The Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (C2P3) has completed a publication entitled "Best Practices Guidelines for Initiating Contracts and Contracting with the Private Sector". In this publication, C2P3 recommends that in developing the RFQ, RFEI and RFP, local government should generally engage outside technical, legal and financial advisors.
A variety of reasons are cited for this measure:
• many of the issues involved will be new to local governments and host governments will benefit from the advice of impartial outside third-party advisors
• project bidders will be advised by experienced, specialized counsel (legal, financial, technical and process consultants) throughout the process
• the presence of advisors will lend credibility to the host government's negotiating position as the proposal evolves
• the presence of experienced independent advisors with sufficient stature will bring credibility and reputation to the process and allow host governments to meet criticisms relating to fairness or otherwise
Following consultation between the local government and experienced professional advisors, the RFQ or RFEI can be drafted. Generally, these documents include:
• the local government's objectives in seeking a public private partnership a description of the existing service and the budget framework (if applicable)
• the nature of the proposed partnership (if it is known to the local government)
• the contribution and expectation of the skills the preferred partner will bring to the partnership
• mandatory submission requirements and instructions to respondents
• the evaluation scheme including weightings, points or other considerations that will be applied to each element of the evaluation
• the full extent of the selection process, including timetables