The composition of the consortium may be changed up to the date of signature of the public contract, in the event of a company restructuring operation, in particular a takeover, merger or acquisition, or if the consortium provides proof that one of its members is unable to carry out its task for reasons for which it is not responsible. The consortium may ask the purchaser for authorisation to continue to take part in the award procedure by proposing, where appropriate, and subject to acceptance by the purchaser, one or more new members of the consortium, subcontractors or affiliated undertakings. The purchaser will decide on this request after examining the capacity of all the members of the grouping thus transformed and, where applicable, of the subcontractors or associated companies presented for acceptance, in the light of the conditions for participation which it has defined.