Section 53, The Public Procurement Act, 2016

(1) Following the opening of bids, the procuring entityshall first examine the bids in order to determine whether the bids are complete, signed, whether required documents to establish legal validity and required bid security have been furnished and whether bids are substantially responsive to the technical specification and contract conditions set forth in the bidding documents. (2) Bids which are not complete, not signed, not accompanied by a bid security in the prescribed form, if one is required, or not accompanied by essential supporting documents such as business registration certificates, business licences and tax receipts, or are substantially non-responsive to the technical specifications or contract conditions or other critical requirements in the bidding documents, shall be rejected and excluded from further evaluation and comparison. (3) The Authority may by statutory instrument prescribe– (a) other methods of submission of bids, such as by electronic mail; (b) protecting the confidentiality and security of bids, including the prevention of the opening and reading of bids by anyone until the time set in accordance with paragraph (d) of subsection (3) of section 49. (4) Bids not excluded from consideration under subsections (2) and (3), shall be evaluated taking into account those factors explicitly stated in the bidding document. (5) The procuring entity may seek clarification from any bidder to facilitate evaluation but shall neither ask nor permit any bidder to change the price or any other aspect of the bid and if a bidder amends its bid in any manner, that bid will be rejected and its bid security forfeited. (6) Where there is an arithmetical error, the error shall be rectified and the bidder notified but if the bidder refuses to accept such correction, its bid shall be rejected and the bid security forfeited. (7) Where there is a discrepancy between figures and words, the amount in words shall prevail unless the discrepancy is due to misplacement of decimal point, in which case the mistake shall be rectified and the bidder notified. 50 51 Bid opening. Examination evaluation and comparison of bids. (8) In carrying out the evaluation, if there are minor deviations in any bid which did not merit rejection at the earlier stage, such minor variation shall be costed, if possible, and the evaluated cost of the bid shall then be compared to those of other bids to determine the lowest evaluated bid. (9) Where the process included a prequalification, the qualifications of the lowest evaluated bidder shall be verified again to take account of any change since the original prequalification. (10) Where there was no prequalification, the qualifications of the lowest evaluated substantially responsive bidder shall be checked against the criteria specified in the bidding documents; if that bid fails, the same check shall be applied to the next ranked bid. (11) The procuring entity shall prepare an evaluation report detailing the examination and evaluation of bids and identifying the recommendation for award of contract in accordance with the evaluation criteria specified in the bidding document.