A strong and diverse advisory market, with robust and healthy competition, will lead to innovation and creativity in ideas and promote continuous improvement in the practice of alliance contracting. Advisory services should be sourced through a contestable and competitive selection process to avoid any appearance of simply re-engaging 'favourite' advisers.
Key selection criteria should make clear that advisers claiming to bring proprietary processes, documents and knowledge to an engagement will be assessed carefully. This should not impact the effective transfer of knowledge to subsequent alliance projects and reduce long-term contestability. Also, the Owner will need to be satisfied that the adviser still has the flexibility to think innovatively and provide tailored advice, beyond any propriety position to address the unique circumstances of a specific project.