Article XIV Procurement (a) The procurement policy of EUTELSAT shall be such as to encourage, in its interests and those of the Parties and Signatories, the widest possible competition in the supply of goods and services, and shall be applied taking into account the provisions of Articles 17 and 18 of the Operating Agreement. (b) Except as provided in Article 17 of the Operating Agreement, procurement of goods and services for EUTELSAT shall be effected by the award of contracts, based on responses to open international invitations to tender. (c) Contracts shall be awarded in the best interest of EUTELSAT, to bidders offering the best combination of quality, price, delivery time and other important criteria of relevance to EUTELSAT, it being understood that, if there are bids offering a comparable combination of the above-mentioned criteria, contracts shall be awarded with due consideration to the general and industrial interests of the Parties.