Public contracts shall be awarded through invitation to tender after competitive bidding by the Administration’s potential contracting partners.
They may be exceptionally awarded through the mutual agreement procedure under the conditions laid down in this Public Contracts Code.
Public contracts shall be subject to the tax and customs regime applicable in Cameroon, except otherwise expressly provided by the laws or regulations, and subject to the provisions of external assistance financing agreements or international conventions and agreements.
Invitation to tender shall be the procedure whereby a contract is awarded after public competitive bidding.
The selection criteria shall take into account in particular:
(a) The qualification and professional capacity of bidders;
(b) The price of services and any variants proposed or the cost of using them;
(c) The completion or delivery deadlines;
(d) The technical and functional value of services, particularly the conditions for use and maintenance, as well as the potential lifespan of the works or the supplies and services concerned.
Types of Invitation to Tender
An invitation to tender may be:
(a) National, where it concerns natural persons or corporate bodies domiciled or headquartered in Cameroon; or
(b) International, where it concerns natural or corporate bodies domiciled or headquartered within or outside the national territory.
Each type of invitation to tender referred to in (1) above may be open, restricted, with design competition or two-stage tendering.
Open Invitation to Tender
An open invitation to tender shall be one whereby a public notice invites all interested persons to submit their bids by a given date.
After publication of the notice, the tender document shall be put at the disposal of each bidder who so requests.
Restricted Invitation to Tender
A restricted invitation to tender shall be one that is preceded by prequalification.
Prequalification shall be conducted for services of the same nature following a public call for bids through publication in authorized newspapers of a notice relating to a special tender or a set of tenders over a period of no more than 6 (six) months.
Invitation to Tender with Design Competition
An invitation to tender may be accompanied by a design competition where technical, aesthetic or financial reasons warrant special studies.
Invitations to tender with design competition shall concern:
(a) Project design;
(b) Project design and conduct of related study;
(c) Project design and conduct of related study as well as implementation monitoring and control;
(d) Project design and implementation, in case of a design and implementation contract as provided for in Article 64 of the code.
Two-stage Tendering
The Project Owner may resort to two-stage tendering where he wishes to make a selection based on such criteria as performance, operating constraints and economic costs instead of mere detailed technical specifications, and where he is able to prove that he is unable to:
– Determine the resources required to meet his needs;
– Assess available technical or financial solutions.
The use of the two-stage tendering procedure shall be subject to prior authorization by the Minister in charge of public contracts during programming.
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