Southern Africa Development Community Secretariat – Procurement and Grants Policy (11) The Procuring Entity shall not accept a bid: (12) (a) If the bid is not substantially responsive, technically and financially; or (b) If the economic operator that submitted the bid does not accept a correction of an arithmetical error made pursuant to paragraph (8) of this Article or any other corrections and/or clarifications which have been specified in the Procurement Entity notice of acceptance of the bid. The Evaluation Committee shall evaluate and compare the bids that have been accepted in order to determine the successful bid as defined in paragraph (9) of this Article. The evaluation process shall be conducted in accordance with the procedures and criteria set forth in the bidding documents. No other criteria than those stated in the bidding documents shall be used. A bid shall be considered successful only if it is has been determined to be: (a) substantially responsive in terms of the specific evaluation criteria set forth in the bidding documents; (b) having the lowest evaluated bid price or, in case of Quality and Cost Based Selection (for Consultancy contracts), having the highest combined score; and (c) substantially conform with the qualification criteria set forth in the bidding documents or pre-qualification document, as appropriate. (13) The successful bidder shall not be allowed or asked to change its bid or required to accept new conditions during evaluation or as a condition of award except those specified in the paragraph 8 above. (14) Information relating to the examination, clarification, evaluation and comparison of bids shall not be disclosed to economic operators or to any other person not involved officially in the examination, evaluation or comparison of bids or in the decision on which bid should be accepted, except as provided in Article 11 of this Policy. Article 40. Prohibition of negotiations with bidders (1) No negotiation between Procuring Entity and the bidders/applicants shall be permitted prior to issuance of the notice of acceptance of bid, unless the procurement is conducted in accordance with the procurement methods described in the Article 24 and 25 of this Policy. (2) The provision of this article shall not prevent Procuring Entity from inviting the successful bidder to agree on the final format of the contract including any correction of an arithmetical error made or any other corrections and/or clarifications which have been specified in the Procurement Entity notice of acceptance pursuant Article 39 paragraph (8) of this Policy. Article 41. Acceptance of bid and entry into force of the contract (1) Subject to Articles 15, 17 and 37 of this Policy, the bid that has been determined to be the successful bid pursuant to Article 39 (12) of this Policy shall be accepted. Notice of acceptance of the bid shall be given to the economic operator who submitted the successful bid. (2) The Procuring Entity shall, before issuing the Notice of acceptance of the successful bid, issue a notice of intention to award the contract to all tenderers who participated in the tender in question by giving them ten (10) working days within which to submit a complaint, if any. 31