C12: Implementation costs and income

Implementation costs and income are those expenditures and incomes associated with the implementation stage of the project. These expenditures and incomes are identifiable by the fact that they are directly related to the delivery stage of the project, temporary and not recurring in nature. They are required to create the conditions for and to facilitate the achievement of the key deliverables of the project.

These cost and revenue streams usually carry the most risk as they are ad hoc and non repetitive in nature. As a result limited opportunities exist to learn and adapt from past experience. It is important that the appraisal recognises this fact and engages in significant consideration of these expenditures and incomes.

All implementation costs should be included in the “Invest” column of the Option Appraisal form. All implementation revenues should be included in the “Income” column of the Option Appraisal form. Costs and incomes should not be netted off as they have different risk characteristics, even if the total amount of income equals the total amount of expenditure.

Provision should be made for contingencies.

With respect to inflation the normal basis of calculation of implementation costs and income is to do all calculations at today’s prices. Exceptions to this are noted in the inflation section.