The alliance process relies upon the Owner Participants and the NOPs working together in a collaborative manner to develop the TOC and deliver the project. Therefore, the Owner should ensure that the alliance is working on the basis of absolute clarity on the government's/Owner's objectives and requirements.
If an approved Business Case supports project delivery by alliancing, then the Owner should produce a 'VfM Statement' which includes project deliverables to be achieved by the alliance and the success criteria by which the alliance will be ultimately judged. The Owner's VfM Statement should be a readily available reference document to the alliance throughout the project.
As the Owner's success (and in turn the alliance's success) will be judged by the government against the approved Business Case, this is an appropriate place to start developing the Owner's VfM Statement. It should be developed with a two part approach:
i. Business Case level details as the starting point; and
ii. project level details that expand on the Business Case.
These two parts are discussed further in section 5.2.
The VfM Statement should be finalised before commencing any formal market engagement processes, including the release of tender documentation. The tender documents that are presented to the market, such as the Request for Proposal and the draft Project Alliance Agreement, should comprehensively reflect the Owner's VfM Statement requirements.
All shortlisted bidders participating in the tender process should be provided with a copy of the Owner's VfM Statement. The Owner should also consider, subject to any appropriate confidentiality agreements being executed, what additional project information (such as sections of the Business Case) can be shared where this is relevant.
If the alliance team comes to find that the Owner's VfM Statement has gaps or is not sufficiently comprehensive, they should seek direction from the Owner. If the Owner is unable to address the gaps and the alliance performs planning work to address these, the alliance should seek prior approval from the Owner before any such planned works are implemented.