Negotiations with the preferred bidder took longer than expected

1.20  The shortlist of three bidders had been selected in October 1996. Because the FCO, its lawyers and other consultants had to finalise the tender documentation including the output specification which set out the detailed service requirements of the FCO, the Invitation to Tender could not be issued to the three short-listed bidders until February 1997. The Invitation to Tender set a target of selecting the preferred bidder in June 1997 and achieving contract award by September 1997, leading to occupation of the Embassy by September 1999. As noted already, the preferred bidder was selected in July 1997. Up to this point the FCO had overrun its timetable by only one month.

1.21  At the time of issue of the Invitation to Tender, the FCO's target for reaching financial close was September 1997 (Figure 7). In the event financial close and contract award were not achieved until June 1998 some nine months beyond the target date. The FCO expects to achieve handover of the Embassy in June 2000, eight months later than the target date in the Invitation to Tender.