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Whereas Article 45 of that code defines in broad terms the concept of economic operator allowed to take part in procurement procedures for the award of public contracts, Article 46 thereof establishes a special regime for architectural and engineering services. Under the latter provision: ‘1. Participation in procurement procedures in relation to architectural and engineering services is open to the following: (a) providers of engineering and architectural services: independent or associated professionals, firms of professionals as referred to in subparagraph (b), engineering firms as referred to in subparagraph (c), consortia, European Economic Interest Groupings (EEIGs), temporary groupings of the abovementioned forms, which provide public and private customers operating on the market with engineering and architectural services as well as technical and administrative activities, and economic and financial feasibility studies related to these activities, including, as regards measures relating to the restoration and maintenance of movable property and surfaces decorated with architectural objects, persons qualified as restorers of cultural objects in accordance with the regulations in force; (b) firms of professionals: firms constituted exclusively from among professionals enrolled with the respective professional associations provided for by the professional regulations in force, in the form of partnerships as referred to in Chapters II, III and IV of Title V of Book V of the Civil Code and in the form of cooperative societies as referred to in Chapter I of Title VI of Book V of the Civil Code, which provide private and public developers with engineering and architectural services such as feasibility studies, research, consultations, design or site management work, technical and economic feasibility assessments or environmental impact assessments; (c) engineering firms: limited liability companies as referred to in Chapters V, VI and VII of Title V of Book V of the Civil Code, or in the form of cooperative societies as referred to in Chapter I of Title VI of Book V of the Civil Code, which do not meet the conditions to be classified as firms of professionals, and which carry out feasibility studies, research, consultancy, design or site management work, technical and economic feasibility studies or impact assessments as well as other goods production activities associated with the provision of these services; (d) providers of engineering and architectural services identified under CPV codes 74200000-1 to 74276400-8, 74310000-5 to 74323100-0 and 74874000-6 established in other Member States, constituted in accordance with the legislation in force in the respective countries; (e) temporary groupings constituted from among the forms referred to in subparagraphs (a) to (d); (f) permanent groupings of firms of professionals and of engineering firms, including in a mixed form, consisting of at least three members that have operated in the sectors of engineering and architectural services. 2. For the purpose of taking part in the procurement procedures referred to in paragraph 1, firms may, within five years from their constitution, show compliance with the economic/financial and technical/organisational conditions required in the contract notice, including the conditions relating to the members of the firm where the firm is constituted in the form of a partnership or a cooperative society, and those relating to the technical managers or professionals employed on a permanent basis by the firm, where the latter is constituted in the form of a limited liability company.’