The Effectiveness of the Competitive Dialogue Procedure under the EU Consolidated Public Procurement Directive (2004/18/EC) as an Award Procedure for Public Private Partnerships

I. Introduction into the paradigm of the competitive dialogue procedure For the utility/infrastructure sectors of the economy, the relevant directives and related policy documents have come to highlight the importance of public procurement as one of the key market domains of the Single Market which remains to be completed1. The creation of a high-performance single European market is so great and the potential benefits from effective liberalization so enormous that the Community cannot afford to fail in its task of defining the market and regulatory structure in the domain of public services in full compliance with the Directives2. As these directives aim to improve the economic efficiency o...