What is Best Value Procurement?
Best Value Procurement (BVP), known in Dutch as prestatie-inkoop, is a procurement and collaboration method in which the client does not prescribe how the work is to be done, but looks for the party that can demonstrate the deepest expertise. The method was developed by Dean Kashiwagi at Arizona State University and has been applied in the Netherlands since roughly 2005, notably on large infrastructure projects.
The underlying idea: if the client specifies in detail what must happen, they take the thinking — and therefore the risk — away from the expert they are hiring precisely for that expertise.
The four phases
- Preparation — the client states a goal, not a solution. The tender document is deliberately short.
- Assessment — bidders submit a handful of pages: a performance substantiation with measurable figures, an opportunity file, a risk file and a price. Everything is assessed anonymously.
- Clarification (pre-award) — only the highest-scoring party works its plan out and demonstrates that it genuinely understands the project. If it cannot, no contract is awarded.
- Execution — the contractor directs the work and reports weekly in a short risk report on anything deviating from plan.
Characteristics
- Evidence, not claims. Statements such as “we are experienced” count for nothing; only verified performance figures from earlier projects.
- Dominant information. An argument must be clear enough for a non-expert to follow.
- Minimal direction. The client does not check the work, only the deviations.
- Naming risks pays. Bidders score points by identifying risks they do not themselves control.
Where it goes wrong
- Clients who choose the method but then take back control during execution
- An objective stated too vaguely, making the bids incomparable
- Performance figures that cannot be verified with previous clients
- The method suits projects with genuine room for professional judgement; for a tightly specified, simple supply it adds little
Related terms
- Tendering
- Procurement
- Specification
- Design brief
- Performance-based contract
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