Common use of Challenge Procedures Clause in Contracts

Challenge Procedures. 1. The challenge procedures shall be applied in accordance with the provisions of the annex to this article for the Parties indicated therein. 2. In order to promote fair, open and impartial procurement procedures, each Party shall adopt and maintain challenge procedures for purchases covered by this Chapter in accordance with the following: (a) each Party shall permit suppliers to have recourse to the challenge procedure in relation to any aspect of the procurement process which, for the purposes of this Article, commences from the time an entity has defined its procurement requirement and continues until the award of the procurement contract; (b) before initiating a challenge procedure, a Party may encourage the supplier to seek with the procuring entity a solution to its complaint; (c) each Party shall ensure that its entities consider in a timely and impartial manner any complaints or challenges regarding purchases covered by this Chapter; (d) whether or not a supplier has attempted to resolve its complaint with the entity, or after failure to reach a satisfactory resolution, a Party may not prevent the supplier from initiating a challenge or other remedy; (e) a Party may request a supplier to notify the entity of the initiation of a challenge procedure; (f) a Party may limit the period within which a supplier may initiate the challenge procedure, but in no case shall this period be less than ten working days from the time the supplier knows or should have known of the basis of the complaint; (g) each Party shall establish or designate a review authority with no substantial interest in the outcome of the procurement to receive challenges and issue relevant rulings and recommendations; (h) upon receipt of the challenge, the reviewing authority shall proceed to investigate it expeditiously; (i) a Party may require its reviewing authority to limit its considerations to the challenge itself; (j) in investigating the challenge, the reviewing authority may delay the award of the proposed contract until the challenge is resolved, except in cases of urgency or where delay would be contrary to the public interest; (k) the reviewing authority shall issue a recommendation to resolve the challenge, which may include directions to the entity to reevaluate the bids, terminate the contract, or rebid the contract; (l) Generally, entities shall follow the recommendations of the reviewing authority; (m) at the conclusion of the challenge procedure, each Party shall empower its reviewing authority to make further written recommendations to an entity regarding any phase of its procurement process that has been found to be problematic during the challenge investigation, including recommendations for changes to the entity's procurement procedures, in order to be consistent with this Chapter; (n) the reviewing authority shall provide in a timely manner and in writing the result of its findings and its recommendations with respect to the challenges, and shall make them available to the Parties and interested persons; (o) each Party shall specify in writing and make generally available all its challenge procedures; and (p) in order to verify that the procurement process was conducted in accordance with this Chapter, each Party shall ensure that each of its entities maintains complete documentation relating to each of its purchases, including a written record of all communications substantially affecting each purchase, for a period of at least three years from the date on which the contract was awarded. 3. A Party may request the initiation of the challenge procedure only after the invitation to tender has been published or, if not published, after the tender documentation is available. Where a Party establishes such a requirement, the ten working day period referred to in paragraph 2(f) shall not begin to run before the date on which the invitation has been published or the tender documentation is available.

Challenge Procedures. 1. The challenge procedures shall be applied in accordance with the provisions of the annex to this article for the Parties indicated therein. 2. In order to promote fair, open and impartial procurement procedures, each Party shall adopt and maintain challenge procedures for purchases covered by this Chapter in accordance with the following: (a) each Party shall permit suppliers to have recourse to the challenge procedure in relation to connection with any aspect of the procurement process which, for the purposes of this Article, commences from the time an entity has defined its procurement requirement and continues until the award of the procurement contract; (b) before initiating a challenge procedure, a Party may encourage the supplier to seek seek, with the procuring entity entity, a solution to resolution of its complaint; (c) each Party shall ensure that its entities consider consider, in a timely and impartial manner manner, any complaints complaint or challenges regarding purchases challenge with respect to procurement covered by this Chapter; (d) whether or not a supplier has attempted to resolve its complaint with the entity, entity or after failure failing to reach a satisfactory successful resolution, a no Party may not prevent the supplier from initiating a challenge procedure or seeking other remedyrelief; (e) a Party may request require a supplier to notify the entity of the initiation of a challenge procedure; (f) a Party may limit the period within which a supplier may initiate the challenge procedure, but in no case shall this period be less than ten working days from the time the supplier knows becomes aware of the basis of the complaint or it is considered that the supplier should have known become aware of the basis of the complaint; (g) each Party shall establish or designate a review authority with no without substantial interest in the outcome of the procurement to receive challenges and issue the relevant rulings determinations and recommendations; (h) upon receipt of the challenge, the reviewing authority shall proceed to investigate it expeditiouslythe challenge in an expeditious manner; (i) a Party may require its reviewing authority to limit its considerations to the challenge itself; (j) in investigating the challenge, the reviewing authority may delay the award of the proposed procurement contract until the challenge is resolved, except in cases of urgency or where delay would be contrary to the public interest; (k) the reviewing authority shall issue a recommendation to resolve decision on the challenge, which may include directions to the entity to reevaluate the bids, terminate the contract, or rebid recompete the contract; (lI) Generally, entities shall follow the recommendations decisions of the reviewing authority; (m) at the conclusion of the challenge procedure, each Party shall empower its reviewing authority to make further written recommendations to an entity regarding any phase of its procurement process that has been found to be problematic during the challenge investigation, including recommendations for changes to the entity's procurement procedures, in order to be consistent with this Chapter; (n) the reviewing authority shall provide in a timely manner and in writing the result of its findings and its recommendations with respect to the challenges, and shall make them available to the Parties and interested persons; (o) each Party shall specify in writing and make generally available all its challenge procedures; and (p) in order to verify that the procurement process was conducted in accordance with this Chapter, each Party shall ensure that each of its entities maintains complete documentation relating to each of its purchases, including a written record of all communications substantially affecting each purchase, for a period of at least three years from the date on which the contract was awarded. 3. A Party may request the initiation of the challenge procedure only after the invitation to tender has been published or, if not published, after the tender documentation is available. Where a Party establishes such a requirement, the ten working day period referred to in paragraph 2(f) shall not begin to run before the date on which the invitation has been published or the tender documentation is available.