The PSC consisted of base costs and additional estimates for the cost of risks that might materialise

2.49  The estimated average PSC cost of £746.2 million had £643.3 million of base costs and £102.9 million of risk built into it (at 2000 prices). It is not possible to predict conventional procurement costs with absolute accuracy as historically there have been cost overruns of varying magnitudes and there are many risks involved in a 30-year project which may or may not materialise over the duration of the contract. There is therefore a need to estimate the likelihood of these risks occurring and their associated costs, and build these into the calculation. The £102.9 million of risk built into the PSC, represented 17 per cent of the total PSC base costs (Figure 9).

9

 

PSC broken down by category

 

 

NPV (£ million at Q1 2000 prices)

Base costs

Risk

Risk as % of base costs

 

 

Capital Expenditure

208.6

61.5

29.5

 

 

Replacements

101.7

15.7

16.0

 

 

Operating costs

202.4

8.0

4.0

 

 

Rent, Contribution in Lieu of Rates, and Leasehold risks

133.1

0.0

 

 

 

Disposals and dilapidations

-12.8

0.2

 

 

 

Legislative Change

  0.0

4.6

 

 

 

Latent defects

  0.0

2.9

 

 

 

Loss due to fire etc.

  0.0

4.2

 

 

 

Inflation different to base case

  0.0

5.8

 

 

 

Cancellation charge

10.3

0.0

 

 

 

Total

643.3

102.9

17.2

 

 

Total PSC

 

746.2

 

 

 

Source: National Audit Office

2.50  The costing of risk is a subjective process and relies on assessments of what risks may materialise during a project. Historic data can assist the costing of risk although this varies from risks that are well known where there is much comparative data, to those where there is little or no comparative data. In its PSC, MOD made use of comparative data from various reports on conventionally procured public sector capital projects. These reports included The Cabinet Office Efficiency Unit Report 1995, a Progress report to the Prime Minister on Government procurement, and the NAO's MOD Major Projects Report 1996. The data in these reports contained little comparative data specifically for redevelopments. In particular, available data included only two MOD refurbishment projects and these had been subject to very different degrees of cost overruns. This lack of comparative data on redevelopments added, therefore, to the degree of uncertainty in the PSC.

10

 

List of risk categories used in MOD's PSC

 

 

Risk Category

Modelling period

 

 

Capital expenditure

 

 

 

Capital risks during decant

Decant capital costs period

 

 

Capital risks during redevelopment

Redevelopment capital costs period

 

 

Risk of overrun in capital works during decant

Decant capital costs period

 

 

Risk of overrun in capital works during redevelopment

Redevelopment capital costs period

 

 

Operating costs

 

 

 

Premises services risks during decant

Decant services costs period

 

 

Business and staff support services during decant

Decant services costs period

 

 

Premises services risks in the long-term (post-decant)

Long-term premises services costs period

 

 

Business and staff support services risks in the long-term (post-decant)

Long-term premises services costs period

 

 

Replacements

 

 

 

Replacement risks

Replacement costs period

 

 

Rent and CILOR

 

 

 

Rent and Contribution in Lieu of Rates (CILOR)

No risk included as risk retained by MOD

 

 

Disposals

 

 

 

Dilapidation risks for Metropole

Year 2004 only

 

 

Northumberland House property sales risk

Year 2004 only

 

 

Salvage risks

Year 2004 only

 

 

Legislative change

 

 

 

Legislative risk during decant

Decant services costs period

 

 

Legislative risk in the long term

Long-term premises services costs period

 

 

Latent defects

 

 

 

Latent defects risk

Year 2008 only

 

 

Loss due to fire risk

 

 

 

Fittings insurance risk

All years

 

 

Other insurance risk

All years

 

 

Inflation different from base case

 

 

 

Tender price inflation risk

All years

 

 

Services inflation risk

All years

 

 

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers