Section 39: Two Stage Tendering.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Act, the Bureau may issue 'Certificate of No Objection' upon conditions hereinafter prescribed.
(2) A procuring entity shall engage in procurement by two-stage tendering:
(a) where it is not feasible for the procuring entity to formulate detailed specifications for the goods or works or, in the case of services, to identify their characteristics and where it seeks tenders, proposals or offers on various means of meeting its needs in order to obtain the most satisfactory solution to its procurement needs;
(b) where the character of the goods or works are subject to rapid technological advances; where the procuring entity seeks to enter into a contract for research, experiment, study or development, except where the contract includes the production of goods in sufficient quantities to establish their commercial viability or to recover research and development costs, where the procuring entity applies this Act to procurement concerned with national security and determines that the selected method is the most appropriate method of procurement; or
(c) where the tender proceedings have been utilized but were not successful or the tenders were rejected by the procuring entity under an open competitive bid procedure and the procuring entity considers that engaging in new tendering proceedings will not result in a procurement contract.
(3) The provisions of this Act as regards the process for open competitive bidding shall apply to two-stage tendering proceedings except to the extent that those provisions vary from this Section.
(4) The invitation documents :
(a) shall call upon suppliers or contractors to submit, in the first stage of two-stage tendering proceedings, initial tenders which contain their proposals without a tender price; and
(b) may solicit proposals that relate to technical, quality or other characteristics of the goods, works or services as well as contractual terms and conditions of supply and may stipulate the professional competence and technical qualifications of the suppliers or contractors.
(5) The procuring entity may, in the first stage, engage in negotiations with any supplier or contractor whose tender has not been rejected under an open competitive bidding procedure with respect to any aspect of its tender.
(6) In the second stage of the two tender proceedings the procuring entity:
(a) shall invite suppliers or contractors whose tenders have not been rejected to submit final tenders with prices on a single set of specifications;
(b) may, in formulating the specifications, delete or modify any aspect of the technical or quality characteristics of the goods, works or services to be procured together with any criterion originally set out in these documents, evaluate and compare tenders and ascertain the successful tender;
(c) may add new characteristics or criteria that conform with this Act;
(d) shall communicate to suppliers or contractors in the invitation to submit firm tenders, any deletion, modification or addition; and
(e) may permit a supplier or contractor who does not wish to submit a final tender to withdraw from the tendering proceedings.
(7) The final tenders shall be evaluated and compared in order to ascertain the successful tender as defined in an open competitive bid.