IV.2. COMMON TECHNICAL PROVISIONS  IV.2.1. Quality and standards  IV.2.1.1.  The contractor shall perform the  Services  and provide the  Products  in full knowledge and  consideration of the contracting authority 's computing environment. It shall perform it in  accordance with technical norms, standards and procedures based on best professional  practice in the informatics and/or telecommunications field, for instance the ISO 9000  standards.  IV.2.1.2.  The contracting authority shall supply, without delay, all the assistance, data and  information for providing its  Products  and  Services .  IV.2.1.3.  The contracting authority and the contractor shall notify each other by a  Means of  communication  of any factor likely to impair or delay the proper execution of the framework  contract.  IV.2.1.4.  The contractor guarantees that  Software  delivered under this framework contract, whether or  not developed in execution of this framework contract, will not fail to execute its programming  instructions due to defects and workmanship when properly installed and used on the device  designated by the contractor. It shall be devoid of any deliberate mechanism which leaves it  under the contractor's control after supply to the contracting authority. It shall meet the  operating requirements, specifications and characteristics specified in the contractor's  documents or laid down in the framework contract.  IV.2.1.5.  The quality of the contractor's  Products  and  Services  shall be measured by reference to the  definitions, quality standards and procedures defined in the present General Terms and  Conditions for Information Technology Contracts, framework contract or the specific contract,  and by reference to the  Quality indicators defined in a  Service level agreement . Quality  standards may be revised in line with developments on the market.  IV.2.1.6.  The contractor undertakes to comply with those quality standards. Compliance with the  standards shall be monitored by the contracting authority. Unless otherwise stated in the  framework contract, in accordance with Article I.16 of the General Conditions, in the event of  non–compliance with one or more of the standards over a sliding period of three (3) months,  the contractor shall submit an improvement plan. In the event of non–compliance with one or  more of the standards for three (3) months, consecutive or not, over a sliding period of six (6)  months, a Product whose quality has proved substandard may be withdrawn from the  framework contract, or the Contract may be terminated where the overall quality of the  Services  is substandard.  Page 11 of 40  IV.2.1.7.  Stand–by  System  (outside the  guarantee  period)  Unless otherwise stated in the framework contract, in the event of a complete  System  failure lasting more than twenty-four (24) hours from the time it is notified by a  Means of  communication  to the contractor, or in the event of intermittent failures lasting more than  forty-eight (48) hours for any reason whatsoever, the contractor shall, upon a duly  substantiated request, make available to the contracting authority within twenty-four  (24) hours at the most, an equivalent S ystem  or the necessary  hardware  and  software enabling the contracting authority to run its applications in the interim. The cost of such  equivalent material shall be charged to the contractor. If the contractor can demonstrate that  the failure is not attributable to it, it may charge the cost to the contracting authority at the  rates shown in the Annexes. 