INNOVATION, OUTPUT SPECIFICATION AND COMPONENTS
2.15 Two key principles in PFI which are consistent with good design are:
Innovation: This includes breaking the grip of historic or standard public sector design approaches which have often reflected poor (including over specified) design. Procurers should take a look at how to acheive synergy between building design, facilities management and the operation of core services (irrespective of whether or not the latter are to be contracted out). They should also encourage in-built flexibility in the specification to respond efficiently to changing requirements without causing excessive disruption to users. Procurers should also encourage bidders to undertake value engineering to save time and cost in the delivery of new services, avoid over specification and encourage modern production processes.
Example: Following discussions with the DBFO company, the Highways Agency agreed to the use of flexible piles as foundations for some bridges on the M1-A1. This innovation eliminates the need for bearings and joints by absorbing expansion and contraction movements at the base of the structure rather than at bridge deck level. This design simplification of reducing the number of joints in the structure will reduce the ingress of water and de-icing salts into the heart of the structure. In the past, traditional designs have suffered from corrosion which has reduced the life of structural components. |
Output specification: A well-written output specification is critical in respect of the achievement of value for money and optimum risk allocation. To ensure quality through good design, it must also reflect the procurer's views on potential changing needs so that bidders are encouraged to propose how the necessary in-built flexibility can be achieved while minimising cost and disruption should changes be implemented. Bidders need scope to produce optimal design proposals. The successful contractor must be incentivised to ensure quality and value through good design, encompassing cost effective and efficient operational practices and management. The design solutions used as the basis for the capital costs in the PSC can be helpful in guiding bidders to an understanding of the procurer's needs and should normally be made available. Where this is done it is essential to make clear in both the brief and the evaluation guidance used by the procurer's staff and advisers that this should not stifle innovation; it is merely a reference point for bidders.
Example: The design of the Darent Valley Hospital project had to fit within a clear development master plan for the entire site. The design team established the site's infrastructure and the plan produced was used to zone the hospital's current requirements and future expansion areas. The Dartford and Gravesend NHS Trust provided operational policies for all departments together with details of the functional content of the entire hospital. The design team interpreted this brief into room relationship parts supported initially by room data sheets and ultimately with fully loaded equipment plans. The designs were taken through four consecutive consultation processes with the hospital's clinicians. The following were reviewed and agreed: • all departmental relationships within the context of the overall master plan; • all room relationships; • all furniture, fittings, finishes, equipment and services terminals; and • interior design and soft furnishings of the hospital's wards and main departmental areas. By the time the final design was produced, all relevant inputs had been noted, the Trust had signed off all departmental layouts and the production of detailed construction information had been commissioned. Construction commenced on site in August 1997, with the hospital due to open in September 2000. |
Darent Valley Hospital
2.16 Where there are legal requirements which may affect the design, these should be explained in the output specification. For example, responsibility for compliance with the Building Regulations will rest with the Contractor, and all bidders should be informed of this. In addition, if there are statutory requirements governing how the services are to be provided, these may affect design matters and bidders should be alerted to the relevant statutory requirements.
2.17 Where components or manufacturing techniques have been tested in terms of buildability, fitness for purpose and longevity, either in PFI or in conventionally funded projects, the use of these components or techniques can save public sector procurement and private sector bidding costs.
2.18 In some service requirements, solutions to extremely sensitive or critical service objectives may have been developed over many years and exist as compulsory standards for the public provision of a service. In such circumstances, procurers should bring these solutions to the attention of bidders.
Example: Design standards for cells in Police Stations have been developed within the public sector to meet the performance standards set out in respect of prisoner safety. Bidders may, but are not required to, use these design standards. In all cases, bidders should be aware that they will be fully responsible and accountable for meeting performance standards. However, if bidders choose to use the design standards, they must be satisfied that they are adequate to deliver the level of prisoner safety set out in the output specification. No risks in this respect remain with the procuring authority. |
2.19 Clarification meetings between the procurer and bidders provide an opportunity for a confidential dialogue prior to issuing the ITN. Such discussions can be used by bidders to assess whether more radical design solutions are worth pursuing, if necessary by taking the procurer through the concepts and benefits underlying a new approach. If the purpose is to assess whether the organisation as a whole is prepared for a radical change in design approach, these meetings need to involve senior decision makers (eg senior clinicians, head teachers/governors of schools). Such meetings and those with the end-users of services (eg junior doctors/nurses and teachers) can also be used by bidders to test what is meant by design statements in the draft or final specification and, if held early enough, by those responsible in the public sector procurement team to refine the specification. Whatever the timing of such meetings, the following points need to be observed:
• Commercial confidentiality is paramount and one bidder's ideas must not be shared with its rivals. This requires a scrupulous attention to detail as far as the procurer's notes and bidder's presentational material is concerned; and
• Requests for general qualification about draft and final specifications should be circulated anonymously to all bidders, together with the procurer's answers, to ensure that the competition remains fair. Such information should reach all consortia quickly and simultaneously. Requests for comments on bidders' individual design solutions need to be handled confidentially and without passing any information on to other consortia.
2.20 The earlier such a dialogue begins, the greater the benefit. Discussions left until after the receipt of bids will contribute less to maximising the value obtainable from the procurement process. Planning early meetings and ensuring that the procurement timetable realistically allows for them is a key task for the project manager, as is monitoring the expectations of end-users.