General Administrative and Submission Clauses The provisions set out hereunder shall fully apply to one-step procedures such as (i) open and (ii)  negotiated procedures without publication (above and below the publication thresholds). For two- step procedures such as (i) restricted, (ii) competitive procedure with negotiation, (iii) competitive  dialogue necessary deviations to these ‘General administrative and submission clauses’ will be  stated in the ‘Terms of Reference’. “Public procurement” means the purchasing of works, supplies and services by public bodies at  either national or Union level. EU public procurement plays an important part in the single market and is governed by rules  intended to remove barriers and open up markets in a non-discriminatory and competitive way, by  applying the following principles: (i) transparency, (ii) proportionality (iii) equal treatment, (iv) non- discrimination. The objective of public procurement is to increase the choice of potential contractors to public bodies,  thereby allowing the contracting authority to obtain the most economically advantageous tender,  while at the same time developing market opportunities for companies. Even though EU public procurement law does not directly apply to the EIB, its Management  Committee decided in July 2004 that the EIB, when procuring services, supplies or works for internal  purposes, should follow the provisions of EU law on public procurement (namely, at that time,  Procurement Directive 2004/18/EC) insofar as they are compatible with the Bank’s functioning and  the tasks and activities assigned to it by the EU Treaties. This commitment to EU public procurement law was renewed by the EIB when Directive 2014/24/EU  entered into effect. At institutional level the provisions that govern EIB’s procurement for corporate purposes are laid  down  in  the  Corporate  and  Technical  Assistance  Procurement  Guide  (available  at  http://www.eib.org/infocentre/publications/all/guide-for-procurement-of-services-supplies-and- works-by-the-eib-for-its-own-account.htm). The documents applicable to this procedure (the “Procurement Documents”) shall comprise the  following in order of priority:  During a procurement procedure, communications between EIB and each economic operator that  has submitted a tender (a “Tenderer”) may only take place in exceptional circumstances, under the  following conditions:  3. Communication between EIB and Tenderers  2. Procurement Documents  1. Foreword  (v)  General Administrative and Submission Clauses.  (iv)  Administrative forms for EIB Tenders; and  (iii)  Contract Notice or Invitation Letter;  (ii)  Model Contract, with its appendices;  (i)  Terms of Reference, with its appendices;  Last updated: June 2020 Page 4 of 21 