Where there is a lack of data, and therefore certainty, bidders may reflect this in their prices and so it is in a department's interests to have the complete and appropriate data that the bidders require to price their bids. If such data on an estate cannot be assembled in good time, a joint survey with the bidders should always be considered. This ensures that all bidders are working to common assumptions and reduces bidding costs. In the STEPS deal, the Departments realised early on that they did not have high quality estate data and they therefore procured a joint survey from their property advisers Insignia Richard Ellis.10 The costs of the survey were split equally between the Departments and each of the three shortlisted bidders. The bidders were given the opportunity to provide input into the scope of the joint survey and signed up to the final specification. The joint survey of the Departments' estates was necessarily a major logistical challenge. Although it was delayed by four months, this did not delay the deadline for ITN submissions. A number of errors in the data were discovered and bidders were made aware of this.
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10 Now called CBRE.