Q131 Mr Bacon: Is GCHQ of the balance sheet?
Dr Pepper: It is on balance sheet.
Q132 Mr Bacon: On the government's balance sheet?
Dr Pepper: Yes.
Q133 Mr Jenkins: If at any time in the future IAS refinance additional funding for a deal, have we got a clause in the contract that says we get a percentage back?
Dr Pepper: We have. They cannot refinance without our agreement. If they choose to refinance they have to negotiate a clawback deal with us. We would not give agreement unless we had a good return.
Q134 Mr Bacon: You are aware of the guidelines laid down?
Dr Pepper: The Treasury guidelines of at least 50/50; we would not settle for anything worse than that.
Q135 Chairman: Finally, Sir, David, GCHQ is spending £1,247 million cash over 30 years. Your case this afternoon is that if at the outset you had known the full cost of this programme you would still have given permission for it to proceed, would you?
Sir David Omand: Yes.
Chairman: We will leave it there then. Thank you, gentlemen, for appearing before us. I think it has been a very well ordered inquiry. There are, of course, sensitivities surrounding this subject. I think the Committee was somewhat surprised to learn that when the original decisions were taken, apparently more people did not foresee the uniquely changing environment that you face in universal mobile phones and the internet, but there we are. We recognise that you are in a uniquely challenging environment and this Committee, and the House as a whole, is very grateful to you and your staff for what you do to protect our freedom in a very dangerous world. I am sure that other Members of the Committee would want me to pass on their thanks to you and to your staff for the work that you do. I hope that you feel that we have conducted ourselves this afternoon in an orderly fashion, that while we can probe you on the cost of the PFI deal, we have not in any way embarrassed you or the very sensitive field that you work in. Thank you.
Excerpt from Review of large public procurement in the UK, Report by Mott McDonald
The optimism bias values in the Table below represent the average optimism bias levels for each of the project types studied.