Adherence to Solicitation Documents
Adherence to solicitation documents is an indispensible part of the procurement process. The Procurement Manual lays down stringent regulations with regards to adherence to the solicitation documents. Submissions that comply with or exceed the technical specifications of the solicitation documents shall be considered acceptable. Superficial characteristics of a technical submission which do not affect the quality of offered goods or services and which are not precluded by the solicitation documents, shall not affect the acceptability of offered goods or services.

Evaluating Qualification to Specifications
A qualification to the specifications or other terms of a submission that is not provided for in the solicitation documents shall be carefully examined to ensure that the submission is compliant with the specifications and terms of the solicitation documents. Such qualifications may concern the Contractual terms and conditions, and if so, shall be solely evaluated by the Procurement Staff in consultation with OLA, when necessary. The Requisitioner or Technical Evaluation Team shall evaluate qualifications concerning the technical specifications.

Maintaining Integrity
It is crucial to maintain the integrity of the procurement process throughout the implementation of the Source Selection Plan. Any deviation and change from the agreed protocol and methodology could be perceived as an attempt to favour a vendor and will trigger serious concerns with regards to a flawed procurement and even fraud and wrong doing. The Committees on Contracts will likely raise such issues and may declare the case non compliant and request a re-bid. Therefore, it is preferable to cancel a tender process than changing any key components in the course of the implementation of the Source Selection Plan and solicitation documents.