PF01 believes that, as soon as a contract is signed between the public and private partners, there may be an 'uphill battle' for the public partner to maintain its intended value objectives for the agreement. The attainment of VfM, according to PF01, is dependent upon the quality of the individuals involved in discharging their contract management responsibilities, defined as the ability to interrogate, question and push-back against the commercially-driven aims of the private partner. Thus, attempting to improve expected VfM outcomes during the operating phase may be just as challenging, since cooperation between the public and private partners may depend upon the extent to which change will benefit each partner, the motivation of the public partner to revisit value propositions over time, or the capability and resourcing of both partners to manage new requirements. Moreover, PT06 questions the rationale for seeking VfM enhancements during the operating phase over and above what is contracted for, and comments that, assuming the private partner is meeting all of the project KPIs, it is not contractually required to do anything more unless it wishes to do so.
Generally speaking, the interviewees who are inclined to adopt a give and take approach to operational management of PPPs (PF03; PT10; RK09; RK05; PT11; PF14; PF06; PF07; PF10) emphasise the significance of partners 'working together' to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes (PF06), particularly when there is something in the contract that cannot be easily enforced e.g. loosely worded KPIs that are subject to different interpretations. In such circumstances, PF07 suggests that the best course of action may be to take a co-operative, solutions-orientated approach; an approach that engenders 'commercial fairness' and mutual gain rather than trying to force an outcome where one party benefits at the other's expense (PF10). Working together in this way may lead to issues being resolved more easily and flexibly (PT11) without the need for formal dispute resolution clauses in concession agreements to be enacted. As PT10 explains:
'In this department, it's traditionally been that the contract is important but it's only used as a last resort. We're interested in the 25-30 year partnership element - that's what the public sector client tends to go into these for…strategic relationships. We're looking for a long-term partner for long-term service delivery.'