3.1.1 After the Contract is signed and in force, there is usually a construction or development period during which the Contractor carries out its construction or development obligations and puts in place the operational procedures which it believes will meet the Service requirement.
3.1.2 During this period, the Authority naturally wants to know if the Contractor is going to deliver the Service on time and in a way which meets all the Authority's contracted requirements. The Contractor will not wish to be unnecessarily hampered by the Authority, but it will also want to be reassured that what it is developing will meet the Authority's requirements.
3.1.3 The key issue here is the extent to which the Authority should be involved during this period and what rights, if any, the Authority should have to approve or monitor the Contractor's progress prior to and on Service Commencement.
3.1.4 There must be a clear limit to the extent of Authority participation as involvement to a greater extent than is appropriate may lead to the Authority taking back both a risk it is paying the Contractor to accept and a management role it is paying the Contractor to deliver. It will not be appropriate for the Authority to adopt the type of overseeing role it might traditionally expect to have when procuring stand-alone construction or development services.