3.5 The market testing process has not always gone smoothly. The private sector did not bid for Brixton with Group 4 reporting that they saw limited opportunities to make an impact with the existing public sector staff. An Area Manager commented to us that Brixton was now improving under a new Governor but he thought that the market test had distracted the Prison Service from addressing the prison's underlying problems, meaning that its rate of improvement was slower than it should have been.
3.6 Although market testing has brought downward pressure on costs, there are concerns that bids may have been too low for the winning bidder to meet their contractual obligations. In particular, the compliance team26 at Manchester felt the recent SLA had been costed too tightly. They considered that a rigorous monitoring of the contract would lead to the equivalent of financial deductions and a failure to meet KPTs. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons has also expressed concerns regarding the staffing numbers at Manchester.
3.7 Market testing has now been replaced by performance testing whereby poorly performing prisons are publicly identified and given six months in which to improve their performance and identify an action plan for the future. They are then operated under a SLA if the Commissioner for Correctional Services accepts the proposals in the action plan. A failure to improve means the prison faces closure or being contracted out to the private sector.
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26 The team who monitor a prison's performance against its contract.