The full business case for Canberra light rail includes a detailed analysis of potential delivery and packaging options. Packaging options involving separate contracts for operations (or operations and maintenance) were considered, but the option of bundling the design, construction, operations and maintenance of the rail infrastructure and vehicles into a single package was preferred because it mitigated interface risks between packages. This was 'seen as important and relevant for the ACT, which does not have existing light rail operations or large construction markets (unlike Melbourne and Adelaide where packages have been procured separately)'.7
The full business case states that price certainty, risk transfer, innovation and incentive were the primary drivers for the decision on procurement model, and that time to market and flexibility were considered potentially lesser drivers.8 It also stated that the fully integrated model 'can address future flexibility contractually: i.e. the potential inclusion of break points in the operating contract to change operator; competitively bid pricing on changes to frequency/route extensions."9 The need for future flexibility in relation to extensions, and the challenges associated with obtaining under the fully integrated PPP model, may have been under estimated.
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7 Capital Metro Full Business Case, p115.
8 Capital Metro Full Business Case, p117.
9 Capital Metro Full Business Case, p116.