7.1 Over the life of the Contract, it may be that a particular element of the soft FM services that were good value to the NHSScotland body at the start becomes more expensive (compared to the market norm) or vice versa. To address this, many of these services will either be market tested or benchmarked at agreed intervals (usually every five to seven years). This means that the Contractor does not have to include provisions against such risks in the Service Payment and that the NHSScotland body is not paying excessive costs for services compared to the rest of the market.
7.2 Initially the Contractor proposes a price for soft services for the subsequent period, the NHSScotland body can then benchmark the price with comparable services in the market to see if it offers value for money. If the NHSScotland body chooses not to accept the price, then market testing commences. The Contractor is bound to accept the most economically advantageous bid received via market testing.
7.3 As more and more projects reach market testing points, more information should become available to assist NHS bodies in this process. The PFCU will provide up to date information on market testing and benchmarking.
7.4 More information can be found in Section 4 of this guidance and/or the Standard Form Project Agreement and the Scottish Government Briefing Note on Benchmarking and Market Testing