A Comparison of Competitive Dialogue and Best Value Procurement

Abstract

Competitive Dialogue (CD) and Best Value Procurement (BVP) are two different approaches to early contractor involvement (ECI) in public projects. However, it is not clear which approach is best suited for what kind of project situations, and which is better for implementing lean in public procurement. The purpose of this paper is to explore the similarities and differences of these approaches to develop recommendations for how to match approach with project situations. In addition to literature study, two large infrastructure projects were studied through 12 in-depth semi-structured interviews and review of documents. The findings from this study indicate that the two approaches have several similarities; e.g., both give a better result when they are used together with a design-build contract than design-bid-build contract, and they give clients possibilities to meet suppliers and clarify projects before contract signing. However, they also have a number of differences such as the number of competitors that develop a project and a supplier selection premises varies. The study concludes that BVP is a moreeffective procurement process than CD as regards procurement phase. However, CD gives more room for the clients to influence supplier solutions than BVP.

Early contractor involvement (ECI): ways to do it in public projects

“…The first group of studies is presented in detail in the following papers: Wondimu et al ( , 2016bWondimu et al ( , 2016a. The second group of studies is presented in detail in the following papers: Wondimu et al (2018cWondimu et al ( , 2018b and Ottemo et al (2018). The third group of studies is presented in detail in the following papers: Narmo et al (2018); Högnason et al (2018); Wondimu et al (2018b) and Joudi et al (2018).…”

“…The second group of studies is presented in detail in the following papers: Wondimu et al (2018cWondimu et al ( , 2018b and Ottemo et al (2018). The third group of studies is presented in detail in the following papers: Narmo et al (2018); Högnason et al (2018); Wondimu et al (2018b) and Joudi et al (2018). This paper is an aggregated result of the three groups of case studies.…”

“…BVP has been used as an ECI approach on several projects in the USA and The Netherlands. It has been also used as an ECI approach on some pilot projects in Norway (Storteboom et al, 2017;Wondimu et al, 2018b).…”

Design-Build Contracts in Norwegian Road Projects

“…Both competitive dialogue and best value procurement cover some of the elements of Lean production by involving contractors in the early phases (Wondimu et al, 2018a). In addition, these approaches give the project owner and the opportunity to meet the possible contractors and discuss the projects before the contract is signed.…”

“…This can lead to challenges of interests due to different viewpoints and focus. (Wondimu et al, 2018a) claim that competitive dialogue and best value procurement -two approaches where the most economically advantageous tender win -give the best results when used together with a DB contract rather than a DBB contract. In addition, these approaches give the clients the possibility to adjust the projects together with the contractors before signing the final contract.…”