(1) The accounting officer, Public Procurement Committee or Board may seek clarification during the examination of the tender from any tenderer to facilitate evaluation, but the accounting officer, Public Procurement Committee or Board shall not permit any tenderer to change the price or substance of his or her tender.
(2) After the tender opening, the accounting officer, Public Procurement Committee or Board shall —
(a) examine the tender to determine whether the tender is complete and is in accordance with the tendering document; and
(b) ascertain whether —
(i) the tender is properly signed, and
(ii) the documents required to establish legal validity and the required tender security have been furnished.
(3) Where a pre-qualification procedure is used, a tender received from a tenderer other than a pre-qualified tenderer shall be rejected by the accounting officer, Public Procurement Committee or Board.
(4) Where a tender discloses an arithmetical error, the error shall be corrected by the accounting officer, Public Procurement Committee or Board and the tenderer notified.
(5) Where there is a discrepancy between figures and words, the amount in words prevails, and the mistake shall be corrected by the accounting officer, Public Procurement Committee or Board and the tenderer notified.
(6) Where there is a minor deviation in any tender that did not warrant rejection of the tender at an earlier stage, such minor variation shall be quantified by the accounting officer, Public Procurement Committee or Board in monetary terms, as far as possible.
(7) A tender is evaluated according to the criteria and methodology set out in the tendering documents and the evaluated cost of each tender must be compared with the evaluated cost of other tenders to determine the lowest evaluated tender.
(8) Where a pre-qualification procedure is applicable, the qualification of the lowest evaluated tenderer is verified anew to take account of any change since the original pre-qualification procedure.
(9) The Tender Evaluation Committee shall prepare an evaluation report detailing the examination and evaluation of tenders and identifying the lowest evaluated tender that meets the qualification criteria.
(10) The evaluation report under subsection (9) shall be securely stored by the procuring entity.