30 To get an indication of the causes of delays, our survey asked those 33 projects reporting time overruns to rate potential causes from very important to not at all important.
31 The respondents reported diverse reasons for project delays. They often attributed them to 'unforeseen events' or 'other factors' where the private sector owned the risk. In these circumstances, the private sector received financial penalties for the delays. Respondents also included subcontractor underperformance, poor project management as well as the financial difficulties experienced by Jarvis plc as factors. Unforeseen events are difficult to allow for in contracts and can result in unavoidable delays. One project manager commented "You have a lot of latent defects issues in old buildings, which even if we've got a fairly watertight contract, which we think we have, it can still cause problems". These problems are not unique to PFI projects. The PFI contracts provide financial compensation for delays but the consequence of the delay to the public sector is not something that can be transferred.