Authorized procurement methods
17So long as the Minister is not doing so for the purpose of averting competition among prospective suppliers or for the purpose of discriminating against a prospective supplier, the Minister may use any procurement method authorized by this Regulation if, in response to a competitive bidding process under section 13, 14 or 16,
(a)
no bid submissions are received or none of the bid submissions is acceptable, or
(b)
no prospective suppliers requested participation or no prospective suppliers satisfied the conditions for participation.