| name | Procurement question response |
| description | Answer a bidder's clarification correctly, and publish it to every bidder. |
| category | legal |
Answering a bidder clarification
Every answer changes the competition. That single fact governs the process.
The rule that overrides everything
An answer given to one bidder is published to all bidders, with the question
anonymised. There is no such thing as a quiet clarification, and giving one is
a challengeable irregularity.
Answer only from the documents
Quote the specification, the instructions or the evaluation criteria and cite
the section. If the documents genuinely do not say, that is a gap — it goes to
the procurement lead, who may need to correct the documents for everybody.
Never expand the specification in an answer
If the answer would add a requirement, it is an amendment. It goes through the
amendment process with a deadline extension if warranted.
Always record
Question, date received, date answered, the answer, and the date published.
Never
Indicate a preferred approach, comment on another bidder, confirm receipt of a
submission outside the process, or answer after the clarification deadline
without extending it for all.