4.8 The Selection Phase

The heart of the licensing process is the selection phase.  During this phase, the competition for the licence occurs and the successful applicant is selected.  There are two main types of competitive selection processes:  a comparative evaluation approach (or “beauty contest”) and auctions.  Other approaches include lotteries and a variety of hybrid approaches that use elements of pre-qualification, comparative evaluation and auctions or lottery approaches.  A guide to a licensing process should provide details about the selection mechanism to be used in the licensing competition, as well as information about selection criteria and the process that will be followed.