Europol Public Information 3.2. Groups of economic operators 3.2.1. Documentation and information to be provided by groups of economic  operators  The role and tasks of each entity involved in a request to participate/ tender (e.g. single tenderer/  candidate, member of a group or Group Leader, subcontractor) must be specified in the request  to participate/ tender. This applies also where the involved entities belong to the same economic  group.  Groups of economic operators are authorised to submit requests to participate/tenders (joint  requests to participate/joint tenders). The group as a whole is considered a candidate/ tenderer.  Each member of the group shall accept the terms and conditions set out in the procurement  documents.  The members of the group shall designate one member as Group Leader with full authority to  bind the group and each of its members. The Group Leader shall act as a single point of contact  with Europol in connection with the present procurement procedure. Europol may not demand that groups of economic operators must have a given legal form in  order to be allowed to submit a request to participate/tender. However, the group selected may  be required to adopt a given legal form after it has been awarded the contract and before the  contract is signed, if this change is necessary to the proper performance of the contract. The group of economic operators can take the form of:  If the partners of the group have already set up a consortium or similar entity to that end, they  should state this in their request to participate/ tender, together with any other relevant  information and connected documentation.  Any change in the composition of the group during the procurement procedure may lead to the  rejection 9  of the corresponding request to participate/tender. Any change in the composition of  the group after the signature of the contract may lead to the termination of the contract.  9  A change may be accepted by Europol in case of a merger or takeover of a member of the group (universal succession), provided that the  new entity has access to procurement and is not in an exclusion situation. In any case the selection criteria must be still fulfilled by the group  and the terms of the originally submitted tender may not be altered substantially, i.e. all the tasks assigned to the former entity must be  taken over by the new entity member of the group, the change must not make the tender non-compliant with the Tender specifications, and  the evaluation of award criteria of the originally submitted tender may not be modified.  General Guidance on Europol Procurement Procedures  Page  9  of  20 • an entity with legal personality recognised by a Member State; or  • an entity without legal personality but offering sufficient protection of Europol’s  contractual interests, for instance a temporary grouping of service providers or a joint  venture. In the relevant section of the request to participate/tender the role and tasks of each member of  the group will be clearly identified.  In general, each member of the group must provide the same administrative documentation as  the Group Leader.  The documentation that must be provided is indicated in the Invitation. 