2.1 We visited all 11 of the PFI projects that had undertaken a benchmarking/market test at the time of our study in summer 2006 (Figure 10 overleaf). During those visits we interviewed a total of 63 people (Appendix 1).
2.2 In general, authorities had engaged with their private sector partners to overcome the problems of ineffectual contract clauses and the then lack of guidance, to develop a plan to manage the process. For example:
■ At Darent Valley Hospital both the contractor and the Authority commented on the vagueness or sparseness of the benchmarking clauses. As a result, they worked together to generate a process from first principles.
■ At Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, the Trust used the opportunity to work with the project company, Octagon, to develop those clauses in the contract which required clarification.
In Appendix 3 we show the practical application of the value testing process and the PFI structure for two projects: the Sussex Partnership NHS Trust and the Defence Fixed Telecommunications Service.