Part 3: Award of public contracts and procedures Chapter 2: Competitive award Section 21: Tender notices and associated tender documents
Subsection (1) sets out when a tender notice must be published. When using the open procedure a contracting authority must publish a tender notice to invite suppliers to submit their tenders. For a competitive flexible procedure (defined in section 20), a contracting authority must publish a tender notice to invite suppliers to submit a request to participate or to invite them to submit the first, or only, tender. Whether there is an initial stage to invite suppliers to participate will depend on the design of the multi-stage procurement.
	Subsection (2) states that a tender notice is a notice which sets out that a contracting authority intends to award a public contract under section 19 (award of public contracts following a competitive tendering procedure). It also requires that the tender notice must contain any other information specified in regulations, which will be made under section 95 (notices, documents and information: regulations and online system).
	Subsection (3) allows for associated tender documents to be produced separately from the tender notice and that they must be provided in accordance with  the tender notice.
	Subsection (4) explains that associated tender documents must, where provided,  supplement matters in the tender notice. It also makes provision for more detail as to the information to be contained in associated tender documents to be set out in regulations that will be made under section 95 (notices, documents and information: regulations and online system).
	Subsection (5) sets out that a contracting authority cannot invite the submission of tenders, and therefore commence the tendering period under section 54, until the contracting authority is satisfied that the tender notice and any associated tender documents provide sufficient information to allow the preparation of a tender and, in particular, details of the goods, services or works to be supplied.
	Subsection (6) sets out that a contracting authority must be satisfied that the requirements in the tender notice and any associated tender documents are sufficiently clear and specific, and do not break the rules in section 56 (on technical specifications).
	Subsection (7) refers to section 40 (Qualifying utilities dynamic market notices: no duty to publish a tender notice) which provides an exception to the obligation to publish a tender notice when contracts are awarded under a utilities dynamic market established by reference to a qualifying utilities dynamic market notice. In such cases, utilities are required, instead, to provide tender notices only to suppliers that are members of the utilities dynamic market or relevant part of the market (see section 40).