Selection and awarding conditions
Article 3
1. The mandated central bank shall carry out the procedure for the selection of T2S network service providers in compliance with the general principles laid down in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, including transparency, proportionality, equal treatment, equal access and non-discrimination. 2. The total number of T2S network service providers shall not exceed two at any given time. 3. When carrying out the selection procedure, the mandated central bank shall in particular observe the following conditions: (a) it shall carry out an open procedure for the award of the licences whereby any interested economic operator may submit an offer; (b) all selection acts shall be prepared jointly by the Eurosystem central banks and the mandated central bank, and approved by the T2S Programme Board; (c) the T2S network service providers shall be selected on the basis of the lowest maximum price for a standard set of services to be provided to the community of directly connected T2S actors, according to the model approved by the T2S Programme Board; (d) all selection acts shall be published in English. The mandated central bank may also publish the contract notice in its official language. The participants in the selection procedure shall submit their offers and all supplemental documents in English; (e) the mandated central bank shall specify in the contract notice that the selection procedure is carried out in its name and interest as well as in the interest of the Eurosystem central banks; (f) the mandated central bank shall publish the contract notice at a minimum in: (i) the Official Journal of the European Union ; (ii) the national official journal used for contract notices by the mandated central bank; (iii) two national newspapers; and (iv) the Financial Times and The Economist . The selection acts shall be published on the mandated central bank’s website. The contract notice shall also be published on the ECB’s website, with a link to the mandated central bank’s website in order to enable access to all the selection acts; (g) the mandated central bank shall respond to requests for clarification in the selection procedure sent to the e-mail address specified in the contract notice. Any such response shall be published by the mandated central bank and the ECB on their respective websites; (h) selection panel members shall be designated by the T2S Programme Board and formally appointed by the mandated central bank immediately after the end of the bidding period; (i) selection panel members shall be obliged to sign the declaration of absence of conflict of interest that has been approved by the T2S Programme Board; (j) the mandated central bank shall undertake the operational aspects of the selection procedure; (k) the selection panel shall, inter alia, examine the administrative and technical documentation, and decide on the exclusion from the selection procedure of participants not fulfilling the participation requirements. The selection panel shall evaluate abnormally low offers pursuant to the rules laid down in the selection acts. The selection panel shall rank the participants not excluded from the selection procedure in increasing order of their economic offers; (l) The mandated central bank shall formally communicate all of the selection panel’s decisions to the participants concerned using a secure and prompt means of written communication. 4. Once the selection panel has ranked the participants in accordance with paragraph 3(k) (preliminary awarding), the mandated central bank shall, under its responsibility, undertake an internal legitimacy check to verify that the selection procedure was carried out correctly. When this check has been successfully completed, the mandated central bank shall issue the final award and shall verify that the selected participants fulfil the participation requirements and that their self declarations are truthful. Should the legitimacy check be unsuccessful, the final award shall be deferred and the mandated central bank shall seek guidance thereon from the T2S Programme Board. 5. The mandated central bank shall act in its name and interest as well as in the interest of the Eurosystem central banks as regards all rights and obligations stemming from the selection procedure. It shall also report thereon to and comply with decisions taken by the T2S Programme Board. 6. The mandated central bank shall bear its own costs related to the tasks it carries out in the selection procedure.