The Department adopted an open and transparent approach to negotiations

3.3 The Department signed a tender process agreement with Land Securities Trillium which set out the negotiating process, the Department's objectives, the opportunities for Land Securities Trillium, and what it expected Land Securities Trillium to deliver, but made no commitment to Land Securities Trillium. The Department also considered that to achieve and demonstrate value for money, a high degree of transparency and openness on the part of Land Securities Trillium would be essential to the procurement process. Both parties told us that the negotiations had been open and transparent and the documents we examined confirmed that essential information had been exchanged between the two parties. The negotiations proceeded on the basis of:

■ the same data on measurement, condition surveys and service charge data to be available to both sides;

■ a format for financial submissions to minimise the scope for hidden excess profits;

8	Roles and costs of advisers

Adviser		Type	Competition for appointment	Initial Budget £'000	Outturn £'000	Overspend/ (Under spend) £'000
Lovells		Legal Adviser	Department's existing Legal Advisers. But rates were re-negotiated.	2,800	3,300	500
IBM Business Consulting Services		Business Advisers	Yes	2,100	3,100	1,000
Drivers Jonas		Commercial Property and Real Estate Consultants	Yes	1,400	1,000	(400)
PKF		Financial Advisers	Yes	600	1,200	600
Project Support		Consultancy and Administrative Support	Yes	200	400	200
Anite		Responsible for developing an Alternative Commercial Solution	Yes	200	100	(100)
Chesterton		Property Advisers	Department's existing property advisers	100	500	400
Government Actuary's Department (GAD)		Pensions Adviser	No
Total				7,400	9,600	2,200
Source: Department for Work and Pensions

■ a clear breakdown of Land Securities Trillium's facility management service partners' costs, between labour, materials management and margin;

■ close contact between the Department's advisers and Land Securities Trillium to ensure the Department fully understood Land Securities Trillium's pricing and modelling approach;

■ legal due diligence commissioned by the Department on behalf of both parties; and

■ separate identification of specific risk premia.