Apart from the selection of the private partner for a PPP project, the procurement process also needs to be followed for the selection of consultants whose services may be required by the public entity to assist in carrying out project development activities. The selection of consultants with expertise in various fields - technical, commercial, legal, financial, managerial - may be required at different times on a need basis. The services of a technical consultant and financial consultant are required during the project feasibility and structuring stage; transaction advisors and legal consultants' services are required during the procurement stage and the services of an independent engineer are required during the implementation and monitoring stage. Accordingly, the procurement process for identifying each of these consultants must be initiated by the public entity at the appropriate stages, depending on need.
Ministry of Finance, Government of India has issued Model RFP for selection of financial consultants and transaction advisors vide Ref:24(32)/PF-II/09 dated March 2010. A 'quality cost-based selection' (QCBS) method is set out for selection of consultants in the above mentioned Model RFP for selection of financial consultants and transaction advisors. Under QCBS, weight is given to both technical and financial capacity before arriving at a combined score. The bidder securing the highest combined score is selected as the preferred bidder.