All of the procurement procedures provided for in the Procurement Directive (i.e. open, restricted and negotiated procedures and competitive dialogue) appear to be in use to procure PPPs. This said, our survey shows that competitive dialogue is used more frequently4 than other procurement procedures. While 60% of respondents declare using competitive dialogue "frequently" in PPP procurements, the same is true for only 31% of respondents in the case of the open and negotiated procedures and 12% of respondents in the case of the restricted procedure.
The results of our survey show that sector and size considerations do not normally influence the choice of procurement procedure. Contracting authorities tend to make their choice by reference to their national procurement laws and the applicable
European Community law, but may also take a case by case view as to the merits of various procurement options in the particular circumstances of their projects or markets5.
From a bidder's point of view, the willingness to participate in a PPP project is normally determined by his expectations regarding the experience / preparedness of the contracting authority, the perceived project certainty and bid cost estimates rather than by the procurement procedure chosen6.
Half of the respondents carry out market soundings prior to launching a procurement procedure and most will normally take legal advice before making their procurement choice.
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4 Measured by number of deals.
5 In certain jurisdictions contracting authorities tend to use certain procurement option as the default, or even exclusive, procurement option for PPP projects. For example, competitive dialogue seems to be a first choice option for PPP procurements in France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. So is the open procedure for Spain and a form of the negotiated procedure (Verhandlungsverfahren) for Germany.
6 It is essential to remember in this regard that we have not approached the private sector to verify this position with them. It can thus not be excluded that the level of interest in a particular project is rather defined by intrinsic limitations in the number of contractors active in the respective market than by the choice of the procurement procedure by the contracting authority.