Important Notice

Fire and Police Sectors

Standard Form Funder Direct Agreement

Important Notice

This is Local Partnerships' standard form of the Funder Direct Agreement (FDA) the intention of which is to minimise the time and costs of dealing with legal issues relating to a PFI/PPP scheme. Local Partnerships expects the standard form FDA to be used un-amended. However, a certain degree of customisation of the standard form FDA will be necessary to ensure it operates effectively alongside the Project Agreement and sub-contracts, particularly in respect of certain defined terms.  Footnotes have been included to highlight the provisions that may need amendment for this reason.

The private sector should note that any proposed amendments to the standard form FDA will be one of the criteria taken into account by Local Authorities in evaluating a bid response to an Invitation to Continue Dialogue. Any proposed amendments to the standard form FDA, save for when such proposed amendments (1) are scheme specific changes supported by strong scheme specific reasoning or (2) highlight genuine drafting errors, are likely to be negatively evaluated.

This Funder Direct Agreement is based on the December 2007 standard form version circulated by Partnerships for Schools and used in Building Schools for the Future.  It has been approved by Partnerships UK and as such has the benefit of PUK's experience in other sectors.  Local Partnerships are strongly of the view that this standard form FDA should be acceptable to both Local Authorities and bidders.

The standard form FDA contains a number of footnotes.  These are intended to assist understanding or to highlight areas where the standard form will require minor amendments for consistency with other project documents.  The standard form FDA must be analysed and reviewed in detail to ensure that its terms (and their impact) are clearly understood by the relevant parties. The footnotes should be removed before finalisation of the document for execution and (where appropriate) release to bidders.

Please note that the standard form FDA is not a replacement for independent, specialist advice and Local Authorities should ensure that they take appropriate legal, financial and technical advice in using this document. Local Partnerships and its advisers accept no liability whatsoever for any expense, liability, loss, claim or proceedings arising from reliance placed upon this standard form.