2. Our examination covered:
■ The conduct of the negotiations: how the Department went about the task.
The purpose of this part of the examination was to assess whether the Department's approach was well planned and implemented.
■ Outcome: how far the outcome should meet the objectives.
This part of the examination focused on the extent to which the restructured deal should meet the Department's objectives and whether it provides value for money.
3. In undertaking this examination we followed the approach laid out in a published report on our methodology for examining private finance deals.16 In particular, we:
■ Designed the examination using experience acquired on our earlier studies of Private Finance Initiative deals;
■ Collected information about the negotiation process and the deal;
■ Used an external expert to advise on specific issues; and
■ Evaluated the information and advice received.
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16 Examining the value for money of deals under the Private Finance Initiative (HC 739/1998-99)