8.26 To improve both the quality of the public sector client, and its co-ordination across a sector, the Government is introducing a range of new procurement models that can increase the involvement of PFI experts in some clearly defined areas of the public sector's procurement process, from the earliest stages through to the operational phase of projects, where there is benefit in bundling projects together and ensuring that the timing of projects maximises market interest. These models are designed to bring all the necessary expertise and experience to locally procured PFI projects, providing procuring authorities with the support they need to obtain value for money, while maintaining local control and local accountability in the delivery of public services and public service investment. They are therefore likely to be most applicable where small projects can be grouped together, and there is no obvious centralised procuring authority.
8.27 To obtain the full value for money benefits of PFI procurement, public services need to be able to call upon experience and expertise in managing the PFI process and making value for money appraisals. Making these specialist skills available to the local providers of public services, who are best placed to determine what investment is actually needed but not necessarily procurement specialists, is an ongoing priority which these new methods will help to deliver.
8.28 These new models of PFI delivery will help to provide that procurement expertise, supporting the local public sector in its own assessment and delivery of local public service investment needs. Responsibility for and control of the planning and delivery of local public services and local investment remains with the local manager, who will have improving access to the support and expertise needed to get the most out of that investment.
8.29 These models involve the establishment of public sector procurement bodies specialising in structuring and delivery of PFI projects, which will work with local public sector managers in certain suitable areas to procure such projects, to increase the quality of specifications and reduce delays in the process. These procurement vehicles can then support local procuring authorities in particular markets.
8.30 By increasing the public sector's ability to procure quickly robust and effective PFI projects, these supporting vehicles will also allow the introduction of PFI into new areas such as those proposed for further consideration in Chapter 7, as well as offer a way to increase the number of PFI projects in existing areas. It should also provide the private sector with the confidence to invest in the additional capacity necessary to facilitate the Government's plans to increase investment in new public sector infrastructure. Four different examples of how this approach will work in practice are set out below.