The project agreement will be drafted in an iterative process from Stage Three (public private partnership business case development) through to the end of stage five (binding bids). It is expected that a first draft of the project agreements will be produced in conjunction with the preliminary risk allocation matrix and submitted to Cabinet at the conclusion of the business case development stage. The agreement will be developed during the expression of interest stage as the risk allocation matures, and an indicative summary of commercial principles may be released with the expression of interest documentation.
The draft project agreements will be made available to short listed proponents at the Binding Bid stage, together with the risk allocation matrix. As indicated in the value for money framework document, government retains the right, in its absolute discretion, to consider any proposed amendments and redistribute benchmark project agreements.
The project agreements provide the opportunity to embed the agreed allocation of risk in the contractual agreement between the parties, and the opportunity to fine-tune that allocation.