4.18 Business cases should also examine, and at the appropriate point use the governance process, to confirm the affordability of the JV option. Affordability in this context is defined as ensuring that the projected publicly funded capital (including the accounting treatment of any assets being transferred) and operating expenditure (after risk adjustment) forecast to be needed to deliver the aims and objectives detailed in the strategic case are, year by year, covered by the relevant budgets allocated by the public sector body responsible.
4.19 Affordability is a constraint, so the relevant business case should reach a clear conclusion as to whether the JV option is affordable or not. The business case is limited to consideration of public sector funding, and so for JVs where the bulk of the investment capital will be provided by the private sector the case may be limited to looking at transaction, ongoing resources and any public sector dependencies and asset transfers. In these circumstances the ability to raise the private sector investment will of course be a vital consideration for the OBC.