Article 15.1: Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter:
build-operate-transfer contract and public works concession contract means a contractual arrangement the primary purpose of which is to provide for the construction or rehabilitation of physical infrastructure, plants, buildings, facilities or other government- owned works and under which, as consideration for a supplier’s execution of a contractual arrangement, a procuring entity grants to the supplier, for a specified period of time, temporary ownership or a right to control and operate, and demand payment for the use of those works for the duration of the contract;
commercial goods or services means goods or services of a type generally sold or offered for sale in the commercial marketplace to, and customarily purchased by, non-governmental buyers for non-governmental purposes;
in writing or written means any worded or numbered expression that can be read, reproduced and may be later communicated. It may include electronically transmitted and stored information; limited tendering means a procurement method whereby the procuring entity contacts a supplier or suppliers of its choice;
multi-use list means a list of suppliers that a procuring entity has determined satisfy the conditions for participation in that list, and that the procuring entity intends to use more than once;
notice of intended procurement means a notice published by a procuring entity inviting interested suppliers to submit a request for participation, a tender or both;
offset means any condition or undertaking that requires the use of domestic content, a domestic supplier, the licensing of technology, technology transfer, investment, counter-trade or similar action to encourage local development or to improve a Party’s balance of payments accounts;
open tendering means a procurement method whereby all interested suppliers may submit a tender;
procuring entity means an entity listed in Annex 15-A;
publish means to disseminate information through paper or electronic means that is distributed widely and is readily accessible to the general public;
qualified supplier means a supplier that a procuring entity recognises as having satisfied the conditions for participation;
selective tendering means a procurement method whereby the procuring entity invites only qualified suppliers to submit a tender;
services includes construction services, unless otherwise specified;
supplier means a person or group of persons that provides or could provide a good or service to a procuring entity; and
technical specification means a tendering requirement that: (a) sets out the characteristics of: (i) goods to be procured, including quality, performance, safety and dimensions, or the processes and methods for their production; or (ii) services to be procured, or the processes or methods for their provision, including any applicable administrative provisions; or (b) addresses terminology, symbols, packaging, marking or labelling requirements, as they apply to a good or service.
Article 15.2: Scope
Application of Chapter
1. This Chapter applies to any measure regarding covered procurement.
2. For the purposes of this Chapter, covered procurement means government
procurement: (a) of a good, service or any combination thereof as specified in each Party's Schedule to Annex 15-A; (b) by any contractual means, including: purchase; rental or lease, with or without an option to buy; build-operate-transfer contracts and public works concessions contracts; (c) for which the value, as estimated in accordance with paragraphs 8 and 9, equals or exceeds the relevant threshold specified in a Party's Schedule to Annex 15-A, at the time of publication of a notice of intended procurement; (d) by a procuring entity; and (e) that is not otherwise excluded from coverage under this Agreement.