20.2 Technical evaluation 

After analysing the tenders deemed to comply in administrative terms, the evaluation committee will rule on the technical admissibility of each tender, classifying it as technically compliant or non-compliant. 

The minimum qualifications required (see selection criteria in the additional information about the contract notice) are to be evaluated at the start of this stage. 

Where contracts include after-sales service and/or training, the technical quality of such services will also be evaluated by using yes/no criteria as specified in the tender dossier. 

20.3 In the interests of transparency and equal treatment and to facilitate the examination and evaluation of tenders, the evaluation committee may ask each tenderer individually for clarification of its tender including breakdowns of prices, within a reasonable time limit to be fixed by the evaluation committee. The request for clarification and the response must be in writing, but no change in the price or substance of the tender may be sought, offered or permitted except as required to confirm the correction of arithmetical errors discovered during the evaluation of tenders pursuant to Article 20.4. Any such request for clarification must not distort competition. Decisions to the effect that a tender is not technically compliant must be duly justified in the evaluation minutes. 

20.4 Financial evaluation 

a) Tenders found to be technically compliant will be checked for any arithmetical errors in computation and summation. Errors will be corrected by the evaluation committee as follows: 

- where there is a discrepancy between amounts in figures and in words, the amount in words will be the amount taken into account; 

- except for lump-sum contracts, where there is a discrepancy between a unit price and the total amount derived from the multiplication of the unit price and the quantity, the unit price as quoted will be the price taken into account. 

b) Amounts corrected in this way will be binding on the tenderer. If the tenderer does not accept them, its tender will be rejected. 

c) Unless specified otherwise, the purpose of the financial evaluation process is to identify the tenderer offering the lowest price. Where specified in the technical specifications, the evaluation of tenders may take into account not only the acquisition costs but, to the extent relevant, costs borne over the life cycle of the supplies (such as for instance maintenance costs and operating costs), in line with the technical specifications. In such case, the contracting authority will examine in detail all the information supplied by the tenderers and will formulate its judgment on the basis of the lowest total cost, including additional costs. 

20.5 Variant solutions 

Variant solutions will not be taken into consideration. 

20.6 Award criteria 

The sole award criterion will be the price. The contract will be awarded to the lowest compliant tender. 

## 21.Notification of award 

The contracting authority will inform all tenderers simultaneously and individually of the award decision. The tender guarantees of the unsuccessful tenderers will be released once the contract is signed. 

