The potential exists for investment decisions to be made by ranking on the BCI score alone. Isn that a problem?
Any tool or system can be abused. Preventing this relies on the institutional arrangements and the individuals involved in decision making. We emphasise that the BCI is just an input to decision making. You would certainly want it to have a strong influence, but not to dominate other important considerations. To encourage decision makers to use the BCI in a balanced way, it is provided as one part of a Project Assessment Report. Also included in that report is information about time lags, risks, spin-offs, information quality and key knowledge gaps. We note that if other factors influence decision makers to prioritise a project with a lower BCI, it is valuable to be able to see what is being given up. Thus, the use of the BCI improves accountability and transparency.
