Carlyle's bid, which was submitted in August 2002, identified that, if they were appointed as Strategic Partner, then their bid costs would be reimbursed by QinetiQ Holdings Ltd (the new company that was created as part of the sale process). This is not unusual in transactions of this sort, and in accepting the Carlyle bid, the Department agreed that this should occur. This was further documented in the Shareholder's Agreement signed by the Department and Carlyle, which stated that QinetiQ would be responsible for: "the payment of reasonable professional costs and expenses properly incurred. . . in connection with the transaction". Under the agreement, costs were capped at a maximum of £22m and the actual figure reimbursed was £16m. Before the costs were submitted to the company for reimbursement the invoices were seen by MOD officials to ensure that they were consistent with the shareholder's agreement. However, because the costs were for QinetiQ to reimburse, it was the responsibility of the company, as with any other bill payment, to ensure they were properly incurred. As a limited company any such payments by QinetiQ would have been open to examination by external auditors.