A procurement procedure formerly available under the UK Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) that allowed contracting authorities to hold structured discussions with shortlisted suppliers to develop and refine solutions for particularly complex procurement requirements before inviting final tenders. The procedure was designed for procurements where the authority could not define the optimal technical, commercial, or contractual solution at the outset. Competitive Dialogue enabled collaboration with bidders while maintaining competition and transparency. Under the UK Procurement Act 2023, Competitive Dialogue has been replaced by the Competitive Flexible Procedure, which provides contracting authorities with greater flexibility to design procurement processes that include dialogue and negotiation where appropriate.
Competitive dialogue
A former PCR 2015 procedure for refining complex solutions with bidders, now replaced by the Competitive Flexible Procedure.
Useful Links
Related articles
Thirty to forty questions. Sometimes a hundred. Capabilities, features, integrations, data handling, FAR and DFARS compliance, export controls, FedRAMP, CMMC, NIST. Almost every answer already exists somewhere in your organisation, written well, reviewed, and approved. The work is not thinking. The work is finding the good version of an answer you have written eleven times before, and rewriting it to fit the way this buyer asked the question.
An independent 3PAO auditor and VisibleThread founders explain CMMC, FedRAMP, and compliance deployment options for federal contractors.
Layer on Davis-Bacon wage provisions, DBE and MBE participation goals, Buy America requirements on federally funded infrastructure, and CUI handling on defense installations, and the document burden bears no resemblance to a commercial RFP. Most proposal software was built to answer questionnaires. AEC teams must dissect solicitations, demonstrate compliance, and carry commitments into delivery.
Related Glossary Terms
The official compilation of permanent U.S. federal laws, providing the statutory basis for many contracting requirements.
A global classification system used to categorize products and services for procurement and spend analysis.
A unique 12-character identifier assigned via SAM.gov to organizations doing business with the federal government, replacing the DUNS number.
See how VisibleThread transforms
t your RFP process.
t your RFP process.