country/-ies of establishment and the delegation(s) of the authorisation to sign as described in 

## Section 4.4 . 

In a competitive procedure with negotiation any interested economic operator (any natural or legal person who offers to supply products, provide services) may submit a request to participate ( step 1 ) but only the selected candidates are invited to submit a tender  ( step 2 ). 

## 2.3. Ways to submit a tender: how can economic operators organise themselves to submit a tender? 

Economic operators can request to participate and subsequently submit a tender either as a sole economic operator (sole candidate/tenderer) or as a group of economic operators (joint tender). In either case subcontracting is permitted. 

In order to fulfil the selection criteria set out in Section 3.2  the economic operator can rely on the capacities of subcontractors or other entities that are not subcontractors. 

The role of each entity involved in a request to participate/tender (hereafter referred to as “ involved entity ”) must be clearly specified in the cover letter: i) sole candidate, ii) Group leader of a group of economic operators, iii) member of a group of economic operators, or iv) subcontractor. For an entity on whose capacities the candidate relies to fulfil the selection criteria (that is not a subcontractor), this role is defined in the commitment letter ( Annex 6.2 ). This applies also where the involved entities  belong to the same economic group. 

## 2.3.1. Joint tenders 

A joint tender is a situation where a request to participate/tender is submitted by a group (with or without legal form) of economic operators regardless of the link they have between them. The group as a whole is considered a candidate/tenderer$^{3}$. 

All members of the group assume joint and several liability towards the Contracting authority for the performance of the contract as a whole. 

Group members must appoint a Group leader  and a single point of contact authorised to act on their behalf in connection with the submission of the request to participate/tender and all relevant questions, clarification requests, notifications, etc., that may be received during the evaluation, award and until the contract signature. The model power of attorney attached in Annex 4 is to be used . 

TEMPLATE: Restricted procedure - Tender specifications Part 1 Administrative Specifications JRC R.9 - IMS-JRC-S3.1-TMP-0048 - v.1.0 17/02/2020 M(EN) 

