Article 59. Framework agreements.

1. Contracting authorities may conclude framework agreements lasting no more than four years, except in duly justified exceptional cases, in particular with reference to the object of the framework agreement. The framework agreement indicates the estimated value of the entire contractual operation. In any case, the contracting authority cannot use framework agreements in order to evade the application of the code or in order to hinder, limit or distort competition. In particular, and except as provided for in paragraphs 4, letter b) and 5 for the purposes of obtaining improved offers, recourse to the framework agreement is not admissible where the consequential contract involves substantial changes to the type of services envisaged in the agreement. 2. Contracts based on a framework agreement are awarded according to the procedures provided for in this article, applicable between the contracting authorities, identified in the call for the procedure for the conclusion of the framework agreement, and the economic operators selected following the itself. Substantial changes to the conditions established in the framework agreement cannot be made during the procurement. 3. When the framework agreement is concluded with a single economic operator, the contracts are awarded within the limits of the conditions established in the framework agreement itself. The contracting authority may consult the economic operator in writing asking him to complete his offer, if necessary. 4. The framework agreement concluded with several economic operators shall be executed in one of the following ways: a) according to the terms and conditions of the framework agreement, without reopening the competitive comparison, when the framework agreement contains all the terms governing the provision of works, services and supplies, as well as the objective conditions, established in the tender documents of the framework agreement, to determine which of the economic operators party to the agreement will carry out the service; the identification of the economic operator who will carry out the service takes place with a reasoned decision in relation to the specific needs of the administration; b) reopening the competitive comparison between the economic operators who are parties to the framework agreement, if the framework agreement does not contain all the terms that govern the provision of works, services and supplies; c) if the conditions referred to in letter a) exist, partly without the reopening of the competitive comparison in accordance with the provisions therein and, partly, with the reopening of the competition competitive in accordance with the provisions of letter b), if this possibility has been established by the contracting authority in the tender documents for the framework agreement. The choice between the two procedures takes place on the basis of objective criteria which are indicated in the tender documents for the framework agreement and which also establish which conditions may be subject to the reopening of the competitive comparison. The possibilities provided for in this letter also apply to each lot of a framework agreement for which all the terms governing the provision of the works, services and supplies in question are defined in the framework agreement, regardless of whether they have been established all the terms governing the provision of the works, services and supplies in question for other lots. 5. Any competitive comparisons referred to in paragraph 4 are based on the same conditions applied to the award of the framework agreement, specifying them if necessary , and on other conditions indicated in the tender documents for the framework agreement, according to the following procedure: a) for each contract to be awarded, the contracting authority consults in writing the economic operators who are capable of carrying out the object of the contract ; b) the contracting authority sets a sufficient deadline for submitting the offers relating to each specific contract, taking into account the complexity of the subject of the contract and the time necessary for the transmission of the offers; c) the offers are submitted in writing and their content is not made public until the deadline set for their presentation has expired; d) the contracting authority awards the contract to the tenderer who has submitted the best offer on the basis of the award criteria set in the tender documents for the framework agreement. EFFECTIVE: July 1, 2023