Article 6
United Kingdom
Supply contracts shall be awarded in one of the following ways:
open invitation to tender;
restricted invitation to tender;
direct agreement contract.
In the case of an open invitation to tender, a tender notice conforming to Annex I shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities no later than 15 days before the expiry of the period for the submission of the tenders.
In the case of a restricted invitation to tender, a tender notice shall be forwarded to at least three undertakings by letter or written telecommunication.
Where products are mobilized in the Community, the undertakings invited shall be selected from those who have participated in the invitations to tender referred to in paragraph 2.
Where products are mobilized outside the Community, the undertakings invited shall be those registered for this purpose with the Commission.
A restricted invitation to tender may be issued in the following cases:
where products are mobilized outside the Community;
where products are supplied under an allocation decision taken pursuant to Article 24 (1) (a) of Regulation (EC) No 1292/96;
where a supply operation is decided following the cancellation of a previous supply contract;
where a supply operation has become urgent following the allocation decision.
In the case of a direct agreement contract, only one undertaking shall be invited to tender.
A direct agreement contract may be undertaken where warranted by the particular conditions of a supply and, in particular, in the case of an experimental supply.
The invitation to tender may relate to the supply of a fixed quantity or a maximum quantity of products for a specific monetary amount.
One single invitation to tender may relate to the supply of more than one lot. A lot may be subdivided into part lots or cover more than one action number.