Article 55

In the case of contracts covered by the public procurement Directives, publication shall consist in a pre-information notice, a contract notice and an award notice.

The pre-information notice shall be the notice by which the Agency makes known, by way of indication, the estimated total value of contracts, by category of service or groups of products, and the essential characteristics of works contracts which they intend to award during a budgetary year, where the estimated total value is equal to or greater than the thresholds laid down in Article 67.

The pre-information notice shall be sent to the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities as soon as possible and by no later than 31 March of each budgetary year in the case of supply and service contracts and, in the case of works contracts, as soon as possible after the decision approving the programme for those contracts.

The contract notice shall be the means by which the Agency makes known their intention to launch a procurement procedure. It shall be compulsory for contracts of an estimated value equal to or greater than the thresholds laid down in points (a) and (c) of Article 68.

In an open procedure the contract notice shall specify the date, time and place of the meeting of the opening committee, which shall be open to the tenderers.

The Agency, when wishing to organise a contest, shall issue a notice announcing its intention.

The award notice shall give the outcome of the procurement procedure. In the case of contracts the value of which is equal to or greater than the thresholds laid down in Article 68, the award notice shall be compulsory. It shall not be compulsory for specific contracts awarded under a framework contract.

The award notice shall be sent to the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities no later than forty-eight calendar days after the date on which the contract is signed.

The notices shall be drawn up in accordance with the models annexed to Directive 2001/78/EC^f1.