First Dutch competitive dialogue projects: a procurement route caught between competition and collaboration

In 2004 the competitive dialogue (CD) was introduced by the European Parliament and the Council. It was presented as a public sector procurement procedure for particularly complex contracts. The purpose of CD is to provide the public client with a flexible procedure to enable a discussion concerning all aspects of the contract with several contenders - to identify and define the means best suited to meeting its objectives - in an intervening stage between the tender announcement and the submission of final tenders. The discussions during the drafting of the CD procedure pivoted around transparent trust based collaboration, preserving fair competition and providing stimulus for innovation. This paper presents the first results of an evaluation study of 15 CD projects (partly still ongoing) in the realm of construction. The findings indicate that clients as well as contenders struggle with a number of practical issues related to the organisation of the dialogue. Furthermore, both struggle with the dynamics of risk avoidance pushing them towards detailing and high transaction costs. The research indicates that the competitive dialogue is an ambivalent procedure: both parties involved in the procedure balance between the wish to cooperate and the sensed need of keeping information to themselves because of competition. Nevertheless both see the potential of the CD procedure. Further research is needed to find out how the two principles of cooperation and competition during the CD procedure are related.