• capacity of the candidate/tenderer to perform the contract against the selection criteria; 

• compliance with the minimum requirements; 

• technical and financial tenders against the pre-defined award criteria. 

A request to participate/tender failing to pass a given category of criteria will not be evaluated under the other categories and the candidate/tenderer will be informed of the ground for rejection without being given feedback on the non-assessed content of the tender. 

The evaluation will be based on the information and evidence contained in the tenders and, if applicable, on additional information and evidence provided at the request of the contracting authority during the procedure. If any of the declarations or information provided proves to be false, the contracting authority may impose administrative sanctions (exclusion or financial penalties) on the entity providing the false declarations/information. 

For the purposes of the evaluation related to exclusion and selection criteria the contracting authority may also refer to publicly available information, in particular evidence that it can access on a national database free of charge. 

## 6. Award and signature of the contract with the successful tenderer 

## 6.1.  Award and notification of the outcomes of the procurement procedure 

Following the finalisation of the evaluation, a decision will be taken about the selection of candidates/award of the contract. 

Candidates/tenderers will be simultaneously and individually notified by e-mail as soon as possible about the decision taken about their request to participate / tender, including the grounds for any decision to not award the contract or to cancel the procedure. 

The notification will be sent to the e-mail address provided in the request to participate/ tender. The same e-mail address will be used by the contracting authority for all other communications with the candidate/ tenderer. It is the candidate/tenderer’s responsibility to provide a valid e- mail address together with contact details in the request to participate/ tender and to check this e-mail address regularly. 

For high value contracts equal to or above the Directive threshold (i.e. 139.000 € for services and supplies), the contract will not be signed for 10 days (standstill period), counting from the day after simultaneous dispatch of the notification by e-mail to all tenderers (successful and unsuccessful). Only after the end of this "standstill period" Europol may sign the contract. 

After the closing of the tendering procedure and in order to improve the quality of tenders and the quality of our procedures, Europol may hold upon request from the unsuccessful tenderers an optional debriefing meeting of its representatives with unsuccessful tenderers, aimed at exchanging feedback and suggestions for improvement in view of future procurement procedures. 

Once the award notice is published in the Official Journal of the European Union unsuccessful tenderers may submit a request for a debriefing meeting. However, Europol reserves the right to accept or refuse such requests and schedule the meeting date on the basis of the particular circumstances of each individual procurement procedure or of the existing workload. 

Europol would like to stress that it is not free to disclose any information where such disclosure would hinder the application of the law, be contrary to public interest, harm the legitimate business interests of public or private undertakings or distort fair competition. 

