The FCO chose the best of the three final bidders

1.18  The FCO carried out a well-managed evaluation process which concluded that the winning bidder, Arteos, was not only the cheapest in price but also offered the best-quality bid in most other areas. The FCO scored the bids against accommodation, service and legal requirements (Figure 5). The legal evaluation was based on a scoring of each bidder's response to individual clauses in the draft agreement, combined with an overall assessment of the deliverability of the proposal. The financial evaluation was based on the estimated cost of the bids to the FCO. The FCO's evaluation of the costs at this stage did not represent the expected payment under the contract, as the bids were adjusted to allow comparison on a like-for-like basis, but there was a clear price advantage in the Arteos bid (Figure 6).

1.19  The Arteos proposal was clearly ahead of the other two bids in the evaluation of accommodation and service requirements. Although the interim legal evaluation favoured the NorWest Holst/Campenon Bernard SGE consortium, partly because Arteos was considered to be risk averse, FCO decided that the benefits of Arteos's proposal in the other areas of evaluation outweighed this. Following further negotiation about the terms of the bid, Arteos was appointed as the preferred bidder at the end of July 1997.