53 PFI delivery should improve with time as lessons are learnt, but LEAs need to make sure that it does happen, and not just on providers' terms. Some PFI schools visited told us that FM services were more responsive than those previously provided - but due more to client specification than innovation by PFI providers. But contract terms should not be so elaborate that the management time required to put arrangements in place and then monitor them outweighs the return in improved FM services.
54 Some providers interviewed said that, having learnt from early schemes, some issues will become heavier negotiating points in future procurements. Combined with the greater emphasis on design, changes to the standard terms, and new LEAs becoming involved, it may be unrealistic to expect significant reductions in procurement timescales. But LEAs could reduce the cost and length of the process by preparing better - for example, by providing better basic information to providers, such as existing inventories of equipment. But there is also scope for delivering improvement at the local level by improving the framework at the national level - and that is the subject of the next chapter.