Section 40, The Public Procurement Act, 2016

(1) The procuring entity shall employ internationalcompetitive bidding procedures when the estimated contract amount is higher than the value threshold specified in the First Schedule. (2) International competitive bidding may be used whenever open competitive bidding is used and effective competition cannot be obtained unless foreign firms are invited to bid or where the goods, works or services are not available under competitive price and other conditions from three or more suppliers in Sierra Leone. 40 41 Open competitive National competitive International competitive bidding.. (3) International competitive bidding shall be in accordance with the appropriate procedures prescribed in this Act together with the following;– (a) the invitation to bid and bidding documents shall be in English; (b) the invitation to bid shall also be published in a newspaper of wide international circulation, in a relevant trade publication or technical or professional journal of wide international circulation.; (c) at least six weeks shall be allowed for submission of bids in order to allow sufficient time for the invitation to reach candidates and to enable them to prepare and submit the tenders as provided in section 23; (d) technical specifications shall, to the extent compatible with national requirements, be based on international standards or standards widely used in international trade and in particular shall conform to the provisions of section 23; (e) bidders shall be permitted to express their bids, as well as any security documents to be presented by them, in their respective domestic currencies, or in a currency widely used in international trade and stated in the bidding documents; (f) general and special conditions of contract shall be of a kind generally used in international trade.