PART 3Award and modification of public service contracts
Award of contracts under competitive procedure14.
(1)
A competent authority must award a public service contract on the basis of a competitive tendering procedure unless—
(a)
an alternative procedure is available under these Regulations, or
(b)
it is relying on the internal operator exemption referred to in regulation 13(1) (internal operator exemption).
(2)
The procedure adopted for competitive tendering must be open to all suppliers, fair and transparent and accord with the applicable principles set out in regulation 4 (objectives).
(3)
In order to increase competition between railway suppliers, a competent authority may decide that contracts for public passenger transport services by rail relating to parts of the same network or package of routes are to be awarded to different railway suppliers and, if it does, it may decide to limit the number of contracts to be awarded to each railway supplier.
(4)
A competent authority must, while ensuring the protection of commercially sensitive information, make relevant information available to all interested parties to enable them to prepare an offer under a competitive tendering procedure and to draft a well-informed business plan.
(5)
Relevant information under paragraph (4) includes—
(a)
information on passenger demand, fares, costs and revenues related to the public passenger transport services covered by the competitive tendering procedure, and
(b)
details of the infrastructure specifications relevant for the operation of the required vehicles or rolling stock.