17 March 2011 | Peter Micklewright
By Michael Burnett and Martin Oder, European Institute of Public Administration, €120
5 stars
This is an overview of the competitive dialogue (CD) procedure with a focus on conduct of the dialogue phase and finalisation of contracts post-tender. It also seeks to identify clarifications needed to the legal framework to reduce uncertainty at these stages. The primary audience is politicians and public officials, with a secondary readership of private sector suppliers and advisers.
Great emphasis is placed on the need for the contracting authorities to be well prepared for CD, in particular the need to ensure the case to use it has been fully developed and will withstand scrutiny. A key tenet is that the contracting authority should develop a “provisionally preferred solution” that forms the basis of the dialogue phase.
I would have liked to have seen the potential cost, resources and elapsed time of CD procurements explained in more detail, as additional guidance and examples of success would have been valuable.
* Peter Micklewright, director, Fulcre Partners
