PART ONE Introduction

This part of the report sets out the reasons for carrying out this study on PFI tendering, and provides the context of new procurement rules that came into force in January 2006.

1.1  The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) was launched in 1992. Since then successive governments have continued to negotiate projects that draw on private sector expertise, including the raising of finance, to provide services which had been provided directly by the public sector. In total, over 750 PFI deals have now been signed with a combined capital value of £55 billion.