What are the EPO’s and bidders’ obligations during competitive procedures?

The EPO undertakes to:

• Define the procurement process/procedure to be followed.
• Set aside a submission that does not match the mandatory administrative prima facie conditions for a submission to be accepted as a bid.
• Disallow vendors who do not satisfy the selection criteria.
• Disallow a bid that does not satisfy the mandatory technical requirements of the procurement.
• Resolve disputes via arbitration rather than through the courts (where earlier written and face-to-face resolution attempts have failed).
• Not award to bidders who do not represent the market price.

The bidder undertakes to:

• Follow the rules of the procedure as provided by the EPO.
• Honour their prices (and relevant technical undertakings) for the period requested by the EPO (e.g. "period bound by bid" in the published notice).