91 Respondents emphasised clarity over what was expected from the PFI project as crucial to ensuring satisfactory delivery of the final asset, and maintaining clear communications between the public sector and the contractor was felt to be a vital factor. All projects which delivered to timetable and contracted price, referred to good communications. In many cases, detailed chains of communication were established so that all partners were aware of what was happening.
92 Not only was close collaboration and communication between partners felt to be essential to the smooth and successful running of a project, it helped facilitate value for money. One project manager commented: "We brought people who traditionally might have been called clerks of works but we re-skilled them, we retrained them and got them to work in partnership with our contractors and helped them interpret our output specification in a way which didn't cost them more money but gave them better outcomes".
93 Interviews also highlighted the importance of maintaining open dialogue, which was perceived to help prevent miscommunication and misunderstanding between the public sector and the contractor. While PFI contracts were said to offer protection from financial risk, an over-reliance on contractual detail was thought to inhibit effective communication between partners at times.
94 In our interviews, the consequences of poor communications were clear. A lack of open and honest dialogue could lead to delays, highlighting the importance of this aspect of project management. Generally, however, relations between the main contractor and the public sector were felt to be cordial, with 85 per cent of survey respondents (65 excluding don't know responses) rating this as fairly and very good.
95 Many of these issues were identified in our report Managing the relationship to secure a successful partnership in PFI projects.15 In particular this report identified factors such as open communication and a partnership approach to working as key factors to a successful outcome.
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15 NAO Report. Managing the relationship to secure a successful partnership in PFI projects, (HC 375, 2001-02).