S.L. 601.7 Art. 2Interpretation. Cap. 460.

For the purposes of these regulations, and unless the context otherwise requires: "candidate" means an economic operator which has sought an invitation to take part in a restricted or negotiated procedure or a competitive dialogue; "central purchasing body" means the Department of Contracts or a European public body, which:

(a) acquires supplies and, or services intended for contracting authorities or entities, or,

(b) awards contracts or concludes framework agreements for works, supplies or services intended for contracting authorities or entities; "civil purchases" means contracts not subject to regulation 3 covering the procurement of non-military products, works or services for logistical purposes and concluded in accordance with the conditions specified in regulation 18;

"classified information" means any information or material, regardless of the form, nature or mode of transmission thereof, to which a certain level of security classification or protection has been attributed, and which, in the interests of national security and in accordance with the laws, regulations or administrative provisions in force in the Member State concerned, requires protection against any misappropriation, destruction, removal, disclosure, loss or access by any unauthorised individual, or any other type of compromise; "Commission" means the Commission of the European Union;

"common procurement vocabulary (CPV)" means the reference nomenclature applicable to contracts awarded by contracting authorities, as adopted by Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002; "competitive dialogue" means a procedure in which any economic operator may request to participate and whereby the contracting authority conducts a dialogue with the candidates admitted to that procedure, with the aim of developing one or more suitable alternatives capable of meeting its requirements, and on the basis of which the candidates chosen are invited to tender. For the purpose of recourse to the procedure, a public contract is considered to be "particularly complex" where the contracting authorities are not objectively able to define the technical means in accordance with regulation 2 of the Public Procurement S.L. 601.03 Regulations; "contracting authorities" means contracting authorities as referred to in regulation 2 of the Public Procurement Regulations; S.L. 601.03 "contracting entities" means contracting entities as referred to in regulation 2(2) of the Public Procurement of Entities Operating in S.L. 601.05 the Water, Energy, Transport and Postal Services Sectors Regulations; "contractor" means a natural or legal person or public entity or group of such persons and, or bodies which offers on the market the execution of works and, or a work;

"crisis" means any situation in a Member State or third country in which a harmful event has occurred which clearly exceeds the dimensions of harmful events in everyday life and which substantially endangers or restricts the life and health of people, or has a substantial impact on property values, or requires measures in order to supply the population with necessities; a crisis shall also be deemed to have arisen if the occurrence of such a harmful event is deemed to be impending; armed conflicts and wars shall be regarded as crises for the purposes of these regulations; "Director" means the Head of the Department of Contracts;

"economic operator" means a contractor, supplier or service provider;

"electronic auction" means a repetitive process involving an electronic device for the presentation of new prices, revised downwards, and, or new values concerning certain elements of tenders, which occurs after an initial full evaluation of the tenders, enabling them to be ranked using automatic evaluation methods. Certain service contracts and certain works contracts having as their subject-matter intellectual performances, such as the design of works, may not be the object of electronic auctions;

"electronic means" means any means using electronic equipment for the processing (including digital compression) and storage of data which is transmitted, conveyed and received by wire, by radio, by optical means or by other electromagnetic means; "European Union" means the European Union as referred to in the Treaty; "Framework agreement" means an agreement between one or more contracting authorities or entities and one or more economic operators, the purpose of which is to establish the terms governing contracts to be awarded during a given period, in particular with regard to price and, where appropriate, the quantity envisaged;

"Government" means the State, regional or local government of a Member State or third country;

"life cycle" means all the possible successive stages of a product, that is research and development, industrial development, production, repair, modernisation, modification, maintenance, logistics, training, testing, withdrawal and disposal; "Member State" means a member state of the European Union; "military equipment" means equipment specifically designed or adapted for military purposes and intended for use as an arm, munitions or war material; "negotiated procedures" means procedures in which the contracting authority or entity invites the economic operators of its choice and negotiates the terms of the contract with one or more of these; "public contract" means a contract for pecuniary interest concluded in writing between one or more economic operators and one or more contracting authorities and having as its object the execution of works, the supply of products or the provision of services; "related undertaking" means any undertaking over which the successful tenderer can exert a dominant influence, whether directly or indirectly, or any undertaking which can exert a dominant influence on the successful tenderer or which, as the successful tenderer, is subject to the dominant influence of another undertaking as a result of ownership, financial participation or the rules which govern it. A dominant influence on the part of the undertaking is presumed when, directly or indirectly in relation to another undertaking, it: - holds a majority of the undertaking’s subscribed capital, - controls a majority of the votes attached to the shares issued by the undertaking, or - is entitled to appoint more than half of the undertaking’s administrative, management or supervisory bodies; "research and development" means all activities comprising fundamental research, applied research and experimental development, where the latter may include the realisation of technological demonstrators, that is, devices that demonstrate the performance of a new concept or a new technology in a relevant or representative environment;

"restricted procedures" means procedures in which any economic operator may ask to participate and whereby only those economic operators invited by the contracting authority or entity may submit a tender; "sensitive equipment", "sensitive works" and "sensitive services" means equipment, works and services for security purposes, involving, requiring and, or containing classified information;

"service contracts" means contracts other than works or supply contracts having as their object the provision of services. A contract having as its object both products and services shall be considered to be a "public service contract" if the value of the services in question exceeds that of the products covered by the contract. A contract having as its object services and including activities mentioned in Division 45 of the CPV that are only incidental to the principal object of the contract shall be considered to be a public service contract; "service provider" means a natural or legal person or public entity or group of such persons and, or bodies which offers services on the market; "subcontract" means a public contract for pecuniary interest concluded in writing between a successful tenderer for a contract and one or more economic operators for the purposes of carrying out that contract and having as its object works, supplies of products or the performance of services; "supplier" means a natural or legal person or public entity or group of such persons and, or bodies which offers products on the market;

''supply contract'' means a public contract other than a public works contract having as its object the purchase, lease, rental or hire purchase, with or without option to buy, of products. A public contract having as its object the supply of products and which also covers, as an incidental matter, siting and installation, shall be considered to be a public supply contract; "'tenderer'' means an economic operator who has submitted a tender; "Treaty" has the same meaning as is assigned to it by the European Union Act; ''work'' means the outcome of building or civil engineering works taken as a whole which is sufficient of itself to fulfil an economic and technical function; "works contract" means contracts having as their object either the execution, or both the design and execution, of works related to one of the activities mentioned in Division 45 of the CPV, or a work, or the realisation, by whatever means, of a work corresponding to the requirements specified by the contracting authority;

"written" or "in writing" means any expression consisting of words or figures which can be read, reproduced and subsequently communicated. It may include information which is transmitted and stored by electronic means.