3.2  Needs Assessment

The Feasibility Study should justify the need for the project in terms of satisfying an essential public requirement. In this section, it is advised to detail how the project will meet a demonstrable service gap. In order to achieve this and facilitate the remainder of the project initiation process, the following steps should be undertaken:

  Step 1: Determine to what extent the Project would meet the Government Entity's objectives: Following the definition of the broader objective(s) of the project, the Feasibility Study should define a specific objective that the project fulfills, in terms of a stated policy aim of the Government Entity.

  Step 2: Options assessment: Assess key financial, technical, and legal options available to meet project objectives, and decide on a technical solution that will be evaluated in-depth.

  Step 3: Decide on the framework and broad parameters of the Project: In this section, define the key Stakeholders for the project. Engage with these Stakeholders to outline subsequent parameters; and, outline the scope of the project to clarify the roles and responsibilities of government and the private sector across all phases of the project. Key aspects to detail will include:

•  List of state Assets that will be utilised;

•  List of enabling works required; and,

•  Roles and responsibilities of the government and the private sector on the project.

  Step 4: Specify the outputs required to be delivered: in addition, the performance indicators that will be utilised to measure the output specifications should be detailed. Certain input specifications can be provided to achieve specific objective; ideally, input specifications should be kept to a minimum in order to provide the private sector with appropriate flexibility to utilise their capacity for innovation.