Common sense dictates that any company bidding three times the existing franchise payments should be discounted.

He said that the existing franchise system had been based on the assumption that there would be no significant growth in rail travel.

So, the person deciding the bid acceptance criteria should have discounted any bids that were, say, 10 per cent above the existing franchise payment levels.

However, the plant's use of the original sugar recipe had made the plant popular far beyond its existing franchise agreement.

Fourth, the plan called for alignment with an expansion team, meaning that no existing franchise would have to be moved.