1.32 Assessing where PFI could offer value for money is only part of the process in ensuring there is the delivery of quality public services. It is important that the public sector is able to manage the procurement process efficiently, intelligently and in a timely manner in order to maximise the benefits of PFI and other sorts of public procurement, and to be consistent with the need to secure value for money. A lasting step-change in the quality of public services in the UK can only be achieved if the public sector has the skill set necessary to translate increased public investment and facilities fit for modern public services.
1.33 The Government is therefore introducing measures that will help the public sector become a better client and harness the benefits that can be achieved by helping to coordinate public sector activity and be treated as an important client. These measures are detailed in Chapter 8.
1.34 The process of standardising PFI contracts helps spread best practice, improving PFI procurements across the public sector, and reduces the length and cost of PFI procurement. At the same time, the standard contracts maintain flexibility for an individual project to set its needs and requirements, while providing standard terms for those elements of PFI that are common to all procurement processes. To maximise these benefits, a new approach will be taken on the enforcement of standardised contracts by the Project Review Group and by HM Treasury in the future. To help with this process, HM Treasury has agreed with Partnerships UK that it will increase the resources it will make available to support the adoption of standardised contracts.
1.35 Alongside increasing procurement skills within the public sector, it is important to ensure that public sector managers have access to high quality advice. The Government is therefore proposing to put in place over the next 12 months a single information resource, accrediting specialist advisers who have demonstrated their expertise and the quality of their advice in PFI projects in fields such as law, commercial structuring and finance. By implementing this information resource and promoting its use by procuring authorities, the Government will be able to:
• ensure that the public sector is able to act like a single, important client for advice in PFI;
• benchmark the price and quality of advisers, based on evidence of their past expertise and performance, to help authorities secure the best advice and value for money from their advisers; and
• provide positive incentives for advisers to ensure that they give the best advice to Government, utilising their most skilled personnel and full resources, as the accreditation system will provide an effective means for the public sector to reward excellence.
1.36 The Government is also introducing new models of PFI delivery that should provide procurement expertise and support to the public sector in its own assessment and delivery of local public service investment needs. Bundling projects together offers the benefit of increasing the involvement of PFI experts in the procurement process from the earliest stages through to the operational phase of projects and ensures that the timing of projects maximises market interest. Another route is the establishment of public sector procurement bodies specialising in structuring and delivery of PFI projects, which work with local public sector managers to procure projects, to increase the quality of specifications and reduce delays in the process and the procurement burden on local managers. Chapter 8 gives a number of examples of where these models are now being pursued in practice.
1.37 Chapter 8 also outlines where the Government intends to carry out further research on the public sector's ability to identify and secure value for money in practice. In particular, the Government intends to examine the way in which PFI bids are evaluated, and the public sector's record in managing PFI contracts to ensure their flexibility in delivering the requirements of public services in practice.