House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts 2001, Managing the relationship to secure a successful partnerships in PFI projects, forty-second report of session 2001-02

•  better evaluation of PFI projects in progress is needed;

•  post-implementation reviews are particularly important for projects where perceived value for money had declined since contract award;

•  twenty-three per cent of authorities surveyed considered there had been a decline in value for money in PFI projects after contract letting; only half of these had benchmarking and open book accounting;

•  a low proportion of contracts provided the authority with a share in refinancing gains;

•  concerns had been raised about the high charges for additional services;

•  fifty-eight per cent of authorities made performance deductions; the report concludes that many authorities are therefore not getting the services they require;

•  staff continuity is desirable for continuity of knowledge;

•  there are still gaps in the guidance and training about managing PFI projects as distinct from how to negotiate them at the outset; and

•  there are significant shortcomings in authorities' training in contract management.