4.6.1 A standard requirement of the PFI process is the appointment of a consultant to act in the role of what is referred to as the Independent Certifier or Independent Tester. The Independent Certifier is required to act independently between the public sector client and the private sector consortium in determining when the consortium has achieved full compliance with the contractual requirements and then certifying that that the facilities are completed and available for use.
4.6.2 It should be noted that this certification role is completely different to and separate from that undertaken by the Building Standards Department of the City of Edinburgh Council, which is responsible for implementing the statutory process of building control. This subject will be addressed in Section 10 of this Report.
4.6.3 Mouchel (previously Mouchel Parkman), a large international multi-disciplinary consultancy with its UK headquarters in Woking was appointed to act as Independent Certifier for the 13 projects undertaken as Phase 1 of PPP1. This work was undertaken from their Edinburgh office. This company was acquired by the Kier Group in April 2015 and subsequently acquired from the Kier Group by WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff in October 2016.
4.6.4 Ove Arup and Partners Scotland Limited ("Arup (Scotland)"), also part of a large multi-disciplinary consultancy with its UK headquarters in London, was appointed to act as Independent Certifier for the four projects undertaken as Phase 2 of PPP1. It also did so through its Edinburgh office.
4.6.5 The appointments for both Independent Certifiers were joint appointments between the respective companies providing the Independent Certifier services and ESP, the City of Edinburgh Council and The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland.