Appropriate levels of competition?

A tender process is a competition.  There will be winners and losers.  Many contracting authorities confuse competition with aggression which leads to many difficult discussions and creates an environment where both the contracting authority and suppliers do not perform at their best!  The contracting authority sets the tone and can still maintain appropriate levels of competition by ensuring clear and candid communications throughout the itt stage and ensure that all bidders are well informed in order to improve the quality of bids.