
Local authorities should be wary of reserving contracts for local suppliers, as recommended by Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 11/20. Other contracting authorities may want to maximise their use of this
At its worst, competitive dialogue can be slow, time-consuming, and painfully expensive for all involved.
The EU procurement rules limit the use of competitive dialogue to “particularly complex” contracts. It is difficult to argue that the likes of "standard" responsive or planned maintenance contracts, using a standard form contract and an established payment mechanism (such as a schedule of rates) is "particularly complex". However, the restricted procedure restricts post-tender negotiations to “clarification, specification and fine tuning” of tenders. Competitive dialogue is available where the specification, payment method or contract terms cannot be finalised through the (more usual) restricted procedure.
Competitive dialogue should not be used as an alternative to proper pre-procurement scoping, engagement and consultation. Too many organisations rush into competitive dialogue to help them decide what they want to purchase. These dialogue processes can easily become unfocused, as the organisation is led into a never-ending debate with bidders to identify what the organisation really wants and can afford. Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Note 04/12, issued last year, highlights this risk. It limits the use of competitive dialogue for government contracts to situations where:
Even when run well, competitive dialogue is more time consuming and expensive than the restricted procedure. The dialogue stage is resource-intensive for both the housing provider and bidders, with correspondingly higher procurement and tendering costs. For lower value contracts, it may be better to try to simplify the contract, rather than incurring the cost of a competitive dialogue procedure.
For those keen to use the procedure, it is worth knowing how to run a successful competitive dialogue procurement. Two of our recent projects help illustrate this.
For a contract for materials supply to a registered provider’s DLO, we used competitive dialogue to:
Here the process involved a single meeting with each bidder and a couple of exchanges of marked-up documents.
A very different project involved procuring a private sector partner to deliver education and related support services for Staffordshire County Council through a joint venture organisation. Here, planning and effective project management were key. This involved:
Under the proposed EU procurement Directive, competitive dialogue will be more widely available. Before taking advantage of this flexibility, housing providers will need to consider carefully whether competitive dialogue is appropriate for their contract. If so, they should structure the dialogue process effectively.
Andrew Millross is a partner and Gayle Monk a solicitor at Anthony Collins Solicitors.
Local authorities should be wary of reserving contracts for local suppliers, as recommended by Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 11/20. Other contracting authorities may want to maximise their use of this
Most housing practitioners have perhaps been waiting for this news since the latest lockdown was announced by the Prime Minister on 4 January 2021.
Climate change and biodiversity is an area where significantly faster changes are needed on a global and local basis.
Chris Lloyd Smith, Adrian Leonard and Lisa Whitehouse discuss the planning opportunities available to owners of businesses and how to prepare for unforeseen events.
In their 3rd podcast of the series, Chris Lloyd-Smith and Maria Ramon discuss a number of problems with and difficulties that can arise in mediation and the mechanisms they use to overcome them.
Our previous round-up began by sharing the news that two vaccines had shown very promising test results. Here we are, not even a month later, and the first vaccines have already been administered!
The Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated that there is great resilience and innovation in the housing sector across Greater Manchester, it has also brought shortfalls and other priorities sharply into foc
For part 5 in this series of short podcasts, Chris Lloyd-Smith interviews associate Kadie Bennett on how she has been coping during these unprecedented times.
The first report of Donna Ockenden and her team into the review of maternity services at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has been published today.
The Family Solutions Group (FSG) recommends a shift away from adversarial family proceedings, to a child-centred, holistic approach to family separation.
To receive invitations to our events, as well as information and articles on legal issues and sector developments that are of interest to you, please sign up to Newsroom.