2.12 When PITO started promoting the project, it could not confirm whether all of the emergency services would participate. Even when the scope of the procurement was reduced to the police, there were still many stakeholders whose agreement had to be obtained. This included 43 police forces in England and Wales, plus their authorities, as well as the eight Scottish forces.
2.13 Further uncertainty surrounded the project, definition study stage. In 1994, the cost to each bidder of undertaking a study was estimated at £500,000, but by 1996 quoted figures for this work ranged between£2.5 million to £10 million. Such an investment in the project was, for two consortia, too risky. PITO initiated discussions about the possibility of reimbursing some of the costs of carrying out the project definition studies but, without being able to establish how much funding would be made available to bidders, was unable to use this to maintain market interest in the project.