Under a sealed bid process, proposals are submitted closed and opened jointly after the deadline.
Purpose. No information advantage, no late revisions, no price-driven distortion of the evaluation.
Two-envelope process. Technical and commercial proposals submitted and opened separately — technical scoring completed before pricing is visible.
Evidentiary value. Timestamps, a documented opening time, criteria fixed before opening.
Precondition. System-based execution; unverifiable in an email-driven process.