The Home Office carried out a thorough bid evaluation process

2.5  The Home Office's bid evaluation process included a technical evaluation (which included examination of the design, relocation strategy, support services and building management services proposals), property evaluation, finance evaluation and legal evaluation. In almost all areas, the scores between the winning and losing bidders were very close, as was the overall score, as shown in Figure 7. In evaluating the bids, the Home Office also invited comments from the Trade Union, an Independent Architectural Adviser and its accommodation user group. Their views were considered as part of the process of ensuring the proposals met the Home Office requirements and were not used in distinguishing between the bids. The selection process took the technical scores fully into account as well as other relevant factors including cost.