Conditions for Participation. 1. Where a Party requires suppliers to satisfy registration, qualification, or any other requirements or conditions for participation in order to participate in a procurement, the procuring entity shall publish a notice inviting suppliers to apply for participation. The procuring entity shall publish the notice sufficiently in advance to provide interested suppliers with sufficient time to prepare and submit applications and for the procuring entity to evaluate and make its determination based on such applications. 2. In establishing the conditions for participation, a procuring entity shall: (a) limit such conditions to those that are essential to ensure that a supplier has the legal, financial, commercial, and technical abilities to fulfill the requirements and technical specifications of the procurement on the basis of that supplier's business activities outside the territory of the Party of the procuring entity, as well as its business activities, if any, inside the territory of the Party of the procuring entity; and (b) base its determination solely on the conditions that the procuring entity has specified in advance in notices or tender documentation; 3. In assessing whether a supplier satisfies the conditions for participation, a procuring entity: (a) shall not impose the condition that, in order for a supplier to participate in a procurement or be awarded a contract, the supplier has previously been awarded one or more contracts by a procuring entity of the Party; (b) may require relevant prior experience where essential to meet the requirements of the procurement; and (c) shall allow all domestic suppliers and suppliers of the other Party that satisfy the conditions for participation to be recognized as qualified and to participate in the procurement. 4. Where there is supporting evidence, a Party, including its procuring entities, may exclude a supplier on grounds such as: (a) bankruptcy; (b) false declarations; (c) significant or persistent deficiencies in performance of any substantive requirement or obligation under a prior contract or contracts; (d) final judgments in respect of serious crimes or other serious offences; (e) professional misconduct or acts or omissions that adversely reflect on the commercial integrity of the supplier; or (f) failure to pay taxes. 5. Procuring entities shall not adopt or apply any registration system or qualification procedure with the purpose or the effect of creating unnecessary obstacles to the participation of suppliers of the other Party in its procurement. 6. The process of, and the time required for, registering and qualifying suppliers shall not be used in order to exclude suppliers of the other Party from being considered for a particular procurement. 7. A procuring entity shall promptly communicate to any supplier that has applied for qualification its decision on whether that supplier is qualified. Where a procuring entity rejects an application for qualification or ceases to recognize a supplier as qualified, the procuring entity shall, upon request of the supplier, promptly provide it with a written explanation.
Appears in 26 contracts
Samples: Trade Agreement, Trade Agreement, Trade Agreement
