Study Design

3  In undertaking our examination of Laganside Courts, we employed a technique known as Issue Analysis to determine a detailed approach to the study. We established a series of high level audit questions that we considered it would be necessary to answer in order to assess, within our overall analytical framework, whether the Northern Ireland Court Service obtained a good PFI deal. For each of the top-level questions, we developed subsidiary sets of questions linked logically to the top level question and directed our evidence collection and analysis accordingly.

4  The top level issues that we addressed for this project were:

  Did the Service establish a clear need for this project and assess whether PFI was the most appropriate method of procurement?

  Did the Service manage the procurement effectively?

  How did the Service ensure that the project represented value for money?

  How is the deal operating in practice now that the building is complete?

The National Audit Office's analytical framework