The field BT-113 is mandatory even in an open tender in the SDK 1.13. It causes errors in the publication of competition notices n°16 and n°18

This issue has been raised by one of our provider or eSender in France. It is relative to two competition notices (eForms n° 16 and n° 18).

In the SDK 1.13 the field BT-113 Framework Maximum Participants Number is marked as mandatory in each framework agreement, regardless of the procedure chosen by the buyer (open or restricted). If the buyer does not fill in this field, his notice generates an error and it is impossible to publish it.

After analysis on our side, this field is effectively marked as mandatory in the eForms Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/1780) in those two competition notices, in the same way as the BT-778 Framework Maximum Participants field. The indication of a maximum number of participants in the framework agreement depends on if the buyer chooses a framework agreement (BT-765) and it depends on the buyer's decision to limit the number of participants in the framework agreement (BT-778 Framework Maximum Participants). Thus, the fact that it’s required for the buyer to indicate a maximum number of participants in the framework agreement in an open tender requires for buyers to indicate a false number when they fill in the field BT-113.

We want to report this contradiction we observed between the eForms regulation and the SDK’s technical rules. If you confirm this contradiction, we want to know what solution we should recommended to this provider. Thank you in avance.