First of all, we've heard this. There is inherent owner risk with any project. However, through the business sector, we're prepared to take on some of that risk, provided, one, that risk is very clear to the proponent and is clearly and well understood, and two, there is the ability to manage and mitigate the risk. That's both the technical and managerial capacity to manage the risk, but also the contractual authority to manage that risk. The third piece is that the remuneration has to be appropriate. That's what QBS tries to do. It tries to wed the deliverables and the outcomes directly.
Under conventional procurement, you get a price envelope, you have people write a proposal, they get in, you go through a mechanical formula. These may or may not match what's been promised. Under QBS, the whole point is to allow you, as the owner, to say, “You're not doing enough QA/QC here. What would that cost us? Do you need to do that?"
It allows that sort of post-award negotiation for more efficiencies and operational considerations, but it also allows very direct discussions around risk.