(1) The Tender Inviting Authority shall ensure the confidentiality of the process of tender evaluation until orders on the tenders are passed.
(2) Tenderers shall not make attempts to establish unsolicited and unauthorized contact with the Tender Accepting authority, Tender Inviting Authority or Tender Scrutiny Committee after the opening of the Tender and prior to the notification of the Award and if any attempt by the tenderer to bring to bear extraneous pressures on the Tender Accepting authority shall be sufficient reason to disqualify the tenderer.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (2), the Tender Inviting authority or the Tender Accepting authority or the Tender Scrutiny Committee may seek bonafide clarifications from tenderers relating to the tenders submitted by them during the evaluation of tenders.