Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
elapse between the time when the award decision is communicated to unsuccessful
tenderers and conclusion of the contract.
2.15.1 The ten-day standstill period
In order to give effect to the terms of the ECJ judgment in
Alcatel
, the Regulations pro-
vide for a 'standstill' period between when an award decision for a contract awarded
under those Regulations is notified to bidders, and the date on which that contract is
to be entered into, see regulation 32(3).
Contracting authorities are required to issue a notice of their award decision to
unsuccessful tenderers and candidates in writing at least 10 days prior to their entry
into the contract (or such longer or extended period as described below). The stand-
stillperiodisdesignedtoenableanaggrievedbiddertoreviewtheprocurementand,if
necessary, to raise legal proceedings against the contracting authority before the con-
tract is entered into. The standstill notice provides an explanation of the reasons for
the contract award at the start of the standstill, by containing the following detailed
information:
•
the contract award criteria;
•
the name of the winning tenderer;
•
the score obtained by the unsuccessful tenderer receiving the notice as well as that
of the tenderer awarded the contract;
•
therelativecharacteristicsandadvantagesofthewinningbidcomparedtothatof
the unsuccessful tenderer (or a summary of why a candidate was not successful);
•
a precise statement of the effect of the standstill arrangement on that tenderer or
candidate; and
•
how long the standstill period will be.
The standstill period commences on the date the last notice is sent to the relevant ten-
derers and candidates. If the standstill period is to end on a non-working day, it must
be extended to the next working day and according to the general rules on notice peri-
ods in regulation 2(6), the date of sending the notice is not counted in the standstill
period.hestandstillperioddoesnotapplytobelowthresholdprocurements,Part
B services or where there was only one tenderer. If notification is in writing and not
sent by fax or email, the period is extended to 15 days. See the definition of 'relevant
standstill period' in regulation 2(1).
If an unsuccessful economic operator makes a written request, the contracting
authority must within 15 days of such request inform that economic operator of the
reasons why it was unsuccessful, and of the characteristics and relative advantages of
the winning tenderer and their name, if it has not already provided that information,
see regulation 32(6).
Requests for additional de-briefing within the mandatory standstill period may
lead the contracting authority to alter the duration of the standstill period. To reduce
