Competitive dialogue

Competitive dialogue (konkurransepreget dialog) is a procurement procedure in which the contracting authority first discusses with suppliers how its need is best met, and then asks them for final tenders on the solutions from the dialogue. According to the Public Procurement Regulations (anskaffelsesforskriften), the aim of the dialogue is to identify and define how the contracting authority's needs are best met, and all aspects of the procurement may be discussed (§ 23-8; the § references on this page are to the Regulations unless another instrument is named). DFØ (the Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management) writes that the contracting authority can describe its need without giving exact specifications of what is to be bought, and that the procedure is meant for complex procurements, for example complex IT solutions.

In the Regulations, the procedure exists only in Part III, which applies to supply, service and works contracts at or above the EEA thresholds. Special services (særlige tjenester) follow Part II from NOK 1.3 million, and health and social services follow Part I, and Part IV at or above NOK 8.7 million. The rules on competitive dialogue do not apply to them. The conditions are the same as for a competitive procedure with negotiation: at least one of the conditions in § 13-2 must be met, for example that readily available solutions must be adapted, or that the complexity or the risks make negotiation necessary. The full list is on the page on the competitive procedure with negotiation. From 1 July 2026, the Public Procurement Act (anskaffelsesloven) mentions competitive dialogue as one way of carrying out an innovative procurement (Public Procurement Act § 5o).

The procedure runs in three steps. First, qualification: the competition is advertised, and anyone interested may submit a request to participate within a time limit of at least 30 days from the day the contract notice is sent to TED (Tenders Electronic Daily, the EU's online journal for public procurement) (§ 20-5). The request is submitted with the ESPD (European Single Procurement Document). If the contracting authority selects among the qualified suppliers, it must invite at least three, and fewer only if there are not enough qualified suppliers (§ 16-12). The invitation states when the dialogue starts, and where and in what language it takes place (§ 23-2).

Then the dialogue: the contracting authority must open a dialogue with everyone invited, unless it reduces the number of solutions. If the contracting authority has reserved this in the contract notice or in the invitation to confirm interest, the dialogue may take place in successive stages in which solutions are eliminated by applying the award criteria, and a supplier whose solution is rejected must be told in writing as soon as possible, with brief reasons (§ 23-11). DFØ writes that meetings and other oral communication in the dialogue must be documented, for example with minutes.

Finally, the tenders: when the contracting authority has identified the solutions that can meet its need, it concludes the dialogue and asks the remaining suppliers for final tenders based on the solutions they presented in the dialogue. The tenders must contain everything necessary to carry out the solution (§ 23-9). The contract is awarded only on the basis of the best price-quality ratio (price or cost against quality). Lowest price or lowest cost alone is not allowed (§ 18-1 (8)).

Expect the dialogue to cost time and money. DFØ writes that it demands a lot of resources from both the contracting authority and the suppliers, and that the procedure is often more complicated than a competitive procedure with negotiation, because suppliers can propose entirely different solutions. You spend time on solution proposals and meetings over several rounds before you know whether you win the contract, and your solution may be eliminated along the way. Advice: before you request to participate, read in the contract notice and the tender documents how many suppliers will be invited, whether the dialogue will take place in successive stages, how many rounds are planned, and whether the contracting authority pays the participants.

What you present in the dialogue is protected. The contracting authority must treat the suppliers equally and cannot give the others access to your solutions or other confidential information without your consent to that specific information (§ 23-10). DFØ writes that equal treatment means that if the contracting authority points out strengths and weaknesses in one solution, it must do the same with the others, but that it is not required to spend the same amount of time on each. Advice: mark what is confidential in what you submit, and consent only to specific information.

The final tender must be complete. DFØ writes that negotiating on the solutions is not allowed once the final tenders have been submitted. The contracting authority may still ask you to clarify, specify and optimise your tender, and may finalise the contract terms with the selected supplier, within the limits in § 23-9. Tenders with material deviations from the procurement documents must be rejected (§ 24-8 (1) letter b). The Regulations set no minimum time limit for the final tenders, only a requirement that the deadline takes account of the complexity and the time needed to prepare the tender (§ 20-1). DFØ writes that the contracting authority must set a deadline that gives everyone enough time, including those whose dialogue meetings came last.

A central government agency (direktorat) is buying a new solution for receiving and processing applications from the public, estimated at NOK 20 million. That is above the EEA threshold of NOK 1.63 million for central government authorities, so Part III applies. The agency does not know whether its need is best met by an adapted standard solution, a platform it builds on or a cloud service, and because the solution must be adapted, it chooses competitive dialogue. The contract notice is sent to TED on 1 March 2027, and the deadline for requests to participate is set at 6 April. Seven suppliers request to participate, and five are invited. The agency has reserved the right to reduce the number in successive stages and pays NOK 150,000 to each supplier that submits a solution proposal under the rules in the tender documents. After the second round of dialogue, two solutions are eliminated by applying the award criteria. The three remaining suppliers submit final tenders, and the contract is awarded on the best price-quality ratio.