Southern Africa Development Community Secretariat – Procurement and Grants Policy Article 9. Language (1) All the information pertaining to the procurement processes, including but not limited to the Procurement Policy and Regulations, procurement notices, solicitation documents, procurement plans, etc, shall be advertised by the SADC Secretariat / Procuring Entity in all three official languages of the SADC Secretariat (i.e. English, French and Portuguese). (2) However, for practical reasons, the Procuring Entity will be allowed to conduct the procurement activities in only one of the three languages, widely used for commercial transaction in the host country. Article 10. Form of communications (1) Subject to other provisions of this Policy, all communication between the Procuring Entity and Economic Operators shall be in written form, providing a record of the content of the communication (mail, email or facsimile). (2) When the communications between the Procuring Entity and the applicant(s), bidder(s) or contractor(s) are, under exceptional circumstances held verbally, the summary of discussions of the meeting shall be recorded in minutes by the Procuring Entity, and a copy of the minutes made available to the applicant(s), bidder(s) or contractor(s). (3) Whatever the means of communication are, the transmitting party shall be responsible for the confidentiality, completeness, integrity and timeliness of the data and the information being transmitted. Article 11. Disclosure of procurement related information (1) The text of this Policy, the Procurement Regulations and all administrative rulings and directives of general application in connection with procurement covered by this Policy, as well as all amendments thereof, shall be promptly made accessible to the public and systematically maintained. (2) The SADC Secretariat shall develop and maintain a dedicated web page to advertise all procurement opportunities as well as any subsequent solicitation documents related to these procurement opportunities, as specified in the procurement regulations. (3) All procurement subject to open bidding or international restricted bidding procedure shall be advertised as specified in the procurement regulations. (4) With the exceptions specified in the paragraph (6) of this Article, all the contact award notices, irrespective of the procurement method used or the value of the awarded contract, shall be also published on the SADC Secretariat website, as specified in the Procurement Regulations. (5) The period for which the procurement information referred to in paragraph (1), (2) and (3) above be made accessible to the public shall be minimum seven (7) years from the date of releasing the procurement information to the public. (6) The disclosure referred to paragraphs (1) - (5) may be restricted in case of defence or security related procurement to the extent that such procurement is determined to be of a sensitive nature, in accordance with the schedule of items eligible for such special treatment as set forth in the Regulations. 12