8.7 As set out in Chapter 5, the Government recognises that procurement skills are an important factor in securing value for money in public procurement. Better procurement skills lead to lower transaction costs, better value for money in projects procured, and faster delivery of investment to public services. In PFI in particular, improved procurement skills:
• enable the public sector to maximise the benefits available in the procurement process by effectively conducting the options appraisal necessary both to determine whether the PFI route is value for money, and to secure best value from PFI bidders taking into account the whole-of-life benefits and the quality of assets and services that different PFI bids may offer;
• improve value for money, by reducing delays and lowering procurement costs for the public sector and actively managing the specialist advisers, such as technical, financial and legal advisors necessary for PFI;
• secure value for money from contract negotiations, achieving the Government's aims in risk sharing, and ensuring a smooth and timely procurement process; and
• should create an environment that encourages the private sector to bid for PFI projects, improving competition and delivering a stronger PFI market.
8.8 In order to ensure that these benefits are secured, the Government believes it is important to address past difficulties in providing effective procurement expertise to all procurement projects. In particular the Government is determined to ensure:
• that procurement skills in the public sector are highly valued, and that where
they have been built up they are maintained and utilised;
• that procurement expertise is delivered to the frontline to help procuring authorities secure the best deal for their money; and
• that where best practice in procurement is identified, it is effectively spread across the public sector, with the Government acting in a coordinated fashion securing the benefits that flow from that spread.
8.9 The remainder of this chapter details measures the Government will take in the future to address these issues. These measures will help spread the necessary expertise and provide expert support to make accurate value for money judgments and ensure a smoothly running PFI process. They will enable investment to remain locally controlled and locally accountable, while helping authorities improve the value for money they obtain in PFI projects.