Research commissioned by the Treasury has identified public sector concerns about how to manage the processes and outcomes of benchmarking and market testing. This guidance is designed to provide practical advice to contract managers and to encourage the systematic and effective use of these processes, in order to ensure the long-term value for money of soft service provisions in PFI contracts. The terms benchmarking and market testing are collectively referred to as value testing throughout.
Operational Taskforce Note 1 examines a range of issues, which public sector PFI contract managers should consider when approaching a value test. The key issues for consideration are set out below.