Article 15

1. Contracting entities may choose any of the procedures described in Article 1 (6), provided, subject to paragraph 2, a call for competition has been made in accordance with Article 16. 2. Contracting entities may use a procedure without prior call for competition in the following cases: (a)in the absence of tenders or suitable tenders in response to a procedure with a prior call for competition, provided that the original contract conditions have not been substantially changed; (b)where a contract is purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development and not for the purpose of ensuring profit or of recovering research and development costs; (c)when, for technical or artistic reasons, or for reasons connected with protection of exclusive rights, the contract may be executed only by a particular supplier or contractor; (d)insofar as is strictly necessary when, for reasons of extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable by the contracting entities, the time limits laid down for open and restricted procedures cannot be adhered to; (e)in the case of supply contracts for additional deliveries by the original supplier which are intended either as a partial replacement of normal supplies or installations or as the extension of existing supplies or installations, where a change of supplier would oblige the contracting entity to acquire material having different technical characteristics which would result in incompatibility or disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance; (f)for additional works not included in the project initially awarded or in the contract first concluded but which have, through unforeseen circumstances, become necessary for the execution of the contract, on condition that the award is made to the contractor executing the original contract: -when such additional works cannot be technically or economically separated from the main contract without great inconvenience to the contracting entities, -or when such additional works, although separable from the execution of the original contract, are strictly necessary to its later stages; (g)in the case of works contracts, for new works consisting of the repetition of similar works entrusted to the contractor to which the same contracting entities awarded an earlier contract, provided that such works conform to a basic project for which a first contract was awarded after a call for competition. As soon as the first project is put up for tender, notice must be given that this procedure might be adopted and the total estimated cost of subsequent works shall be taken into consideration by the contracting entities when they apply the provisions of Article 12; (h)for supplies quoted and purchased on a commodity market; (i)for contracts to be awarded on the basis of a framework agreement, provided that the condition referred to in Article 5 (2) is fulfilled; (j)for bargain purchases, where it is possible to procure supplies taking advantage of a particularly advantageous opportunity available for a very short space of time at a price considerably lower than normal market prices; (k)for purchases of goods under particularly advantageous conditions either from a supplier definitively winding up his business activities or from the receivers or liquidators of a bankruptcy, an arrangement with creditors or a similar procedure under national laws or regulations.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-31 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.