“Competitive Dialogue requires extensive planning – time invested early in the process can reduce the overall time and costs”

OGC/HMT GUIDELINES ON COMPETITIVE DIALOGUE

Competitive Dialogue - A Fulcre Opinion

Public Sector procurement processes have changed significantly following the EU requirement to introduce “Competitive Dialogue”.

• All UK Government (Public) procurements over €140k are subject to EU rules.
• The new process enables more discussion to take place between suppliers and government departments concerning the scope of the requirements.
• The intended results? Greater understanding of requirements, better contracts, reduced cost of failure and better value for money.

Whilst centres of excellence do exist:-

• The new process is often not well understood by either party, resulting in higher costs and longer timescales.
• As the legislation is not detailed, departments are confused about what is applicable, and concerned that they may not comply with the legislation.
• The result? Pockets of variable “best practice”, which add to the confusion.

The Fulcre objectives are to:-

• Work with a range of bodies e.g. the OGC, the Cabinet Office and Intellect to develop appropriate codes of practice for procurements.
• Offer unique insights into the effective running of competitive dialogue procurements.