2.13 Authorities told us that they found a benefit in the way investors actively manage the contracts. Properly resourced project companies are well placed to take immediate steps to enforce subcontracts and/or resolve operating problems that could give rise to payment deductions. Investors with a portfolio of projects can provide a greater level of shared resource than individual project budgets could provide.
2.14 The standard of service varies across projects. Our previous reports found that most authorities are satisfied with service delivery, but a significant minority are not. The latter point to the lack of fexibility and to high charges for small additional works.6 These issues can be driven by contract terms or by ineffective project company management, but standard contract terms do not permit increases in equity returns when pricing additional works. There was a similar response from 20 authorities we interviewed, or surveyed for this report, who answered our question on their level of satisfaction with service delivery. Fourteen respondents were generally satisfied, but six were not. There is no evidence that a change of shareholder adversely impacts service delivery.
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6 Making Changes in Operational PFI Projects, HC 205, 17 January 2008. The performance and management of hospital PFI contracts, HC 68, 17 June 2010.