## 1.4 Joint tenders 

A joint tender (such as a consortium) is a situation where a tender is submitted by a group of economic operators (natural or legal persons). Joint tenders may include subcontractors in addition to the members of the group. 

In case of joint tender, all members of the group assume joint and several liability towards ECDC for the performance of the contract as a whole, i.e. both financial and operational liability. Nevertheless, tenderers must designate one of the economic operators as a single point of contact (the leader) for ECDC for administrative and financial aspects as well as operational management of the contract. 

After the award, ECDC will sign the contract either with all members of the group, or with the leader on behalf of all members of the group, authorised by the other members via powers of attorney. 

Any change in the composition of the group during the procurement procedure may lead to the rejection of the tender. Any change in the composition of the group after the signature of the contract may lead to the termination of the contract. 

## 1.5 Subcontracting 

Subcontracting is permitted but the contractor will retain full liability towards ECDC for performance of the contract as a whole. 

If subcontracting is envisaged, the tenderer must clearly indicate in the tender which parts of the work will be subcontracted. 

If the tenderer relies on the subcontractors to fulfil the selection criteria (see section 3.2 Selection criteria), these subcontractors must provide a statement declaring their undertaking to collaborate with the tenderer in case of award, and the resources that they will put at the tenderers disposal for the performance of the contract. 

If the tenderer relies on the capacity of a subcontractor for economic and financial capacity, ECDC may require the third party to be jointly liable for the performance of the contract. 

Tenderers are required to identify all subcontractors whose share of the contract is above 10% and whose capacity is necessary to fulfil the selection criteria. 

During contract performance, the change of any subcontractor identified in the tender or additional subcontracting will be subject to prior written approval of ECDC. 

Where no subcontractor is given, the work will be assumed to be carried out directly by the tenderer. 

## 1.6 Division into lots 

This contract is divided into 3 lots. The tenderer may apply for one or more lots. 

• Lot 1 covers the organisation of an EQA exercise for serotyping, molecular typing-based cluster analyses of Sal mo n e l a ; 

