Departments and authorities should:
a. Adopt a spend-to-save approach by devoting skilled resources to actively managing their operational contracts. This is good practice and will help identify opportunities for savings.
b. Maintain up-to-date corporate records and knowledge of their contracts to support effective contract management.
c. Agree all contract changes in writing to give certainty and clarity to all parties.
d. Seek partnerships with other public sector bodies that have successfully identified and agreed savings, if they lack expertise themselves.
Departments and the Treasury should:
e. Be proactive in identifying those local contracting authorities that have the potential to secure savings and offer them the support they need to bring savings to fruition. This could include facilitating mentoring relationships between authorities with a track record of agreeing savings and those with weaker expertise in this area.
The Treasury should:
f. Continue agreeing the potential for savings with individual departments, to encourage them to identify savings on the many contracts yet to report any savings.
g. Ensure transparency in public reporting of operational PFI-related savings. When publicly reporting progress in securing savings, the Treasury should:
• make clear the total amount of savings which have been realised to date and the amount of savings which are forecast;
• require departments to identify those savings which have already been reported elsewhere and then ensure that this is reflected in the numbers which the Treasury makes public; and
• report any instances where signed savings which have been previously reported have materially reduced in value.
h. Coordinate the production and dissemination of case studies which set out good practice in the identification and negotiation of savings.