(1) The department shall publish the availability of a retail alcoholic beverage license, that is subject to the quota limitations in 16-4-105, 16-4-201, or 16-4-420, MCA, when:

(a) a new license becomes available in a quota area in which a license of the same type is not currently available in the quota area;

(b) the opportunity to transfer a license into a quota area becomes available in which a license of the same type is not currently available in the quota area; and

(c) the lapse, revocation, or issuance of a license within the quota area in which the license is located has created the last remaining license for that license type in the quota area; and

(d) the department's denial of an application for licensure or the applicant's withdrawal of an application for licensure has created the last remaining license for that license type in the quota area.

(2) No more than one license per license type per quota area may be published per calendar year until the quota has been reached for licenses that became available due to the separation of combined quota areas.

(3) The department shall publish the availability of the license once a week for four consecutive weeks in the newspaper of general circulation in the quota area. The publication notice shall include:

(a) the type of license(s) available;

(b) the reason for the availability;

(c) the instructions for submitting a competitive bid form;

(d) the processing fee;

(e) the minimum bid amount; and

(f) that the department will use a competitive bidding process for determining who is granted the opportunity to apply for licensure.

(4) The department has the right to cancel or amend a competitive bidding process at any time. If a competitive bidding process is cancelled, the department shall refund the form processing fee and notice the availability of the license, if applicable, in a future publication.