8. As indicated above, the London Underground PPP bids were compared with a public sector comparator before the contracts were signed.
9. Subsequent performance of the infracos can be assessed against alternative procurement models through the external benchmarking. The Metronet infracos have been transferred back to TfL ownership, following their entering administration in July 2007, and integrated with London Underground. However, it is too early to make a robust assessment of the comparative performance of infracos under the different regimes. There are three main reasons for this:
- transitional changes designed to remove inefficiencies are still not fully complete;
- financial systems are being integrated with London Underground in order to produce robust cost information; and
- Metronet costs have not yet been subject to any detailed independent review.2
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2 Although the PPP Agreements remain in place, London Underground has made it clear that it does not intend to refer matters relating to Metronet activities to me for review. However, I intend to ask the independent reporters appointed by me (currently KPMG and Lloyds Register Rail) to review Metronet's Asset Management Plan for the next Review Period when available to assess its robustness as a comparator for Tube Lines.