We recommend that DET and Treasury adopt a number of measures to further improve the potential of the New Schools Privately Financed Project to offer value for money:
■ DET should consider applying elements of the PFP approach (including risk allocation, effective project management and an enhanced focus on quality of service) to its other projects - such as the refurbishment of existing schools - particularly where major new works are envisaged (section 2.3)
■ DET's school planning processes should be improved to provide a greater certainty of requirements when entering a PFP contract (section 2.6)
■ Treasury and DET need to disclose more complete contract documents relating to the New Schools Privately Financed Project, as is the practice in Victoria and as recommended by the Richmond report (section 3.2)
■ DET needs to use the information and method of the public sector comparator, appropriately updated or modified, to assist in accurately comparing the costs, benefits and risks of different approaches (section 3.5)
■ DET needs to expedite completion of the Contract Administration Manual. The Manual also needs to be regularly reviewed and updated during the 30 year life of the New Schools Privately Financed Project (section 4.6)
■ DET and Treasury need to ensure that the cross-agency Project Management Steering Committee can oversight and report on whether the New Schools Privately Financed Project continues to offer value for money (section 4.6)
■ DET needs to work with Treasury to design an appropriate evaluation process to review whether the project continues to provide value for money (section 4.6)
■ Treasury needs to update and expand its Guidelines for Privately Financed Project in order to continue to ensure a consistent, transparent and accountable approach to PFPs in NSW (section 4.6).