Availability risk covers the risks associated with making the asset available in the required condition to deliver the services associated with the asset over the life of the arrangement, including risks associated with lifecycle maintenance. Deductions for non-availability or poor performance must be automatic and significant in order to conclude that the private sector partner holds availability risk. A cap on the amount of deductions could suggest insufficient risk transfer to the private sector. In such cases, the significance of the potential deduction compared to the overall value of the contract should be considered.
Where the private sector partner is not penalised for events that arise due to circumstances outside of its control then this may suggest that insufficient availability risk has transferred to the private sector. However, limited, specific and clearly defined exogenous events that do not lead to performance deductions, such as "force majeure" or changes in government policy or legislation that is specific to the project, would not suggest that the majority of availability risk has not been transferred to the private sector. In these cases however, it is expected that the private sector partner would bear changes in non-project specific government policy or general legislative change.