Should soft services continue to be included within the contractual model alongside the delivery and finance of the public facility?

As discussed in Q1, SFT is not promoting the inclusion of soft services within contracts for asset delivery. Many contracts where such services have been included in the past have included benchmarking and / or market testing provisions and retention of pensions and or employment cost risks meaning that there is no cost certainty over the contract period. It is also the case that these services may well see a higher impact on their delivery from changes in law / standards or the detailed use of the facility. Conversely, it has been the case that some contracts including soft facilities management have brought significant innovation, for example the robotic services at the Forth Valley Royal Hospital and it has to be recognised that some innovation may be lost through this approach.

On balance, and in particular in terms of financeability and flexibility, SFT believe that the benefit of excluding soft services outweighs any benefit of including them.