4.9 A competitive procurement is one of the ways in which the public sector aims to achieve VfM in its procurement activities. An authority planning a procurement or an approach to the market should, as far as possible, assure itself in the early stages of planning that a competitive market exists, or will exist, to meet the proposed requirement. The procuring authority and the sponsoring department should be confident that any advertised procurement will receive an adequate competitive response and that competition can be maintained throughout any resulting procurement process. These activities should take place as early as possible in the business case planning process.