Variant Bids

On condition that Bidders have submitted a compliant Standard Bid, Bidders are also invited to submit up to [one] Variant Bid as part of their Refined Solutions.  A Variant Bid can contain alternative proposals that Bidders consider represent better value for money for the Authority than the Standard Bid.  An explicit statement of the impact of these proposals must accompany the Variant Bid in accordance with sections [insert details] of the ISDS Instructions and Guidance to Bidders and in the form of the Bid Form 2 included at Appendix 7 of these Instructions.

[A Variant Bid is required to comply with the PFI criteria as published by the DCLG and the [insert details of Department]].

All of the various elements of a Variant Bid should also be discrete wherever possible so that if the Bidder has a particular proposal that the Authority elects to investigate with the Bidder, it may do so in the knowledge that the remainder of the Variant Bid (or the proposal itself) will not unravel.

A mark-up to the Model Contract must be confined to Variant Bids and each and every item of mark-up must be accompanied by an entry in Bid Form 2 (as set out at Appendix 7).  Any mark-up which reallocates risk (as opposed to merely clarifying the drafting) must have a completed entry in the column headed 'Effect on Price'.  This is to satisfy the Authority that the reallocation of that risk has a cost consequence.  By taking that cost consequence and applying it to the Compliant Bid, the Authority will be able to make a determination of whether or not the proposed reallocation of risk represents value for money.

For the avoidance of doubt, a Variant Bid will only be considered if submitted together with the compliant Standard Bid and is in accordance with the requirements of this ISRS document.