1.10 Because of the long time period between the appointment of Exchequer Partnership as preferred bidder and the resumption of negotiations, there was a risk that changes in the PFI market might have made the bid less attractive. The Treasury therefore put in place evaluation procedures, such as benchmarking against relevant price indices, to assure themselves that the construction and maintenance elements of the bid remained in line with the market. As a separate competition could be held without delaying the project timetable, the Treasury also aimed to satisfy itself that the funding for the deal would be the best available in the market. A funding competition would therefore serve the dual function of both getting the best price for the project funding and demonstrating that this was the case.