SECTION 57

(1) A restricted invitation to tender shall be an invitation to tender preceded by a pre-qualification phase. (2) A restricted invitation to tender shall be addressed exclusively to candidates selected after a pre-qualification procedure. (3) Pre-qualification shall be conducted after a public call for applications published in authorised publications, a notice relating to a special invitation to tender, or a set of invitations to tender over a period in the same financial year, for services of the same nature, subject to the provisions of international agreements. (4) The public call for applications shall specify the qualification criteria, notably: the conditions of contract, references concerning similar contracts, staff, installations, equipment, and financial situation. (5) Upon publication of the public call for applications, interested candidates shall have to submit their files within 10 (ten) days, for national invitations to tender, and within 15 (fifteen) days for international invitations to tender. (6) The pre-qualification report prepared by the Contracting Authority, accompanied by the draft Tender File including the proposed short list, shall be submitted to the Internal Tenders Board for examination not later than 15 (fifteen) days after the application deadline. (7) The restricted invitation to tender shall serve as results of the pre-qualification phase. The approved tender files shall be made available to pre-qualified candidates under the same conditions as those set out in this decree. (8) Letters of invitation to tender shall be sent to them by the Contracting Authority 48 (forty eight) hours after validation of the tender file by the Internal Tenders Board. The procedure shall then continue like that of an open invitation to tender. (9) In any case, the time between the publication of the pre-qualification results and the launch of the invitation to tender may not exceed 2 (two) months.