The stages of this procedure are:

1. The first stage is advertisement and initial selection. 

You should publish beforehand:

•  the scope of the contract including the minimum requirements,
• award criteria and their weightings,

The above should not be changed during the negotiation process.

1. Following the selection stage, you need to conduct an initial tender.
2. You can then choose to award the contract on the basis of this initial tender,  if this option was made clear in the notice/ITT.  Otherwise you can choose one or more stages of negotiation prior to seeking final tenders.
3. You negotiate tenders with the bidders, except for the final tender.
4. Accept final tender: at the end of this process you should ensure that the contract is awarded to the tender that best meets the award criteria.

Organisations may conduct the procedure in successive stages to reduce the number of bidders to be negotiated if indicated in the Procurement Documents. 

 There may be multiple stages of dialogue subsequent to a submission stage.

The negotiation dialogue held should only improve the bids, and not be on the minimum requirements and award criteria . The whole process should be fully documented.

The minimum number of bidders to shortlist for the initial tender is 3, if there are 3 that meet your selection requirements.