The competitive dialogue procedure: Advantages, disadvantages, and its implementation into English and Dutch law

Competitive Dialogue (CD) is a new contract award procedure of the European Community (EC). It is set out in Article 29 of the 'Public Sector Directive' 2004/18/EC. Over the last decades, projects were becoming more and more complex, and the existing EC procedures were no longer suitable to procure those projects. The call for a new procedure resulted in CD. This paper describes how the Directive has been implemented into the laws of two member states: the UK and the Netherlands. In order to implement the Directive, both lawmakers have set up a new and distinct piece of legislation. In each case, large parts of the Directive’s content have been repeated ‘word for word’; only minor parts have been reworded and/or restructured. In the next part of the paper, the CD procedure is examined in different respects. First, an overview is given on the different EC contract award procedures (open, restricted, negotiated, CD) and awarding methods (lowest price and Most Economically Advantageous Tender, MEAT). Second, the applicability of CD is described: Among other limitations, CD can only be applied to public contracts for works, supplies, and services, and this scope of application is further restricted by the exclusion of certain contract types. One such exclusion concerns services concessions. This means that PPP contracts which are set up as services concessions cannot be awarded by CD. The last two parts of the paper pertain to the main features of the CD procedure – from ‘contract notice’ to ‘contract award’ – and the advantages and disadvantages of the procedure. One advantage is that the dialogue allows the complexity of the project to be disentangled and clarified. Other advantages are the stimulation of innovation and creativity. These advantages are set against the procedure’s disadvantages, which include high transaction costs and a perceived hindrance of innovation (due to an ambiguity between transparency and fair competition). It is concluded that all advantages and disadvantages are related to one of three elements: communication, competition, and/or structure of the procedure. Further research is needed to find out how these elements are related.

Kiinteistön elinkaarihankkeen rahoitus ja riskit

Julkisen sektorin kiinteistötuotannossa toteutetaan kasvavassa määrin julkisen ja yksityisen sektorin yhteistyötä, jossa yksityinen yritys ottaa vastuun kiinteistöön liittyvistä suunnittelu-, rakentamis- ja ylläpitotoimista pitkäksi ajanjaksoksi. Työn tavoitteena on arvioida elinkaarimallilla toteuttavien kiinteistöhankkeiden toteutusvaihtoehdot, sekä kartoittaa elinkaarihankkeen sisältämiä riskejä hankkeen suunnitteluvaiheessa. Tutkimus suoritetaan kvalitatiivisena tutkimuksena, jota tuetaan tarvittavilla kvantitatiivista tietoa hyödyntävillä laskelmilla. Tutkimusaineistona käytetään aihepiiriin liittyviä akateemisia julkaisuja ja oppikirjoja. Työn toimeksiantajan YIT:n kautta tutkimukseen on saatu arvokasta asiantuntemusta ja materiaalia. Elinkaarihankkeiden hankintamenettelyksi suositellaan kilpailullista neuvottelumenettelyä. Kilpailullinen neuvottelumenettely mahdollistaa tilaajan ja palveluntuottajien välisen dialogin hankintamenettelyn aikana, jolloin osapuolet voivat yhteistyössä valita sopivimman toteutusmallin. Hankkeiden rahoitus voidaan toteuttaa tilaajan rahoituksella tai yksityisrahoituksella. Rahoituksen näkökulmasta tilaajan oma rahoitus on edullisin, mikä ei kuitenkaan vähennä elinkaarimallista saatavia etuja perinteiseen urakointiin verrattuna. Laskelman perusteella tilaajan rahoituksen ja yksityisrahoituksen keskimääräisessä korkotasossa (WACC) on eroa 2,8 %. Projektiyhtiön perustaminen tekee rahoituksesta entistä kalliimpaa, koska taseeseen kohdistuviin kustannuksiin lisätään projektiyhtiön oman pääoman tuottovaatimusta vastaava korko. Palveluntuottajan kannalta olennaiset riskit ovat rakennusvaiheen viivästyminen, kiinteistön käytettävyyden ja soveltuvuuden puutteista aiheutuvat muutostyöt. Palvelumaksun sitominen huonosti ylläpidon todellista kulurakennetta kuvaavaan elinkustannusindeksiin tulee pitkällä sopimuskaudella vähentämään palveluntuottajan toiminnan kannattavuutta. Kiinteistön ylläpidon kustannusindeksi on vuosina 2005–2011 noussut 2,3 % nopeammin vuodessa kuin elinkustannusindeksi.

Úma análise comparativa entre o Procedimento de Manifestação de Interesse (PMI) e o diálogo competitivo

Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar os principais aspectos da Lei Geral de Licitações (Lei Federal nº 8. 6666/1993) e compará-los com as formas contemporâneas de relacionamentos pré-contratuais: as manifestações de interesse da iniciativa privada, a experiência do Estado de Minas Gerais e os Diálogos Competitivos, a experiência da União Europeia e dos Estados Unidos. Para tanto, em uma primeira etapa, são descritas as principais mudanças ocorridas no processo licitatório desde 1993, como a criação das parcerias público-privadas (PPPs) e do Regime Diferenciado de Contratação (RDC). Em seguida, uma comparação entre as principais alterações implantadas. Finalmente, elencar breves conclusões sobre a comparação entre o Procedimento de Manifestação de Interesse (PMI) e o Diálogo Competitivo, que podem proporcionar um aprimoramento das licitações públicas.

O desafio na contratação e elaboração de projetos para execução de obras rodoviárias: “o fator projeto”

O Governo brasileiro criou a partir de 2007 o PAC – Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento, um conjunto de projetos de infraestrutura no qual o DNIT ocupa posição de destaque com volume de recursos superior a R$ 58 bilhões. Desde o início do Programa o principal obstáculo é a insuficiência de projetos de qualidade. Projetos de engenharia são etapa crucial para o lançamento de licitações para obras de infraestrutura. Este gargalo de projeto, associado ao processo licitatório, é chamado de “fator projeto”. Em 2011 foi instituído o RDC – Regime Diferenciado de Contratações com o objetivo de remover estes entraves. Este trabalho surge da necessidade da Secretaria do Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento, vinculada ao Ministério do Planejamento, e do Departamento Nacional de Infraestrutura de Transportes, vinculado ao Ministério dos Transportes, de entender os desafios impostos pelo “fator projeto” na execução dos projetos relacionados às obras rodoviárias no âmbito do PAC. Para tanto, foram analisados os aspectos de contratação pela Administração Pública, enfatizando as mudanças ocorridas no processo licitatório corridas depois da vigência do Regime Diferenciado de Contratação (RDC) e as formas contemporâneas de relacionamentos pré-contratuais, abordando as parcerias publico-privadas (PPP), as manifestações de interesse da iniciativa privada (PMI) e os diálogos concorrenciais. Após uma apresentação do DNIT e do processo de institucionalização do RDC no âmbito da autarquia concluiu-se que três aspectos tem contribuído para minimizar os efeitos do “fator projeto”: O primeiro, de natureza procedimental, está diretamente relacionado com o efeito da implementação do novo regime licitatório. Em projetos complexos, como os da área de infraestrutura, o desenvolvimento de relações pré-contratuais trazem ganhos consideráveis, tanto para Administração Pública quanto para o ente privado, por promover a redução das assimetrias de informação e a lapidação do objeto a ser contratado. O segundo aspecto está relacionado com a natureza do DNIT. Trata-se de uma Autarquia com acúmulo de conhecimentos na área de engenharia e gestão de projetos. Ao adotar intensamente o RDC, mostrou capacidade instalada e avançou nos parâmetros de monitoramento e gestão de risco e gerou um conjunto normativo atual e adequado para enfrentar os desafios do novo regime de contrações. O terceiro aspecto também está relacionado com o aspecto institucional do DNIT. Trata-se de sua estrutura organizacional, que influencia a governança dos processos licitatórios e que agrega dois predicados: segurança na responsabilização entre os diretores-membros quando partilham uma decisão e salvaguarda do corpo técnico para uma postura mais republicana. Estes tres aspectos levaram a uma maior eficácia e efetividade da Autarquia, minimizaram o "fator projeto". O Relatório de Gestão do DNIT de 2012 cita que no RDC há a redução de até 50% no tempo do processo licitatório em relação às modalidades concorrência e Tomada de Preços. A implementação do RDC Eletrônico, que possibilita a participação de empresas de todo o país, aumentou a competitividade e ajudou a executar R$ 10,2 bilhões em obras e serviços em infraestrutura de transportes.

El Diálogo Competitivo como instrumento para la maduración de proyectos de infraestructura vial

En Colombia, mediante la Ley 1508 de 2102, se estableció el régimen jurídico de las Asociaciones Público Privadas (APP) y con la aprobación de la Ley 1682 de 2013, se regularon los proyectos de infraestructura de transporte. Con la presente tesis se pretende demostrar la figura del Diálogo Competitivo como procedimiento incompleto e insuficiente, apropiado así por nuestro régimen jurídico en la Ley de APP, visto desde la perspectiva de la Unión Europea, especialmente de los modelos español, inglés y francés, porque carece de la mayoría de sus elementos característicos. Posteriormente se realiza una crítica al Diálogo Competitivo colombiano desde la perspectiva de la Unión Europea, ya que se evidencia en la figura interna su precariedad frente a un procedimiento debidamente definido y organizado como el de la Unión Europea. Entre las instituciones jurídicas adoptadas por la Ley de APP, se encuentra el Diálogo Competitivo, que es un procedimiento, verificado en la etapa de estructuración de los contratos APP de iniciativa pública, cuyos antecedentes registran el mayor reconocimiento internacional en la Unión Europea (UE). Ésta introdujo esa figura a su régimen jurídico, a través de la Directiva 2004/18/CE, a su vez derogada por la Directiva 2014/24/UCE. La tesis culmina con una serie de conclusiones y recomendaciones que se estiman útiles para repensar y reestructurar el Diálogo Competitivo en los proyectos de infraestructura vial en Colombia, tarea que le corresponde al Congreso Nacional, pues así lo ha dispuesta la jurisprudencia del Consejo de Estado.

Competitive edge through operations management

A view has emerged within manufacturing and service organizations that the operations management function can hold the key to achieving competitive edge. This has recently been emphasized by the demands for greater variety and higher quality which must be set against a background of increasing cost of resources. As nations' trade barriers are progressively lowered and removed, so producers of goods and service products are becoming more exposed to competition that may come from virtually anywhere around the world. To simply survive in this climate many organizations have found it necessary to improve their manufacturing or service delivery systems. To become real ''winners'' some have adopted a strategic approach to operations and completely reviewed and restructured their approach to production system design and operations planning and control. The articles in this issue of the International journal of Operations & Production Management have been selected to illustrate current thinking and practice in relation to this situation. They are all based on papers presented to the Sixth International Conference of the Operations Management Association-UK which was held at Aston University in June 1991. The theme of the conference was "Achieving Competitive Edge" and authors from 15 countries around the world contributed to more than 80 presented papers. Within this special issue five topic areas are addressed with two articles relating to each. The topics are: strategic management of operations; managing change; production system design; production control; and service operations. Under strategic management of operations De Toni, Filippini and Forza propose a conceptual model which considers the performance of an operating system as a source of competitive advantage through the ''operation value chain'' of design, purchasing, production and distribution. Their model is set within the context of the tendency towards globalization. New's article is somewhat in contrast to the more fashionable literature on operations strategy. It challenges the validity of the current idea of ''world-class manufacturing'' and, instead, urges a reconsideration of the view that strategic ''trade-offs'' are necessary to achieve a competitive edge. The importance of managing change has for some time been recognized within the field of organization studies but its relevance in operations management is now being realized. Berger considers the use of "organization design", ''sociotechnical systems'' and change strategies and contrasts these with the more recent idea of the ''dialogue perspective''. A tentative model is suggested to improve the analysis of different strategies in a situation specific context. Neely and Wilson look at an essential prerequisite if change is to be effected in an efficient way, namely product goal congruence. Using a case study as its basis, their article suggests a method of measuring goal congruence as a means of identifying the extent to which key performance criteria relating to quality, time, cost and flexibility are understood within an organization. The two articles on production systems design represent important contributions to the debate on flexible production organization and autonomous group working. Rosander uses the results from cases to test the applicability of ''flow groups'' as the optimal way of organizing batch production. Schuring also examines cases to determine the reasons behind the adoption of ''autonomous work groups'' in The Netherlands and Sweden. Both these contributions help to provide a greater understanding of the production philosophies which have emerged as alternatives to more conventional systems -------for intermittent and continuous production. The production control articles are both concerned with the concepts of ''push'' and ''pull'' which are the two broad approaches to material planning and control. Hirakawa, Hoshino and Katayama have developed a hybrid model, suitable for multistage manufacturing processes, which combines the benefits of both systems. They discuss the theoretical arguments in support of the system and illustrate its performance with numerical studies. Slack and Correa's concern is with the flexibility characteristics of push and pull material planning and control systems. They use the case of two plants using the different systems to compare their performance within a number of predefined flexibility types. The two final contributions on service operations are complementary. The article by Voss really relates to manufacturing but examines the application of service industry concepts within the UK manufacturing sector. His studies in a number of companies support the idea of the ''service factory'' and offer a new perspective for manufacturing. Harvey's contribution by contrast, is concerned with the application of operations management principles in the delivery of professional services. Using the case of social-service provision in Canada, it demonstrates how concepts such as ''just-in-time'' can be used to improve service performance. The ten articles in this special issue of the journal address a wide range of issues and situations. Their common aspect is that, together, they demonstrate the extent to which competitiveness can be improved via the application of operations management concepts and techniques.

From ""Geography of Accumulation"" to ""Geography of Reproduction"": a dialogue with Harvey

This article aims to discuss the space, revealing its powerful in the comprehension of modem world, from the thesis which the geographic space consists itself as condition, medium and product of society reproduction in its totality, evolving several temporal-spatial scales and several levels of reality, that should prolong Marx's work, having in view the construction of a ""social theory of space"" in the sense of a radical critical geography. This argumentation allows to understand, in the limits of geography, the passage of the notion ""production of space"" as condition of the accumulation of capital to the notion ""production of space"" as condition of present reproduction in front of the accumulation crisis. As a starting point, a discussion about some David Harvey's works, who supports the thesis that accumulation crisis of capital would be solved, in the modem world, through the spatial fix.

Tracking 10-year competitive winning performance of judo athletes across age groups

Little information is available concerning early specialization and competitive success in judo across the early training years. Thus, the present objective was to verify the stability of individual competitive performance of a state-level championship for judo athletes who had been previously successful. For this, 406 athletes from six age groups (9 to 20+ years old) of each sex were followed for 10 years. Using recorded data from the Sao Paulo State Judo Federation beginning in 1999, the scores and standings for these judo players were analyzed. The proportion of medal winners during this period was not constant, differing from the grand mean in all groups of both 204 males and 202 females. At the end of this period, only 7% of the male and 5% of the female athletes had maintained their competitive levels. Successful competitive performance in early judo competition was not associated with success later in adulthood.

Competitive artistic gymnastics: reflections about gymnasts` development

The current study is a piece from the original project entitled ""Diagnosis of the Developing Program of Artistic Gymnastics in Brazil"". Among other issues discussed in this main project, our objective was to investigate the development of the gymnast who are entering the intensive training and are potential to be representative to national teams. We interviewed 46 coaches from 29 sports institutions in Brazil. Regarding methodology, we used a semi-structured interview and for data treatment we adopted the content analysis proposed by Bardin (2004). We could evidence that coaches have concern regarding many aspects of the children development, and have been trying to equate sports demands with gymnasts characteristics and needs.

Subtype-selective noncompetitive or competitive inhibition of human alpha(1)-adrenergic receptors by rho-TIA

The 19-amino acid conopeptide (rho-TIA) was shown previously to antagonize noncompetitively alpha(1B)-adrenergic receptors (ARs). Because this is the first peptide ligand for these receptors, we compared its interactions with the three recombinant human alpha(1)-AR subtypes (alpha(1A), alpha(1B), and alpha(1D)). Radioligand binding assays showed that rho-TIA was 10-fold selective for human alpha(1B)- over alpha(1A)- and alpha(1D)-ARs. As observed with hamster alpha(1B)-ARs, rho-TIA decreased the number of binding sites (B-max) for human alpha(1B)-ARs without changing affinity (K-D), and this inhibition was unaffected by the length of incubation but was reversed by washing. However, rho-TIA had opposite effects at human alpha(1A)-ARs and alpha(1D)-ARs, decreasing KD without changing Bmax, suggesting it acts competitively at these subtypes. rho-TIA reduced maximal NE-stimulated [H-3] inositol phosphate formation in HEK293 cells expressing human alpha(1B)-ARs but competitively inhibited responses in cells expressing alpha(1A)- or alpha(1D)-ARs. Truncation mutants showed that the amino-terminal domains of alpha(1B)- or alpha(1D)-ARs are not involved in interaction with rho-TIA. Alanine-scanning mutagenesis of rho-TIA showed F18A had an increased selectivity for alpha(1B)-ARs, and F18N also increased subtype selectivity. I8A had a slightly reduced potency at alpha(1B)-ARs and was found to be a competitive, rather than noncompetitive, inhibitor in both radioligand and functional assays. Thus rho-TIA noncompetitively inhibits alpha(1B)-ARs but competitively inhibits the other two subtypes, and this selectivity can be increased by mutation. These differential interactions do not involve the receptor amino termini and are not because of the charged nature of the peptide, and isoleucine 8 is critical for its noncompetitive inhibition at alpha(1B)-ARs.

Effects of carbohydrate supplementation on competitive runners undergoing overload training followed by a session of intermittent exercise

This study evaluated the effects of a micro cycle of overload training (1st-8th day) on metabolic and hormonal responses in male runners with or without carbohydrate supplementation and investigated the cumulative effects of this period on a session of intermittent high-intensity running and maximum-performance-test (9th day). The participants were 24 male runners divided into two groups, receiving 61% of their energy intake as CHO (carbohydrate-group) and 54% in the control-group (CON). The testosterone was higher for the CHO than the CON group after the overload training (694.0 +/- A 54.6 vs. CON 610.8 +/- A 47.9 pmol/l). On the ninth day participants performed 10 x 800 m at mean 3 km velocity. An all-out 1000 m running was performed before and after the 10 x 800 m. Before, during, and after this protocol, the runners received solution containing CHO or the CON equivalent. The performance on 800 m series did not differ in either group between the first and last series of 800 m, but for the all-out 1000 m test the performance decrement was lower for CHO group (5.3 +/- A 1.0 vs. 10.6 +/- A 1.3%). The cortisol concentrations were lower in the CHO group in relation to CON group (22.4 +/- A 0.9 vs. 27.6 +/- A 1.4 pmol/l) and the IGF1/IGFBP3 ratio increased 12.7% in the CHO group. During recovery, blood glucose concentrations remained higher in the CHO group in comparison with the CON group. It was concluded that CHO supplementation possibly attenuated the suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and resulted in less catabolic stress, and thus improved running performance.