## 5.3. Formal opening requirements 

The contracting authority shall open all requests to participate and tenders. However, it shall reject: 

(a) requests to participate and tenders which do not comply with the time limit for receipt, without opening them; 

(b) tenders already open 12  when they are received, without examining their content. 

## 5.4. Attending the public opening session 

The public opening session will take place on the date and time indicated in the contract notice and in the procurement documents. In light of the COVID-19 situation, Europol may decide to organise the public opening session via a video conference. 

Should a tenderer wish to be present, it shall inform Europol by email ( tenders@europol.europa.eu) not later than the date and time indicated in the procurement documents providing the full name of tenderer’s authorised representative who will attend the public opening session. 

Tenderers who do not register and/or do not provide the information required for registration within the given deadline may not be allowed to attend the opening session. 

Tenderers not present at the public opening session may send an information request to tenders@europol.europa.eu if they wish to be provided with the information announced during the public opening (extract of the record of the opening session including the names of the tenderers). 

## 5.5. Evaluation of requests to participate/tenders 

Requests to participate/tenders found compliant during the opening session will be evaluated as specified in the Invitation. 

The evaluation will be carried out under the conditions of confidentiality and absence of conflict of interest. 

The following aspects will be assessed: 

• access to procurement and exclusion criteria of the candidate/tenderer to participate in the procurement procedure; 

