The Standard Project Agreements are designed to be used for the design, build, financing and maintenance of accommodation projects such as individual or grouped schools, colleges and community health facilities. Authorities procuring other kinds of assets may, however, find some of the approaches used in these contracts useful if developing versions for their specific purposes
The Standard Project Agreements exist in two forms, one for hub DBFM projects procured through the hub initiative and one for projects adopting NPD (non-profit distributing) principles. There is further comment on the differences between the two forms in Chapter 3: hub projects and Chapter 4: NPD projects. The two forms are deliberately as similar as possible to maximise efficiency and minimise costs in procurement for public and private sector users of the documents and to facilitate joined-up contract management across sectors in the future.
The bulk of the clauses have been taken from the first DBFM template agreement published by SFT for the hub programme, which in turn was developed from the current (as at June 2009) Scottish Standard Health PPP Contract, which was taken to be the form of contract that had been most recently used for Scottish revenue funded projects and most broadly acceptable to the market. Where changes have been made, they (and the alternative/recommended drafting in Appendix 2 of this Guide) have mostly been based on market precedents.
Version 2 of the Standard Project Agreements (including the standard Service Level Specifications, NPD articles of association and this User's Guide) has been produced:
• to take account of developments in relevant legislation/guidance, including HM Treasury's SoPC Addendum April 20102: Refinancing Provisions (see updates to Schedule Part 23 (Refinancing) and changes to the Construction Act (see updates to Schedule Part 13 (Independent Tester Contract) and Schedule Part 20 (Dispute Resolution Procedure)
• to update some positions that SFT considers to have benefited from analysis/testing in the context of live procurements and projects (e.g. malicious damage risk to remain with the private sector as standard (see Clause 49A)); and
• to address minor points of drafting that required clarification or correction.
The changes incorporated within Version 2 are mandatory for all hub projects and hub territories and for those NPD projects yet to enter procurement or still in the competitive stages of procurement (i.e. competitive dialogue has not closed).