The longevity of these relationships may explain an interesting development from last year. Then, we found that managers working most closely often had the best working relationships. This does not seem to be the case this year. Although managers working in the same office overwhelmingly report 'very good' relationships, many of the contract management teams who responded to our survey were based on different sites (43%) - and 60% of them still reported 'very good' relationships.

The key remains regular communication, with the highest satisfaction reports coming from teams that meet regularly - formally once a week (89% good or very good) or once a month (85% good or very good) as well as informally.

Quality of operational relationships between the public sector and private sector contact management tearms

Quality of operational relationships between the public sector and private sector contact management teams and length of service of contact manager

Quality of operational relationships between the public sector and private sector contact management teams and frequency of formal meetings

' The key remains regular communication, with the highest satisfaction reports coming from teams that meet regularly '