1. Without prejudice to national laws, regulations or administrative provisions concerning the remuneration of certain services, the criteria on which the contracting authorities/entities shall base the award of contracts shall be either:

(a) when the award is made to the most economically advantageous tender from the point of view of the contracting authority/entity, various criteria linked to the subject-matter of the contract in question: for example, quality, price, technical merit, functional characteristics, environmental characteristics, running costs, lifecycle costs, cost-effectiveness, after-sales service and technical assistance, delivery date and delivery period or period of completion, security of supply, interoperability and operational characteristics; or

(b) the lowest price only.

2. Without prejudice to the third subparagraph, in the case referred to in paragraph 1(a) the contracting authority/entity shall specify in the contract documentation (contract notices, contract documents, descriptive documents or supporting documents) the relative weighting which it gives to each of the criteria chosen to determine the most economically advantageous tender.

The weightings can be expressed by providing for a range with an appropriate maximum spread.