Article 146

The contracting authorities shall draw up clear and non-discriminatory selection criteria. The selection criteria shall be applied in every procurement procedure for the purposes of assessing the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of the candidate or the tenderer. The contracting authority may lay down minimum capacity levels below which candidates may not be selected. Any tenderer or candidate may be asked to prove that he is authorised to perform the contract under national law, as evidenced by inclusion in a trade or professional register, or a sworn declaration or certificate, membership of a specific organisation, express authorisation, or entry in the value added tax (hereinafter ‘VAT’) register. The contracting authorities shall specify in the contract notice or in the call for expressions of interest or the invitation to submit a tender, the references chosen to test the status and the legal capacity of tenderers or candidates. The information requested by the contracting authority as proof of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of the candidate or tenderer and the minimum capacity levels required in accordance with paragraph 2 may not go beyond the subject of the contract and shall take account of the legitimate interests of the economic operators as regards in particular the protection of the firm’s technical and business secrets. The contracting authority may, depending on his assessment of risks, decide not to require proof of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of candidates or tenderers in the case of the following contracts: contracts awarded by the institutions on their own account, with a value not exceeding the value referred to in Article 137(1); contracts awarded in the field of external actions, with a value below the thresholds referred to in Article 265(1)(a), Article 267(1)(a) or Article 269(1)(a). Where the contracting authority decides not to require proof of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of candidates or tenderers, no pre-financing shall be made unless a financial guarantee of an equivalent amount is provided.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.