3.8 Usually it will be the PPP contractor that actually conducts the front line benchmarking or market testing exercise and it will need to allocate the right level of resources to the management of the process. A well managed and focussed benchmarking exercise should not become resource-intensive and can easily be justified within a long-term partnership arrangement. However, public bodies should ensure that the expertise and budgets are planned for these exercises, which usually occur every 5-7 years, and are reasonably predictable regarding timing and resource requirements. In particular, there needs to be a dedicated technical resource and for large scale or contentious exercises, the process will need expert and senior involvement throughout.
3.9 The parties should assess the resources and skill levels available to it from its existing project management team and determine any additional requirement, time period and sourcing.
Skills Required:
• project management
• ability to evaluate benchmark data
• ability to evaluate financial data
• negotiation
• facilities management issues
• audit