Mr. Robert Watt:

Clearly with a lump sum contract a very detailed design is set out and contractors will price it based on the detailed design. What can happen is that there is an adversarial relationship and there is a lot of discussion about price variation where the contractor will say, "Oh, you said you wanted windows like that or that number of windows. In actual fact we needed X number of windows. Therefore we're going to argue that it wasn't us; it was the design." There are endless discussions about the extent to which even the detailed design matches up with the ultimate requirements of the client, what is being delivered by the contractor.

What we are saying clearly is it does not relate to building a school or a primary care centre because they are projects we repeat time and time again and we know what we are doing. When it comes to projects that are unique, the learning from us here - we are here to advise the Minister and the Government - is that we need to spend much more time on the detailed design before we can commit that design to tender. That will increase cost certainty, we believe, but it will come at a cost because it will take an awful lot more time and money to develop the detailed design particularly for once-off projects.