Competitive dialogue is a relatively new procedure for which no established practice is available in many countries in Europe. It raises a number of unfamiliar issues such as confidentiality, proprietary information, down-scaling of bidders and, more generally, the mechanics of running several parallel negotiations with different bidders in a multi-stage procedure. The dialogue stage requires careful preparation in order to be effective. This may not be compatible with the tight schedules many contracting authorities are often working under. It also implies the availability of experienced procurement staff with specific training.
One of the telling results of the survey is that almost 90% of respondents consider that contracting authorities (at all levels) are not "fully up to speed" with the use of the competitive dialogue procedure.