A special ministerial briefing concerning the two options were presented to the subcommittee concerned on 31 August 1998, where it was decided to go with the non-costed option. This would appear to have led to the choice of a contractor who otherwise would not have been awarded the contract. The Committee remains unconvinced as to why the change in evaluation method took place (after submission of tenders), and why such change was only introduced in this particular programme. A further unanswered question is whether only the non-costed option was presented to the Cabinet.