ECOWAS Tenders Code 2. Citizens of ECOWAS and legal persons incorporated in ECOWAS Member States may be granted a margin of preference as provided for in paragraph 1 above only if they meet the following criteria, namely: a) if they are ECOWAS member State citizens and tax resident in one of these States; and b) for legal persons, i. if they are incorporated or registered in an ECOWAS member State and are tax resident in that State; ii. if, at least fifty one (51) per cent of the authorised capital of the company is owned by ECOWAS member State nationals, and their board of directors are controlled by nationals of these States; c) for both natural and legal persons if, i. ii. iii. iv. v. for contractors, at least fifty (50) per cent of Community inputs are being used and seventy (70) per cent of their technical executive and staff on the construction site are ECOWAS member State nationals; for suppliers, at least fifty (50) per cent of the total value of the goods are made or manufactured in an ECOWAS member State; for service providers (including consultancy services), at least fifty (50) per cent of their services are provided by ECOWAS member State nationals; they do not subcontract more than twenty (20) per cent of the contract, excluding advances, to foreign suppliers, contractors or service providers; there is no arrangement whereby more than thirty (30) per cent of the net profits or other tangible benefits of the ECOWAS member State company will accrue or be paid to persons that are not nationals of that state or to entities which would not be eligible under this Article. d) in case of a partnership or joint venture agreements with a foreign partner, the preference shall be granted to the bidder where the minimum domestic content is not, in total, less than the one applicable in the case of a single contractor, and is provided by a national of an ECOWAS State, in compliance with paragraphs b and c of the present Article. e) In case of procurement funded from external sources, the provisions stated above shall apply except otherwise agreed with the funding partner. Article 58: Unsuccessful/ Cancellation of Contracting Process 1. Where specifically provided for in the bidding document, the procuring entity may reject all bids not in conformity with the stipulated requirements, declare the contracting process unsuccessful and/or cancel the contracting process. 2. An invitation for competition shall be declared unsuccessful in the following cases: a) where no bid is received by the closing deadline and at the place fixed in the invitation to bid for the receipt of bids; b) where no bid is deemed acceptable after examination and evaluation; c) where all the bids are for an amount higher than the determined budget for the contract. However, in that case, before declaring a bidding process unsuccessful, the Final Page 26