1. A contract following a request for tenders is a contract entered into by the contracting parties following an invitation to tender. In this case, the offer thought to be most attractive may by freely chosen, taking into account the cost of performance, running costs involved, technical merit, the time for performance, together with the financial guarantees and the guarantees of professional competence put forward by each of the tenderers.
2. Contracts may be made by private treaty ... where the automatic public tendering or discretionary tendering procedures do not give any result or where the prices quoted are not acceptable.
