4.6.1 Although there are a number of single service providers, most PFI contracts are bid for by consortia which bring together a range of capabilities required to deliver the service requirement. Typically, a consortium will comprise a service provider, a facilities management company, a constructor/builder and a financial institution. These may be, and often are, supplemented by other service providers/operators and equity fund investors. As far as the procurer is concerned however, many of the advantages of PFI lie in it only needing to deal and contract with a single point of contact representing its private sector partner. This issue should be addressed early in the competitive process, and procurers should be convinced that a consortium is a fully cohesive entity before the appointment of a preferred bidder is made.
4.6.2 The procurer cannot insist on the execution of full legal documentation at an early stage as proof of the cohesiveness of the consortium's constituent membership, although it is within the procurer's rights to seek a bid agreement between the consortium members as early as at OJEC stage. This need be no more than acceptance by the parties to enter a joint bid. New consortia cannot be disadvantaged by an insistence on their legal formation before bidding.
4.6.3 It is important in the business context from the outset that the consortium acts as one contracting entity. Indications of this will be, for example:
• whether there is a single point of contact for discussion or whether the public sector has to deal separately with each member of the consortium;
• whether representatives from the consortium speak for the consortium as a whole or for interests within it; and
• whether the documentation embraces the consortium as a whole.
4.6.4 It may be useful to ask the consortium to demonstrate its cohesiveness by providing tangible evidence within its bid submission, for example minutes of team meetings or statements of the extent to which the parties are working together to maximise value for money through a cohesive approach. Past track records of the consortium, or members within it, acting together on other projects might be good supporting evidence, although care must be taken not to discriminate against a newly formed consortium, and to ensure that such information is taken into account at the correct stage of the process. These considerations can be developed during the negotiations leading up to the appointment of the preferred bidder.
4.6.5 Above all, a consortium should be able to demonstrate the management ability to deliver the output specification within the project timetable. Where a consortium seeks the procurer's approval for a change in a consortium member or debt provider after the selection of a preferred bidder, the new party should first be required to sign up to the terms and principles previously agreed by the consortium and its constituent members. This preserves continuity and protects the time and effort invested to that stage in tying down key contractual terms and agreed risk transfer.