Notification of Tender award

At that stage, the PPA exercising its power as the court may nullify all procurement proceedings and order the procurement to be redone. Note that complying to PPA orders is not an option, but mandatory.

Yes Mwalongo,

But what is the PPA instruct on such a scenario?

It is true that acceptance can be revoked at any time as long as it has not been communicated to the recepient. But it is important to note that there are factors vitiating contracts. These factors even if a contract is made if they prevail a contract can be void or voidable. These factors includes illegality, mistake, misrepresenatation, coercion etc. So if acceptance is given by mistake then that contract is voidable at the option of a mistaken party to come forward to plead that it was by mistake and the contract will not be terminated but it will be marked that it does not exist as it was entered by mistake.

Thanks

JAM,

This is interesting. Let me share with you what I know about Communication of Offer, Acceptance and Revocation taken from the Law of Contract.

Rule 1: Communication of offer, when complete
Communication of an offer is complete when it comes to the knowledge of the person to whom it is made.

Example: A proposes, by a letter, to sell his house to B at certain price. The letter is posted on 1st June at 10.00 a.m. It reaches B on 3rd June at 3.00 p.m. The communication of the offer is complete when B receives the letter i.e. at 3.00 p.m. on 3rd June.

Rule 2:Communication of acceptance, when complete
As against the proposer: The communication of acceptance is complete as against the proposer when it is put in a course of transmission to him so as to be out of the power of the acceptor.

Example: Continuing with the above illustration. B accepts A’s proposal, by a letter sent by post on 5th June. He handed over the letter to his messenger at 2.00 p.m. for posting. The messenger actually posted the letter at 2.30 p.m. The communication of the acceptance, is complete, as against A when the letter is actually posted at 2.30 p.m. on 5th June (not 2.00 p.m. when it was handed over to the messenger, since the letter is said to be out of the power of the acceptor only when the letter is actually posted).

As against the acceptor: The communication of an acceptance is complete as against the acceptor when it comes to the knowledge of the proposer.

Example: In the above illustration, the letter reaches A on 8th June at 11.00 a.m. The communication of an acceptance is complete against B, when the letter is received by A at 11.00 a.m. on 8th June.

Rule 3: Communication of revocation, when complete.

As against the person who makes it: Revocation means “taking back” or “ cancellation”. Offer or acceptance may be revoked. The communication of revocation is complete as against the person who makes it, when it is put into a course of transmission to the person to whim it is made, so as to be out of the power of the person who makes it.

Example: Continuing with the above illustration, A revokes his offer. A telegram to the effect is despatched on 4th June at 1.00 p.m. The communication of revocation is complete as against A at 1.00 p.m.

As against the person to whom it is made: The communication of revocation is complete as against the person to whom it is made, when it comes to his knowledge.

Example: In the above instance, the telegram reaches at 2.15 p.m. on 5th June. The communication of revocation is complete as against B at 2.15 p.m. on 5th June.

Rule 4: Revocation of a proposal
A proposal may be revoked at any time before the communication of its acceptance is complete as against the proposer, but not afterwards.

Example:If in our above illustration the telegram reaches B prior to 2.30 p.m. on 5th June then a proposal can be validly revoked, but if however, the telegram reaches subsequent to 2.30 p.m. the revocation is not complete.

Rule 5: Revocation of an acceptance
An acceptance may be revoked at any time before the communication of the acceptance is complete as against the acceptor but not afterwards.

Example: In our above illustration if B wants to revoke his acceptance made to A he can do so provided his intimation to A reaches A prior to 11.00 p.m. on 8th June.

Some special notes to note

• An acceptance may be held to be communicated inspite of the fact that it has not come to the knowledge of the offeror. The proposer thus becomes bound by the contract from the moment the letter of acceptance is posted by the offeree. But the acceptor will be bound only when the letter of acceptance has reached the proposer. Loss of letter in post, late delivery or miscarriage etc. will not affect the validity of the contract. In all such cases, posting of acceptance will be sufficient for communication. The contract is complete although the acceptance is delayed or wholly lost through an accident in the post.

• The difference between the communication of an offer and communication of an acceptance is that an offer is not held to be communicated until it is brought to the notice of the acceptor, while the acceptance may be held to be communicated, though it has not come to the knowledge of the offeror. It may be noted that when the letter of acceptance is posted by the customer then the customer can ask the proposer to perform the contract since he will be bound by the acceptance but the proposer cannot ask the acceptor to perform the contract as his acceptance has not yet reached the proposer and subsequently the proposer cannot bind him by his acceptance. The acceptor in this case remains free to the end of time to revoke his acceptance.

• In case the letter of acceptance is posted by the acceptor is delayed or lost, the contract is complete so far as the proposer is concerned, but it shall not be binding as against the acceptor, so long as the communication of the letter does not reach the proposer. In that case, before such a communication to the proposer, the acceptor has a right to withdraw the same while on the other hand, proposer is bound by it.

With this knowledge of the Law of Contract, Can members comment on this very interesting topic put forward by JAM. I hope he wont jam the forum.

There are two big question to be answered with regard to JAM Submission

1. At what time can we revoke the acceptance?
2. Can aceeptance resulting out of a mistake be revoked even after it has been communicated?

Dear all in the Forum,
I happened to attend one of the Tender board meeting as an Invitee in which there was one of the very interesting case. I invite your comments/advice which may help the particular PE to reach at a good decision.
The tender for installation of Local Area Network was called by Pmu and several contractors submited their bids. The evaluation team recommended the lowest bidder(who in their opinion emmerged also to be the lowest evaluated bidder) to be awarded the contract.
The tender board in their deceision rejected the recommendations of the evaluation team on the following grounds:
1.The contractor has few Technical staff
2. The company has less experience comparing to others.
so the TB instructed pmu to award the contract to another contractor. Very unfortunately, the pmu in the process of writting the award notification letter they wrote to the rejected contractor basing on the recommendation of the evaluation team.
The contractor Accepted the offer and lately it was discovered that the awarded contractor is not the one approved by the TB.
In the reffered meeting some of the members were commenting to cancell that offer and award to the approved one.But i cautioned them that at that point already there is a CONTRACT since there was an OFFER and ACCEPTANCE so it will not be as easy as they think! It was then decided to refer this matter to the Legal Councel for advise.
Under this situation what are your opinions?

JAM