What's New?

20 Dec 2012

REVISED DFP GUIDANCE ON VFM ASSESSMENT OF PRIVATE FINANCE PROPOSALS

Following the publication of ‘A New Approach to Public Private Partnerships’ by HM Treasury (HMT) on 5^th December 2012, DFP has issued a new letter to Finance Directors containing revised guidance on how to assess the value for money (VFM) of projects involving private finance.

To date, DFP has recommended the use of the HMT VFM assessment guidance. However, HMT withdrew its quantitative VFM assessment model on 5^th December 2012 and recommended the use of standard Green Book principles instead. DFP is therefore advising NI Departments to cease using the HMT quantitative model immediately and apply standard NIGEAE guidance in its place. This is elaborated in the FD letter.

DFP anticipates that most projects in Northern Ireland will continue to be delivered through conventional procurement. DFP will only expect to see PFI/PF2 proposals being considered for projects involving capital spending of £50m or more, because less capital intensive projects seldom justify the relatively high procurement and management costs involved. However, the overriding objective in all cases should be to achieve best VFM.

NIGEAE will be updated to reflect these changes. The full text of the FD letter is available here: FD(DFP)16/12.

29 Nov 2012

UPDATE OF NIGEAE REFERENCES TO £1m “DE MINIMIS” LEVEL OF PUBLIC EXPENDITURE

NIGEAE has been updated to reflect the current de minimis public expenditure level of £1m. Specifically, the £500k figures previously stated in sections 13.1.2 and 4.1.14 in relation to appraisal, and in sections 11.2.1 and 11.3.2 in relation to post project evaluation (PPE), have all been updated to £1m.

In all these references, the figure of £1m should be regarded simply as a broad ‘rule of thumb’ indication of the upper limit for a "small expenditure". The general principle remains that all expenditure decisions, large and small, should be appraised and evaluated with proportionate effort.

The wording of 11.1.7 and 11.3.2 has been revised slightly to clarify that DFP requires PPEs for all projects, both above and below the de minimis level, but that proportionate effort should be applied. For instance, where a programme consists of a large number of small projects, it may be appropriate to evaluate a representative sample of cases. Where a Department proposes to adopt such an approach, it should present the details of its proposals for sampling in advance of the exercise to the relevant Supply Division for consideration.

18 Oct 2012

PPP/PFI VFM ASSESSMENT: UPDATED GUIDANCE

DFP has made modest revisions to its guidance on PPP/PFI VFM assessment to reflect the withdrawal of two outdated letters of guidance, namely DAO(DFP)02/07 and DAO(DFP)08/06. Specifically:-

• FD(DFP)20/09, the letter that introduced the NIGEAE guidance in 2009, has been updated.
• Sections 5.2 and 5.4 of NIGEAE have been revised slightly.

The core guidance on VFM assessment of PPP/PFI cases is essentially unchanged. NIGEAE section 5.2. describes the broad framework; section 5.3 explains the relevant DFP approval requirements; and section 5.4 sets out the appropriate business case requirements, including explanation of the roles of the HM Treasury VFM Assessment Guidance, the Shadow Bid Model (SBM) and the Conventional Procurement Option (CPO).

7 Aug 2012

ASSESSMENT OF LARGE SCALE, COMPLEX OR INNOVATIVE EXTERNAL CONSULTANCY ASSIGNMENTS

DFP has written to Finance Directors with additional guidance for cases involving relatively large scale consultancy expenditure i.e. around £1m or more, or which are particularly complex or innovative, taking account of recent reports by the Northern Ireland Audit Office and the Northern Ireland Public Accounts Committee; and an Interim Lessons Learnt Report on the NI Direct project. It supplements the general guidance on professional services including external consultancy issued with FD(DFP)07/12 on 20 April 2012.

The full text of the new FD letter is available here: FD(DFP)13/12

13 Jun 2012

DEPARTMENTAL DELEGATIONS/REQUIREMENTS FOR DFP APPROVAL

DFP has issued a new Dear Accounting Officer (DAO) letter promulgating revised guidance on delegations and requirements for DFP approval. DAO(DFP)06/12 updates and replaces DAO(DFP)06/05 in light of Managing Public Money Northern Ireland (MPMNI) and other developments. It sets out the requirements for departments to obtain prior DFP approval before making commitments or incurring expenditure.

Here is a direct link to the new letter: DAO(DFP)06/12.

MPMNI and other current DFP letters of guidance are available at DFP's Accountability & Financial Management Division (AFMD) website.

20 Apr 2012

NEW GUIDANCE ON THE USE OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (INCLUDING EXTERNAL CONSULTANCY)

DFP has undertaken a review of the 2009 guidance on the use of external consultants to assess its practical implementation and address any issues arising. Today DFP published a revised version of the guidance providing further clarification on the definitions and categories to be used, together with wider guidance on the recording and reporting of expenditure on all professional services. The guidance adopts the umbrella term professional services to cover both consultancy and other professional services.

The new letter of guidance may be found at FD(DFP)07/12 and the more detailed guidance issued with it may be found here.

12 Mar 2012

THE NEED FOR ALL CONTRACTS, INCLUDING DIRECT AWARD CONTRACTS, ALL CONTRACT EXTENSIONS AND ALL PROCUREMENT PROJECTS TO BE SUPPORTED BY SUITABLE APPRAISALS AND BUSINESS CASES

DFP has issued a new letter of guidance reminding Finance Directors of the need for suitable and proportionate appraisal of options and completion or update of a business case before signing any contract (including direct award contracts) or taking up any permitted /legitimate contract extension or commencing any procurement involving commitment of expenditure and/or changes in the use of public resources. It also reinforces the need to engage with DFP’s Central Procurement Directorate (CPD) or other designated Centre of Procurement Excellence (CoPE) from an early stage in all procurements.

The full text of the letter is available here: FD(DFP)03/12

9th Mar 2012

APPRAISING SMALL EXPENDITURES: NEW TEMPLATE AND TRAINING COURSE

A new template for use when appraising small expenditures has been added to the NIGEAE website. See Business Case Template for Small Expenditures

The template is designed to facilitate documentation of an expenditure appraisal for relatively small expenditures (i.e. up to a maximum of £1m) with appropriate and proportionate effort. It identifies the main elements of a business case to be covered, followed by spaces or tables for inserting the relevant information. The spaces and tables should be enlarged or modified as required to accommodate all the necessary information. Note that it is a general template covering basic requirements; it can be adapted and tailored to suit particular spending areas as desired.

Also now available is a new one-day course in Developing a Business Case for Small Expenditure Decisions which is run by CAL (DFP's Centre for Applied Learning) and led by DFP economists. For details of this course, and others on NIGEAE Awareness and Developing a Business Case for Large Expenditure Decisions, contact CAL. These courses are available to staff from all NICS departments.

30th Nov 2011

VALUING INFRASTRUCTURE SPEND: SUPPLEMENTARY GUIDANCE TO THE GREEN BOOK

HM Treasury has published new supplementary guidance providing further advice on applying Green Book principles to programmes and projects across the economic infrastructure sectors of energy, transport, water, waste water, flood risk and coastal erosion, solid waste management and communications. It is intended to assist appraisers with generating a range of infrastructure investment options; valuing the wider impacts of infrastructure; valuing the opportunities and risks of sharing infrastructure assets; and valuing the risk of infrastructure failure. The guidance is available at the Green Book Supplementary Guidance pages of the HM Treasury website. Here is a direct link:

Valuing Infrastructure Spend: Supplementary Guidance to the Green Book

2nd Nov 2011

AMENDMENT TO APPROVAL REQUIREMENTS FOR PFI AND OTHER PPP PROJECTS

DFP issued a new letter of guidance today introducing amendments to the requirements for the approval of PFI and PPP projects. Henceforth, the requirement for DFP approval at Appointment Business Case (ABC) and Full Business Case (FBC) stages will generally apply only to PFI projects and not to other PPP projects. However, DFP will reserve the right to require approval at ABC and FBC stages for individual PPP projects that it considers novel, contentious, repercussive or in some other sense significant.

This is explained fully in the new letter to Finance Directors FD(DFP)17/11

5th Aug 2011

APPRAISAL AND APPROVAL PROCEDURES: THE IMPORTANCE OF INCLUDING TOTAL COSTS, APPRAISING MUTUALLY DEPENDENT EXPENDITURES TOGETHER AND NOT SPLITTING PROJECTS

DFP issued a new letter to Finance Directors FD(DFP)14/11on this subject today.

DFP’s general guidance is that appraisals should identify and include the total resource consequences of options. (See NIGEAE 2.5.24). This is to ensure that all the resources used by an expenditure proposal are accounted for.

An important consequence of this is that mutually dependent expenditures must be appraised together. Where one expenditure clearly gives rise to another, they should not be appraised separately. For example, an appraisal concerning the construction of a building must take account of all the associated costs arising such as land purchase, infrastructure and works services, fitting out with equipment, security, staffing, maintenance and other operational costs. It would be incorrect to appraise any of these costs separately in piecemeal fashion. They are interdependent and must be appraised together in order to ensure that the total resource consequences of a proposal are identified. This is a long standing principle that has been stated in several editions of the HM Treasury Green Book.

A related point is that projects must not be split into separate components or phases in order to bring them below delegation limits and avoid submission to DFP. Expenditure incurred in this way will be regarded as irregular. Examples of bad practice include purchases of capital items such as vehicles or computers being appraised separately from other directly related capital expenditures like equipment, accommodation, installation or testing; and the roll out of ICT projects being split into phases to avoid exceeding delegation limits. Where expenditures or activities are linked together and the costs or benefits are mutually dependent, the proposal must be appraised as a whole and submitted to DFP accordingly.

A further point to note is that the contribution of the component parts of a proposal to achieving overall value for money must be taken into account. For example, activities offering poor value for money should not be advanced by lumping them together with other more cost-effective activities; and where projects are advanced in phases, the value for money of each individual phase should be considered separately as well as looking at the project as a whole.

Departments should take note of these points, which have been reflected in revisions to paras 2.4.15 2.5.28 and 9.2.5 of NIGEAE.

Follow this link to the new letter: FD(DFP)14/11.

26th July 2011

VALUATION TECHNIQUES FOR SOCIAL COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS

HM Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions have published a new Green Book discussion paper on valuing social impacts.

Monetary valuation of non-market impacts is a challenging area of economic appraisal. The full value of goods such as health, family and community stability, educational success and environmental assets cannot be inferred from market prices, but we should not neglect such important impacts in decision making. This new discussion paper considers the strengths and weaknesses of three techniques for the monetary valuation of non-market impacts.

The first two techniques are the Revealed Preference and Stated Preference approaches. These are both ‘market based approaches’ which have been referenced in the Green Book for some time. Annex 2 of the Green Book explains them and describes several examples of their application e.g. in relation to values of time, health benefits, environmental impacts and so on.

In contrast to these preference-based techniques, the paper introduces the Life Satisfaction Approach, a newer, ‘subjective well-being’ approach, which attempts to measure people‘s experiences rather than expose their preferences. It uses reported life satisfaction in surveys such as the ONS’s Integrated Household Survey, which began including questions on respondents’ subjective well-being in April 2011, to value non-market impacts. The approach uses econometrics to estimate the life satisfaction provided by non-market goods, and then converts this into a monetary figure by also estimating the effect of income on life satisfaction.

The robustness of the estimates generated by any of these techniques has to be considered on a case-by-case basis before including them in an appraisal. In particular, the estimates generated by the subjective well-being technique are not yet accepted as robust enough for direct use. The technique is under development, however, and may soon provide a reliable and accepted complement to the more traditional economic approaches. In the meantime, the estimates may give us a better idea about the relative value of non-market goods compared with each other.They may also help to encourage consideration of the full range of social impacts of policies, and reconsideration of the values that may otherwise be placed implicitly on certain types of impacts.

In Northern Ireland, there has been some use of the ‘market based approaches’ described above in appraisals. For example, values for time savings have been used in appraisals concerning roads and transport. However, for the most part, the ‘difficult to value’ social, environmental and other impacts of proposals have been assessed in non-monetary terms using multi-criteria analysis techniques such as impact statements or weighted scoring analyses. That is likely to remain the case for most appraisals in Northern Ireland. However, there is continuing scope to use monetary valuation techniques in certain cases and the new paper provides a helpful and up to date review of the use and limitations of the methods currently available.

The paper may be read in full at the Green Book News page, or follow this link directly to the report:

• Valuation Techniques for Social Cost Benefit Analysis: Stated Preference, Revealed Preference and Subjective Well-Being Approaches

23rd May 2011

PROCESS FOR SEEKING DFP APPROVAL OF STRATEGIC OUTLINE CASES FOR MAJOR PROJECTS – REVISED GUIDANCE

DFP wrote to Finance Directors today with updated guidance on the process for approving major spending projects. New arrangements were introduced in 2009 requiring the submission of a Strategic Outline Case (SOC) for all major projects to DFP for approval before proceeding to develop an Outline Business Case (OBC). The revised guidance confirms that this requirement will continue; explains some minor changes to the definition of major projects; gives more flexibility over the length of SOC documents; introduces a new pro forma to help with the completion of SOCs; and reminds Departments of the need for separate business cases for external consultancy. To read the letter in full, click on the following link:

FD(DFP)12/11

12th May 2011

REVISED EVALUATION GUIDANCE: NEW HM TREASURY MAGENTA BOOK

DFP issued FD(DFP)11/11 today, drawing attention to a revised version of HM Treasury's Magenta Book, which provides detailed guidance on policy evaluation. Its principles may also be broadly applied to evaluations of programmes and projects. This edition of the Magenta Book shifts emphasis away from the “analyst’s manual” of the previous edition, to a broader guidance document aimed at both analysts and policy makers at all levels of government, both central and local. NI Departments and their sponsored bodies should use the new Magenta Book as a supplement to NIGEAE and other relevant local guidance to evaluate policies, programmes and projects. For fuller details, follow these links to the FD letter and the Treasury’s Magenta Book page:

FD(DFP)11/11

The Magenta Book

12th May 2011

LESSONS FROM PFI AND OTHER PROJECTS

The National Audit Office (NAO) has recently published a report titled Lessons from PFI and other Projects. (HC 920, Session 2010 to 2012, 28th April 2011). The accompanying Press Release states:

"The NAO has concluded that lessons from the large body of experience of using PFI can be applied to improve other forms of procurement and help Government achieve its aim of securing annual infrastructure delivery cost savings of £2 billion to £3 billion. Government should also do more to act as an ‘intelligent customer’ in the procurement and management of projects.

To secure the best value for money from all types of procurement, the public sector needs to develop the ‘enablers of success’ which the NAO has identified. These are collecting better data to inform decision-making; ensuring projects have the right skills; establishing effective arrangements to test, challenge and, if necessary, stop projects; and using commercial awareness to obtain better deals.

The case for using private finance in public procurement needs to be challenged more, given the spending watchdog’s previous analysis that the cost of debt finance has increased since the credit crisis by 20 per cent to 33 per cent. Also, under the national accounting rules, privately financed projects will often still be off balance-sheet which may continue to act as an incentive to use PFI. The NAO concludes that, in the current climate, the use of private finance may not be as suitable for as many projects as it has been in the past.

There has not been a systematic value for money evaluation of operational PFI projects by departments. There is, therefore, insufficient data to demonstrate whether the use of private finance has led to better or worse value for money than other forms of procurement. The NAO calls on the Treasury and departments to identify alternative methods for delivering infrastructure and related facilities services, building on the lessons learnt from PFI, to maximise value for money for government.

The NAO welcomes the current plans of the Treasury and Cabinet Office to strengthen project assurance. The NAO highlights the need for independent challenge capable of stopping projects which do not give the prospect of value for money. This is particularly important as there is still a shortage of the skills needed to manage and oversee complex major projects. Better contract management skills are particularly needed to obtain best value during the contract period, including by ensuring the public sector shares in cost efficiencies achieved in existing contracts."

For further details, including the full text of the report, click on this link: Lessons from PFI and Other Projects

28th Feb 2011

MAKING SAVINGS IN OPERATIONAL PFI CONTRACTS (DRAFT)

This draft HM Treasury guidance is intended to help government departments and local authorities identify opportunities to reduce the cost of operational Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts. It highlights the need for strong contract management to achieve optimum performance from a PFI contract and suggests options that public sector bodies may consider to reduce the cost of a contract, while emphasising the importance of protecting value for money. The guidance is currently in draft form and will be updated following a pilot project to be completed in 2011. The draft is available at the Treasury PPP page under Additional Guidance (item 5.9 under General Guidance). Here is a direct link to the document:

Making Savings in Operational PFI Contracts - DRAFT

28th Feb 2011

PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS - TECHNICAL UPDATE 2010

HM Treasury recently published this document which reaffirms the government's commitment to PPP and provides a technical update. It sets out recent changes and indicates developments that are under way. Of particular interest in an appraisal context is the stated intention to review and update the VFM assessment guidance last issued in 2006 and to develop it to cover ex-post VFM assessment. The document is available at the Treasury PPP page under Additional Guidance (item 5.7 under General Guidance). Here is a direct link to it:

Public Private Partnerships - Technical Update 2010

9th Aug 2010

REVISED OFMDFM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

In May 2010 OFMDFM published a revised Sustainable Development Strategy.  This strategy, known as "Everyone's Involved", re-affirms the Guiding Principles set out in A Sustainable Development Strategy for Northern Ireland: First Steps Towards Sustainability which was published in March 2006.  The new strategy revises the Priorities for Action set out in the previous document, lists a number of Strategic Objectives departments should achieve in the pursuit of sustainable development and reinforces the importance of looking at sustainable development as part of the Integrated Impact Assessment.  Section 2.7.14 of NIGEAE, which explains how to address sustainable development in business cases, has been revised accordingly. The full text of the new strategy can be accessed via the following link:

• Everyone's Involved Sustainable Development Strategy

6th July 2010

PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE - FIRST THEMATIC REPORT

In June 2010 the NI Public Accounts Committee published a First Thematic Report. This report recaps lessons learned in cases reviewed by the Public Accounts Committee. By reaffirming these crucial messages the Committee hopes to improve the value of the public audit and scrutiny process. The report highlights the importance of sound project planning (including economic appraisal), project management, taking action to protect the interests of the taxpayer and post-project evaluation. These lessons should be considered by departments and borne in mind when planning and appraising policies, projects and programmes. The full report can be accessed via the following link:

• Public Accounts Committee - First Thematic Report

5th July 2010

UPDATED COST OF CARBON GUIDANCE

The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) have published an annual update of the short term carbon values to be used in UK public policy appraisal. These values replace those set out in the July 2009 paper but the underlying methodology and guidance for the application remains the same. This document also includes carbon prices to be used beyond 2050, as outlined in a recent paper on estimating carbon values beyond 2050. Section 2.5 of NIGEAE has been updated to take account of these papers which can be accessed using the following links:

• Updated short term traded carbon values for UK public policy appraisal (June 2010)
• Guidance on Estimating Carbon Values Beyond 2050: An Interim Approach

19th Mar 2010

DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS PROPERTY: REVISED GUIDANCE

Decisions involving the acquisition and disposal of assets require the application of appraisal, in accordance with section 2.5.70 of NIGEAE. Land and Property Services (LPS) has issued revised guidance on the disposal of surplus property, titled Disposal of Surplus Public Sector Property in Northern Ireland. It may be found at the LPS website www.lpsni.gov.uk (Click on Property Valuation then Disposal of Surplus Public Sector Property). The revised guidance supplements Annex 4.8 on Asset Management in Managing Public Money Northern Ireland. Departments should ensure that the revised guidance is applied within all business areas with immediate effect. Here is a direct link to the revised guidance:

• Disposal of Surplus Public Sector Property in Northern Ireland

8th Mar 2010

NEW GREEN BOOK SUPPLEMENTARY GUIDANCE: VALUATION OF ENERGY USE AND GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FOR APPRAISAL AND EVALUATION

In Janurary 2010, HM Treasury and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published supplementary Green Book guidance (revised in June 2010) and accompanying spreadsheets on how to value energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in appraisal and evaluation. Reference to this guidance has been included in NIGEAE Section 2.5.87, which Departments should consider using in cases involving significant changes in energy use and or GHG emissions.  Further details may be found on the HM Treasury detailed guidance page.  The key documents can be accessed directly via the following links:

• Supplementary Guidance on GHG Emissions and Energy Use. (June2010 version)
• Spreadsheet tool for Valuation of Energy and GHG Emissions.

4th Feb 2010

GATEWAY REVIEW PROCESS - NEW RISK POTENTIAL ASSESSMENT (RPA) FORM

20th Jan 2010

GATEWAY REVIEW PROCESS - DE MINIMIS LIMITS

A new Procurement Guidance Note 03/09 has been issued by DFP's Central Procurement Directorate (CPD), introducing de minimis limits for the application of Gateway Reviews. The new guidance sets out recommended thresholds and should be read in conjunction with Procurement Guidance Note 01/09. Departments and other organisations may decide their own de minimis limits, in which case they should be approved by the Accounting Officer in conjunction with CPD or another relevant Centre of Procurement Expertise. However, for those cases where Accounting Officers do not make a specific ruling, the de minimis limit to be applied will be £500k.

• Procurement Guidance Note 03/09

14th Dec 2009

HMT OPERATIONAL TASKFORCE NOTE 4: CONTRACT EXPIRY GUIDANCE

2nd Dec 2009

PROCEDURES AND PRINCIPLES FOR EVALUATION OF TENDERS

26th Nov 2009

THE NORTHERN IRELAND GUIDE TO EXPENDITURE APPRAISAL AND EVALUATION: LAUNCH PRESENTATION

16th Nov 2009

THE NORTHERN IRELAND GUIDE TO EXPENDITURE APPRAISAL AND EVALUATION: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

16th Nov 2009

UPDATED EXAMPLE OF DEL ACCOUNTING ANALYSIS FOR PFI v. CONVENTIONAL PROCUREMENT

10th Nov 2009

REMOVAL OF INFLATION BEFORE DISCOUNTING - CLARIFICATION

7th Oct 2009

REVISED GUIDANCE ON CARBON VALUATION

In July 2009, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published a revised approach to the valuation of carbon for use in appraisal.  Section 2.5.80 of NIGEAE has been revised to take account of this guidance, which Departments should consider using in cases involving a significant carbon impact.  Further details may be found at the DECC Carbon Valuation page.  The key documents can be accessed directly via the following links:

• Carbon Valuation in UK Policy Appraisal: A Revised Approach.
• A brief guide to the new carbon values and their use in economic appraisal.

5th Oct 2009

FRAMEWORK TO UNDERPIN DECISIONS ON THE LOCATION OF PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS

A link to this document, produced in 2007, has been added to para. 7.5.1 in the Appraisal of Accommodation Projects section of NIGEAE. It provides a methodological framework for assessing potential job relocation options within accommodation appraisals.

28th Sept 2009

NORTHERN IRELAND GUIDE TO EXPENDITURE APPRAISAL AND EVALUATION (NIGEAE)

Launched today, NIGEAE is DFP's new on-line guide to expenditure appraisal, evaluation, approval and management. It replaces the Northern Ireland Practical Guide to the Green Book published in 2003. The purpose is to bring the 2003 guidance up to date and move to fuller reliance upon on-line guidance in order to facilitate more frequent updating in the future. The basic steps of appraisal and evaluation remain fundamentally unchanged, but there are a number of developments in detailed procedures. Key changes are noted in NIGEAE's Introductory section. NI Departments are being notified of the new guidance in a letter to Finance Directors:

• FD(DFP)20/09

28th August 2009

PPP PROJECTS IN CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS

HM Treasury has published guidance containing practical advice on handling of PPP projects at the pre-OJEU, dialogue and appointment of preferred bidder stages of procurements. It is located in the Additional Guidance section of Treasury's PPP page. To access it directly, click this link:

PPP Projects in Current Market Conditions

29th May 2008

GUIDANCE ON EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN PUBLIC SECTOR PROCUREMENT

A new Dear Accounting Officer letter has been issued to draw attention to new guidance on how equality of opportunity and sustainable development can be incorporated into public sector procurement. As per DAO (DFP) 05/08, the associated guidance should be taken into account, where appropriate, in the preparation of business cases. To access the DAO letter and associated guidance, click on the following links:

• DAO (DFP) 05/08
• Detailed Guidance