PricewaterhouseCoopers to carry out surveys and interviews on effectiveness of competitive dialogue procedure

The Treasury has commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to carry out a consultation on the use of competitive dialogue (CD) in the public procurement process.

CD was introduced in 2006 as part of the Public Contracts Regulations and enables clients to narrow down a large number of bidders to a single preferred bidder or number of framework partners.

More than 1,200 contract notices have been advertised on the OJEU under the CD procedure since its introduction.

The Treasury has said it wants to gain a better understanding of 鈥渨hen CD is being used, how CD is used, how CD procurements compare to procurements undertaken under the negotiated procedure, and how well it works鈥�.

It said: 鈥淭here appears to be a wide range of views on both the theory and practice of CD but at present this is largely based on anecdotal information. It is difficult to tell whether recent changes in procurement practice are specifically due to the introduction of CD or whether these changes would have occurred in any event.鈥�

PricewaterhouseCoopers will carry out interviews and surveys for the consultation. A survey can be until the end of November.

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