Bid costs would become less of an issue with a stronger and more certain Australian PPP pipeline, but inefficient processes continue to impact the value for money outcomes achieved by Governments, irrespective of the pipeline. Accordingly, we recommend that initiatives to improve efficiency and reduce bid costs (as well as Government transaction costs) remain a key priority, including:
e. rationalising information requested that is neither required to evaluate bids nor required for certainty at contractual close, particularly that relating to some aspects of design and to general corporate processes
f. recruitment, development and retention of high quality Government project team members, in particular the project director and key team members responsible for managing each of the various disciplines
g. ensuring governance structures empower the project team to deliver the project while enabling effective and efficient decision making so as to prevent unnecessarily protracted and uncertain timeframes
h. only using more than one bid stage where absolutely necessary, either because of changed market conditions or where no bidder has made an acceptable proposal.