results of such verification and assessment to the suppliers, proceed with the overall evaluation of the tenders by taking into account the price.
The contracting authority shall select the successful tenderer in the following sequence: 1) applying the tender evaluation criteria and procedure set forth in the contract documents, the contracting authority shall evaluate the tenders submitted by the tenderers and produce a preliminary ranking of tenders (this does not apply in cases where only one supplier is invited to tender or the tender is submitted by only one supplier). The preliminary ranking shall be done in the decreasing order of economic advantage or increasing order of prices. When the tender evaluation criteria is the lowest price offered and several tenders offering the same price are submitted, the preliminary ranking of tenders shall be produced putting the tenderer who was the first to register the envelope containing his tender first in the ranking order ; 2) the contracting authority shall immediately inform the tenderers about the preliminary ranking of tenders and the tenderers whose tenders have not been ranked shall be notified of the reasons of rejecting their tenders; 3) the contracting authority may approve the preliminary ranking and make a decision regarding the successful tenderer only after all claims and complaints filed by the tenderers (if any) are settled in accordance with the procedure prescribed in this Law, but not earlier than 10 days after the date of dispatch of the preliminary ranking information to the tenderers. The provision shall not apply in case of award of contract by negotiation without publication of a contract notice, where only one tenderer is invited to negotiate or where the contract is awarded using other procurement procedures, whereas the tender is submitted by only one supplier. Article
Abnormally Low Tenders
If, for a given contract, tenders appear to be abnormally low in relation to the supplies, works or services, the contracting authority shall request the tenderer to justify the offered price, and if the tenderer fails to produce justification to the satisfaction of the contracting authority, it shall reject the tender. An abnormally low price is the price offered for supplies, services or works, which is more than 15% lower than the arithmetic average of prices offered by all (two or more) suppliers whose tenders were not rejected for other reasons.
repealed
In order to obtain justification of the abnormally low price, the contracting authority shall request in writing that the tenderer concerned provides details of the constituent elements of the tender which it considers relevant, price elements and calculations. The contracting authority shall take into consideration explanations relating to: 1) the efficiency of the manufacturing process, of the services provided and of the construction method; 2) the technical solutions chosen and/or the exceptionally favourable conditions available to the tenderer for the supply of the supplies and services, and the execution of the work; 3) the originality of the supplies, services or work proposed by the tenderer; 4) the possibility of the tenderer benefiting from the State aid.
Where the contracting authority establishes that a tender is abnormally low on grounds that the tenderer has obtained a State aid, the tender can only be rejected after consultation with the tenderer where the latter is unable to prove, within a sufficient time frame fixed by the contracting authority, that the aid in question was notified to the EU Commission or that the aid in question was granted with the consent of the EU Commission. Where the contracting authority rejects a tender in these circumstances, it shall inform the Public Procurement Office of that fact requesting to transmit the information to the Commission. Article
Informing Candidates and Tenderers about Results
The contracting authority shall as soon as possible, but not later than within 5 working days inform candidates or tenderers about the decisions reached concerning the successful tenderer or termination of the procedure.
The contracting authority shall as soon as possible, but not later than within 15 days after receipt of the written request, inform any candidate or tenderer of the reasons for rejection of his application or his tender, and any tenderer who has made an admissible tender of the characteristics and relative advantages of the tender selected as well as the name of the successful tenderer.
The contracting authority may decide to withhold certain information on the contract award, referred to in this Article, paragraph 2, where release of such information would impede law enforcement or otherwise be contrary to the public interest or would prejudice the legitimate commercial interests of suppliers or might prejudice fair competition between them.
Where the contracting authority requested in the contract documents to provide samples of the products, it shall, after the preliminary ranking of tenders, allow all the candidates or tenderers to examine the samples presented.
Access to the information relating to the examination, explication, evaluation and comparison of tenders shall be granted only to the Commission members and experts invited by the Commission, representatives of the Public Procurement Office, the head of the contracting authority, persons authorised by him, other persons and institutions entitled under the laws of the Republic of Lithuania to have access to such information. Article
Types of Award Procedures
The supplies, services or works contracts may be awarded by means of the following procedures: 1) open procedure; 2) restricted procedure; 3) negotiated procedure with publication of a contract notice; 4) negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice.
When awarding a public contract, the contracting authority may use: 1) the open or restricted tender procedures in all cases without limitations; 2) the negotiated procedure with publication of a contract notice, if the conditions specified in Article 44 are present; 3) the negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice, if the conditions specified in Article 45 are present.
In the presence of the conditions referred to in Article 52 of this Law, the contracting authority may use the design contest procedure. SECTION TWO OPEN PROCEDURE Article
Open Procedure
The number of tenderers in the open procedure shall be unlimited. The contracting authority shall evaluate all regular (i.e., meeting the requirements in the contract documents) tenders of all suppliers who meet the minimum qualification requirements set forth by the contracting authority.
Negotiations between the contracting authority and suppliers are not allowed in the open procedure.
The open procedure shall occur if at least one tender meeting the requirements set forth in the contract documents is received. Article
Time Limits in the Open Procedure
The contracting authority shall fix the final time limit for receipt of tenders by following provisions of Article
The final time limit fixed for receipt of tenders may not be shorter than 52 days from the day of dispatch of the contract notice from the Public Procurement Office.
If the contracting authority published PIN at least 52 days but not more than 12 months before starting the procedures, and provided the information about the contract in the manner prescribed by Article 18

(3), then the time limits specified in this Article, paragraph 2, may be reduced to 36 days.

In case of emergency, where the circumstances beyond the contracting authority’ control do not allow keeping to the time limits specified in this Law, the period for receipt of tenders may be reduced to up to 22 days from the day the Public Procurement Office dispatched the notice for publication. SECTION THREE RESTRICTED PROCEDURE Article
Restricted Procedures
The contracting authority shall conduct the restricted procedures in two phases: 1) following the procedure set forth in Articles 18 and 19, the contracting authority shall publish the contract notice and, on the basis of the criteria specified therein, select the candidates to be invited to submit their tenders; 2) following the requirements set forth in the contract documents, the contracting authority shall analyse, evaluate and compare the tenders submitted by the invited tenderers.
Negotiations between the contracting authority and suppliers are not allowed in the restricted procedure.
The restricted procedure shall occur if at least one tender meeting the requirements set forth in the contract documents is received. Article
Time Limits for Submission of Requests to Participate and Tenders
The contracting authority shall fix the final time limits for submission of requests to participate and tenders by following provisions of Article 23 of this Law.
The final time limit fixed for submission of requests to participate may not be shorter than 37 days from the day of dispatch of the notice from the Public Procurement Office.
The time limit for submission of tender may not be shorter than 40 days after the invitations to tender are dispatched to suppliers.
If the contracting authority published PIN at least 52 days but not more than 12 months before starting the procurement procedures, and provided the information about the contract in the manner prescribed by Article 18

(3), then the time limits specified in this Article, paragraph 3, may be reduced to 26 days.

If due to the circumstance beyond the contracting authority’s control it is not possible to keep to the time limits specified in this Article (cases of urgency), the contracting authority shall have the right to fix a time limit for submission of requests of at least 15 days, and a time limit for receipt of tenders of at least 10 days. Article
Selection of candidates
The contracting authority may fix in the contract documents (contract notice) a minimum and maximum number of candidates to be invited to submit tenders, as well as define the selection criteria and procedure to be used.
When fixing the number of candidates and defining the selection criteria or procedure, the contracting authority shall follow the requirements below: 1) the contracting authority must ensure the genuine competition; 2) the selection criteria must be clear and non-discriminatory; 3) the selection criteria should be based on the provisions of Articles 31 and
The minimum number of candidates to be invited to tender and specified in the contract documents shall be not less than
When selecting candidates, the contracting authority shall apply only those selection criteria and procedure that are specified in the contract documents. The contracting authority shall make the selection only from those candidates who meet the minimum qualification requirements set forth by the contracting authority.
Contracting authorities shall invite the number of candidates that is equal to the specified minimum number of candidates. Should the number of candidates meeting the minimum qualification requirements be less than the number of candidates to be invited, the contracting authority shall not proceed with selection of candidates, and invite all such candidates to submit their tenders.
The contracting authority must complete the selection and inform all the eliminated candidates about the reasons for rejection of their requests within 15 days after the final time limit fixed for submission of requests to participate. Article
Submission of Requests to Participate in the Selection
Requests to participate may be submitted both by an individual economic entity, or a group of economic entities as defined in Article 23

(5). 2. Requests to participate shall be made following the requirements outlined in Article 14

(5), by enclosing the information required by the contracting authority. 3. In the accelerated form of restricted procedures referred to in Article 40

(5), requests for participation shall be made by the most rapid means of communication possible. Article

Invitations to Submit Tenders
The contracting authority shall invite the candidates selected according to Article 41 to submit their tenders.
The invitations to the selected candidates shall be made simultaneously to all candidates.
In the accelerated form of restricted procedures referred to in Article 40

(5), invitations to submit a tender shall be made by the most rapid means of communication possible.

The contract documents enclosed with the invitation to submit tenders must contain the following information: 1) address from which the remaining contract documents may be requested, and the sum payable, if any, for obtaining them, including the manner of payment; 2) the final date for the submission of the tenders, the address to which the tenders must be sent and the language or languages in which the tenders must be drawn up; 3) a reference to the contract notice; 4) tender evaluation procedure, evaluation criteria and their relative weighting; 5) any other information that the contracting authority deems necessary.
If the contracting authority provides free and direct access to the contract documents by placing them on the internet or communicating by other electronic means, it may decide not to provide the information referred to in this Article, paragraph 4, together with the invitation; nevertheless, the contracting authority shall specify the address where such documents can be obtained. SECTION FOUR NEGOTIATED PROCEDURE Article
Cases Justifying Use of the Negotiated Procedure with Publication of a Contract Notice Contracting authorities may award their public contracts by negotiated procedure, after publication of a contract notice, in the following cases: 1) in the event all tenders received in the open or restricted procedure failed to meet the requirements set forth in the contract documents, and the contract conditions are not substantially altered; 2) in exceptional cases, where, due to the nature of the services or works and the risks attaching thereto, the contracting authority cannot, without additional information about suppliers and possible solutions, define sufficiently detailed contract conditions allowing selection of the best tender; 3) in respect of public contracts for procurement of A-type services listed in the categories 6-12 (Annex II), when the nature of the services to be procured is such that contract specifications cannot be established with sufficient precision to permit the award of the contract by selecting the best tender according to the rules governing open or restricted procedures; 4) in respect of public works contracts, for works which are performed solely for purposes of research, testing or development and not with the aim of ensuring profitability or recovering research and development costs. Article
Cases Justifying Use of the Negotiated Procedure without Publication of a Contract Notice
As regards public supply contracts, public service contracts and public works contracts, contracting authorities may award public contracts by a negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice in the following cases: 1) when all tenders submitted in response to an open or restricted procedure fail to meet the requirements specified in the contract documents, provided that the initial conditions of contract are not substantially altered and all suppliers meeting the minimum qualification requirements are invited to negotiate; 2) when no tender or request to participate has been submitted in response to an open procedure or restricted procedure, or when all tenderers failed to meet the minimum qualification requirements, whereas the initial conditions of contract are not substantially altered. The contracting authority shall give the EU Commission a detailed report about such contract, if it so requests; 3) when, for technical or artistic reasons, or for reasons related to the exclusive rights, the supplies may be delivered, service rendered or works performed only by a particular economic entity, and there is no other alternative; 4) in so far as it is strictly necessary, for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting authority in question, the time limit fixed in this Law for the open, restricted or negotiated procedures with publication of a contract notice cannot be kept. The circumstances invoked to justify extreme urgency must not in any event be attributable to the contracting authority.
As regards public supply contracts, contracting authorities may award public contracts by a negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice in the following cases: 1) when the products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development, this provision does not extend to quantity production to establish commercial viability or to recover research and development costs; 2) for additional deliveries by the original supplier which are intended either as a partial replacement of normal supplies or installations or as the extension of existing supplies or installations where previous contracts were effective, there is no substantial change in the prices and other conditions and a change of supplier would oblige the contracting authority to acquire material having different technical characteristics which would result in incompatibility or disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance: the length of such contracts as well as that of recurrent contracts may, as a general rule, not exceed three years following the award of the initial contract.
As regards public service contracts, when the contract concerned follows a design contest and shall be awarded to the successful candidate or to one of the successful candidates: in the latter case, all successful candidates shall be invited to participate in the negotiations.
As regards public service and works contracts, the negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice may be applied under any of the following conditions: 1) for additional services or works not included in the project initially considered or in the contract first concluded but which have, through unforeseen circumstances, become necessary for the performance of the services or works described therein, when such additional services or works cannot be technically or economically separated from the main contract without major inconvenience to the contracting authority. However, such contract may only be concluded with the economic entity to whom a first contract was awarded and the aggregate value of contracts awarded for additional services or works may not exceed 50% of the amount of the main contract. 2) for new services or works consisting in the repetition of similar services or works entrusted to the economic entity to which the same contracting authorities awarded an earlier contract, provided that such services or works conform to a basic project for which a first contract was awarded according to the open or restricted procedures. As soon as the first project is put up for tender, notice must be given that this procedure might be adopted and the total estimated cost of subsequent services or works shall be taken into consideration by the contracting authority. This procedure may be only be adopted during the three years following the conclusion of the original contract. Article
Conducting the Negotiated Procedure with or without Publication of a Contract Notice
The contracting authority shall conduct the negotiated procedure with publication of a contract notice in the following phases: 1) according to the procedure set forth in Article 18 of this Law invite candidates to submit requests to participate in the negotiated procedure 2) verify qualification of the candidates who submitted requests against the minimum requirements set forth in the contract documents, and perform the selection of candidates, where applicable; 3) invite candidates to submit initial tenders and negotiate according to the conditions set forth in a 47 of this Law, the technical, economic, legal and other aspects of the tender aiming at the highest economic advantage; 4) on the basis of the tender evaluation procedure and criteria specified in the contract documents, and on the results of negotiations documented in the initial tenders and the minutes of the negotiations, identify the best tender.
When applying the negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice, the contracting authority shall: 1) where more than one candidate is invited to negotiate - verify if the qualification of candidates meets the specified criteria, negotiate the technical, economic, legal and other aspects of the tender aiming at the highest economic advantage, and, based on the results of negotiations and the criteria specified in the contract documents, identify the successful tender; 2) when only one candidate is invited to negotiate - verify if the qualification of the candidate meets the specified criteria, and negotiate the technical, economic, legal and other aspects of the tender aiming at the highest economic advantage. In case of negotiations without publication of a contract notice, when only one candidate is invited, the contracting authority shall not be obliged to give to the candidate all the information referred to in Article 20 of this Law, if the contracting authority deems that some items of information are not necessary.
The negotiated procedure shall be deemed to have been conducted if there is at least one supplier, whose initial tender and the results of negotiations comply with the requirements set forth in the contract documents. Article
Requirements with respect to the Negotiated Procedure with or without Publication of a Contract Notice
During the negotiated procedures, the contracting authority shall comply with the following requirements: 1) negotiations shall be held with each candidate separately; 2) no information obtained from the supplier may be revealed to the third parties without the prior consent of the supplier; the contracting authority may not disclose any information about the solutions proposed by other suppliers; 3) all tenderers shall be subject to the same requirements, shall be provided with equal opportunities and with the same information; 4) the proceedings of the negotiation shall be recorded in the minutes, to be signed by the chairperson of the Commission

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