WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONGPA/W/112
24 May 2000
(00-2101)
Committee on Government Procurement Original:  English
REVIEW OF THE AGREEMENT ON GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
STREAMLINING THE PROVISIONS OF  ARTICLES XIII AND XVIII RELATING
TO THE RECEIPT AND OPENING OF TENDERS, THE AWARDING OF CONTRACTS,
AND THE DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION ON CONTRACT AWARDS
Submission by the United States
The following communication, dated 19 May 2000, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the United States with the request that it be circulated to the Committee on Government
Procurement.
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Introduction
As noted in the Chairman's report on the Committee's informal meeting on 7 March 2000
(Job No. 1454, dated 9 March 2000), the Committee has agreed that its ongoing work under
Article XXIV:7(b) will focus in its next meeting on Articles VII-XV and paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 of
Article XVIII.  In order to facilitate progress, the United States is submitting the following drafting
proposal relating to Articles XIII and XVIII of the Agreement's current text.  The drafting proposals
are followed by a point-by-point explanation of the changes being proposed.
The United States welcomes other delegations' comments on these proposals and hopes that
delegations will consider them to be a useful basis for progress.  We reserve the right to amend this
submission or to propose additional text on these issues in the light of the Committee's discussions
and ongoing domestic consultations.
Proposed Text
Receipt and Opening of Tenders
1. Procuring entities shall receive and open all tenders under procedures that guarantee the
fairness and impartiality of the procurement process.
2. Procuring entities shall not penalize any supplier whose tender is received after the time
specified for receiving tenders if the delay is caused solely by the entity.
3. When procuring entities provide suppliers with opportunities to correct unintentional errors of
form between the opening of tenders and the awardi ng of the contract, they shall provide the same
opportunities to all participating suppliers.GPA/W/112
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Awarding of Contracts
1. To be considered for award, a tender must, at the time of opening, conform to the essential
requirements of the notices or tender documentation and be from a supplier which complies with the
conditions for participation, including any specified time-periods.  Parties shall ensure that entitiesbase contract award decisions solely on the requirements and evaluation criteria that have been
specified in the notices or tender documentation provided in advance to all participating suppliers.
2. Procuring entities shall award each contract to the tenderer who has been determined to be
fully capable of undertaking the contract and whose tender is either the lowest tender or the tender
which is determined to be the most advantageous in terms of the requirements and evaluation criteria
set forth in the notices or tender documentation.
3. Procuring entities shall not cancel a procurement process, or terminate or modify awarded
contracts in a manner which circumvents the objectives and requirements of this Agreement.
Announcement of Post-Award Information
1. Procuring entities shall promptly inform suppliers that have submitted tenders of the
procurement award decisions and provide opportunities for losing bidders to obtain an explanation of
the reasons for not being selected and the relative advantages of the successful supplier.
2. Not later than 90 calendar days after the award of a procurement covered by this Agreement,
the responsible procuring entity shall publish a notice in the appropriate publication designated in
Appendix II of this Agreement which includes at least the following information about that contract:
(a) the name of the procuring entity;(b) a description of the goods or services procured;(c) the name of the winning tenderer;(d) the value of the winning award;  and
(e) the type of procurement procedure used, and in cases where limited tendering
procedures are used, a description of the circumstances justifying the use of such
procedures.
Other Post-Award Information
1. Each Party shall provide detailed informatio n regarding procurement by covered entities and
their individual contract awards to any other Pa rty upon request.  This information may include such
additional information on the award of a contact as may be necessary to determine whether the
procurement was conducted fairly and impartially, including information on the characteristics andrelative advantage of the winning tender.
2. Parties shall ensure that their procuring entities maintain and make available upon request by
any other Party, records of tendering procedures relating to procurements subject to this Agreement.
Procuring entities shall maintain such records for a period of at least three years.
Non-Disclosure of Information
1. Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent Partie s from withholding the release of information
where release would impede law enforcement, or prejudice fair competition between suppliers or theGPA/W/112
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legitimate commercial interests of particular suppliers, including the protection of their intellectual
property.
Section 2:  Discussion
Receipt and Opening of Tenders
In this draft, the United States seeks to st reamline the existing text of Article XIII without
reducing its operational effectiveness.  We have excluded paragraph 1(a) of the existing Article
because it appears to be overly prescriptive, somewhat outdated, and in some respects redundant.
1. Draft paragraph 1 is a streamlined version of the existing Article XIII:3.  The second
and third sentences of the existing paragraph either appear to be unnecessary or are
addressed elsewhere in this proposal.
2. Draft paragraph 2 corresponds to the first sentence of existing Article XIII:2.  In our
view, the second sentence of the existing paragraph is unnecessary.
3. Draft paragraph 3 corresponds to subparagraph (b) of the existing Article XIII:1.
The United States believes that these general rules for the receipt and opening of tenders are flexible
enough to apply to open, "qualified open", selective, and limited tendering situations.
Awarding of Contracts
1. Draft paragraph 1 corresponds to subparagraphs 4(a) and 4(c) of existing Article XIII.
However, the second sentence of existing subparagraph 4(a) does not appear to be necessary, and hasbeen dropped.  We also propose making specific reference to time-periods as a condition for
participation, in order to ensure that only those contracts conforming to the time-periods set out in
notices or tender documentation are considered for participation.
2. Draft paragraph 2 corresponds to subparagraph 4(b) of existing Article XIII.3. Based on recent experiences of US suppliers, we propose the addition of a new provision, in
draft paragraph 3, to ensure that the cancellation of procurement procedures, or the termination or
modification of awarded contracts, does not circumvent the objectives and requirements of this
Agreement.
Due to possible similarities and overlapping issues, it may be appropriate to incorporate
provisions on decisions on qualification of suppliers  in this section as well.
Announcement of Post-Award Information
1. Draft paragraph 1 corresponds to paragraphs 2 and 3 of existing Article XVIII.2. Draft paragraph 2 slightly streamlines existing Article XVIII:1, and provides additional
flexibility by extending the time-period in which a post-award notice must be published from 72 days
to 90 days.
Other Post-Award Information
1. Draft paragraph 1 streamlines existing Article XIX:2.
2. Draft paragraph 2 corresponds to existing Article XX:4.GPA/W/112
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Non-Disclosure of Information
1. This paragraph corresponds to existing Article XIX:4, but has been slightly re-worded for
clarity.
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