43. Where, as part of the process of preparing its Estimate of the impact of a Change, the contractor includes an element of increased lifecycle spend, PUK's guidance suggests that these costs: "should be consistent with the rates quoted in the original bid."21 Depending on the approach that the contractor took in pricing lifecycle in its original bid, it may be difficult to reconcile the proposed increase to a "baseline" figure in the original financial model. This is an area which must be carefully considered by acquisition team members.
44. Another challenge for acquisition team members is to evaluate which elements of Change should give rise to additional lifecycle spend and which should not. In most cases, this will be a matter of common sense and may be determined in part by the approach taken previously on the same Project or other projects.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
21 Partnerships UK's Operational Taskforce Note 3: "Variations Protocol for Operational Projects (entered into prior to Standardisation of PFI Contracts version 4)" dated March 2008, paragraph 2.18.