Government insiders, contractors and lobbyists have told TheFB they are quietly confident that the EC will retain the 'preferred bidder' system in the bidding process when it announces its decision on 26 November.
Proposed amendments to the EU procurement directive announced in June had threatened to stop the client discussing the details of the bid with a single preferred bidder after the submission date and prior to the award of the contract — the cornerstone of the UK private finance model.
Under the draft proposal, the EC called for the introduction of 'competitive dialogue' to replace the preferred bidder procedure for 'complex' projects. This would require negotiations with a number of bidders — who would need to submit more detailed bids than at present — to continue up until the award of the contract.
This aroused concern among UK contractors, many of which believed that the proposed system could lead to a situation where the cost of bidding for PFI projects and public private partnerships would become prohibitive. The Association of Consulting Engineers' (ACE) chief executive, Nicholas Bennett, said that the proposed procedure would 'add to the costs of PFI bidders and adversely affect companies involved in PFI projects'.
The EC's aim to introduce more consistency and transparency also increased contractors' fears that there would be no provisions to protect the confidentiality of design and finance solutions and nor would there be a reward for contributions.
Bennett said that this could lead to litigation over the intellectual property rights of unsuccessful tenderers.
The ACE was among a number of organisations, including the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Asssociations, the Construction Confederation and the Major Contractors Group, which made strong representations to the commission in order that it should keep the existing bidding system.
Source
The Facilities Business