Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
maximum number that the contracting authority intends to invite to participate in
the dialogue.
No price or other bidding indications may be asked for or taken into account at this
stage, or considered if voluntarily provided, see regulation 18(11). The criteria used
for selection of tenderers do not apply to the award of a public services contract, see
regulation 30(1).
Step 3: Dialogue phase
Tenderers participate in competitive dialogue with the contracting authority in
response to an invitation to participate. The contracting authority's required aims
during the dialogue are to identify and define how its needs can best be satisfied, in
consultation with the participants, see regulation 18(21).
The contracting authority may discuss 'all aspects of the contract', but shall ensure
equality of treatment among all participants, see regulation 18(22)(a) and (b). A con-
cern for participants is that others could acquire and exploit their proprietary ideas,
and so proposed solutions or confidential information are not to be divulged to other
candidates without consent, see regulation 18(22)(c). The competitive dialogue pro-
cedure is to continue until one or more comparable solutions can be identified which
are capable of meeting the contracting authority's needs, see regulation 18(25).
The procedure may be conducted in successive stages, permitting stage by stage
the reduction of solutions, but a sufficient number of bidders must remain to ensure
genuine competition at tender stage, see regulation 18(24).
Step 4: Post-dialogue tender stage
The contracting authority may continue the dialogue until it can identify one or more
solutions capable of meeting its needs, if necessary after comparing them, and should
formally declare the dialogue concluded, see regulation 18(25) and regulation 18(26).
Contracting authorities should consider carefully when this declaration should be
made as it marks an important transition during the procedure.
Once the dialogue is concluded, the contracting authority invites each participant
to submit a final tender on the basis of any solution or solutions presented and speci-
fied (not necessarily by that tenderer) during the dialogue, see regulation 18(26). The
contracting authority cannot invite fewer than three tenderers to do so, provided a
sufficient number of candidates satisfy the qualitative selection criteria.
Step 5: Evaluation and fine-tuning to award
Tenders are then evaluated on the basis of the award criteria and the contracting
authority shall award the contract to the participant which submits the most econom-
ically advantageous tender, see regulation 18(28). Importantly, at this stage there is no
further scope for dialogue or negotiation and tenderers can only be asked to clarify,
specify or fine-tune their proposals, see regulation 18(27).
