8.1 Having assessed what procurement option offers the best value for money for the public sector in a particular case, and put in place a programme of PFI or conventional investment, the Government must ensure that the benefits of that investment are delivered as quickly and efficiently as possible without compromising the achievement of value for money gains.
8.2 The Government believes, and the analysis of PFI procurement reported in Chapter 4 demonstrates, that while investment is delivering significant benefits in practice, there is still a need to concentrate efforts in certain areas to secure maximum value for money for all types of procurement. In particular, the analysis suggests that there are two areas where further measures could increase overall value for money:
• procurement timescales. Putting in place the skills and processes necessary to reduce them will improve the swift delivery of the benefits of investment to public service users and reduce the costs of delay and long lead times; and
• procurement costs. The Government is committed to improving the value for money of all types of procurement by reducing transaction costs.
8.3 Following on from this analysis, there are a number of measures the Government can and has put in place to improve delivery and value for money in PFI particularly, such as the standardisation of contracts, making available procurement expertise through the Office of Goverment Commerce (OGC) and Partnerships UK and ensuring consistent project quality through the Project Review Group. Chapter 5 has already outlined the significant steps taken in this area, but the evidence and analysis suggests that more action can be taken on two fronts.
8.4 First, the Government needs to put in place policy initiatives and measures designed to make the public sector a better client in procurement across the board, and in PFI in particular. Measures outlined below are that the Government will:
• continue to prioritise improving the general procurement skills of the public sector to deliver value for money in investment;
• rigorously enforce the standardisation of PFI contracts across the public sector to reduce bid costs and ensure a consistent approach to risk sharing is maintained throughout the public sector;
• enhance the role of the Project Review Group in monitoring PFI procurement by local authorities; and
• increase the level of support provided through Parternships UK, in developing and supporting standardisation and enhancing procurement skills.
8.5 Second, there have been difficulties in the past in acting effectively as a client in a co-ordinated way, sharing experience and best practice and extracting the benefits that flow from acting as a single client to the private sector, while maintaining local autonomy and accountability. In this regard, the Government will:
• put in place an information resource accessible to all public authorities providing accreditation of public sector advisers to ensure the public sector appoints experienced and qualified advisers who have performed well on other procurements;
• create vehicles to co-ordinate procurement and provide expert support so that best practice is shared across the public sector, the public sector can control the flow of projects to market to maximise competition, the economies of scale and other benefits that can come from bundling projects and procurement expertise is injected into PFI investment projects undertaken at all levels; and
• promote the sharing of best practice and better harnessing of institutional memory across the public sector.
8.6 The improvement of delivery, procurement and other public sector skills is a continuing priority of the Government, and so this chapter outlines further areas of research on the Government's agenda to establish where improvements can be made in PFI. In particular, this future agenda will examine:
• how bid evaluation is carried out in practice in the public sector; and
• how the flexibility built into PFI contracts is delivering value for money in practice.