10 Eight years on the Department has not achieved value for money on the contract so far, as it has not realised all the benefits available from the deal. Nor will it achieve value for money over the 20 years of the deal unless it strengthens its management of the contract. The property vacation provisions are key to the value of the contract but the Department had no long-term strategy for using them, and has not obtained all the savings available. It now has plans to vacate a significant number of buildings up to 2011, but it does not yet have an agreed way forward with Mapeley, or clarity about how the Mapeley Group would manage the financial effects, or the costs it will incur on the vacations and the likely funding available. To devise plans for the remainder of the contract that achieve value for money, the Department should deploy relevant commercial and legal expertise to obtain a full understanding of Mapeley's financial position and the profitability of the contract, and for any proposals that would alter the terms of the deal, the potential costs, benefits and liabilities for each party.
11 The Department considers that this conclusion does not fully recognise the value it has obtained from the contract since the merger of the two departments in 2005.