Before a large public contract is signed, somebody has to be able to say whether the price is reasonable and the spending is justified. This is where that question is asked, answered and recorded.
A ministry, assembly, agency or state enterprise that is about to award a contract sends it here first. The Value for Money Office looks at what is being bought, what it costs, and how that price compares with what the same thing has cost elsewhere. It then issues a written decision. The contract proceeds on the strength of that decision, and the decision stays on the record.
What "value for money" means here
It does not mean cheapest. It means the price can be explained. A hospital oxygen plant that costs more than the last one may be entirely justified — a different capacity, a harder site, a currency movement since the last contract. What the Office is looking for is a price that stands up when somebody asks about it, and a record of the reasoning that survives the people who did the work moving on.
Three things the Office produces
- A decision on each submission — approved, approved with conditions, or refused, with reasons written down.
- A certificate for what it approves, carrying a ceiling: the contract may be awarded at or below that amount, not above it.
- A body of evidence over time — what things actually cost, which becomes the yardstick for the next submission.
Which contracts come here
Two kinds. Contracts at or above a value threshold, and single-source contracts at any value. A single-source contract is one awarded without competition, so there is no rival bid to show that the price is reasonable — which is exactly why it is looked at however small it is.