A concern is raised about aspects of public sector departmental oversight, e.g. where PPP working committees (PT14; PF09) could be more supportive of the contract management function (PF07). In order to obtain better VfM outcomes, contract management teams should be provided with adequate resources, such as increased funding to employ suitably qualified staff who, in addition to managing routine contract management functions, have the ability to respond appropriately to strategic risks and opportunities (PT03). Not only is this an intra-departmental concern for the public partner with respect to providing the right level of funding for its contract management teams, it also extends to commitment and support from treasury and finance departments that approve agency budget allocations. In discussing public partner under-resourcing, PF04 implicitly points to a possible source of power imbalance between PPP partners:
'We put in a lot of resources into doing the deal and you know that the private [partner] in the operational phase has its lawyers, its accountants and it is very conscious of its cost structures and all that, and we're trying to manage with relatively cheap junior staff and without lawyers and accountants backing you up... [we cannot afford those types of] resources.'
In contrast, PT10 offers a different perspective:
'In the first year of operations, the [payment] commitment was 100 million dollars to the private partner for service, for maintenance and for the assets being delivered. We should be managing that with quality resources and we should have funding for the right personnel to do it.'
Several interviewees (PF03; PF04; PT05; PF08; PF07) emphasise that Australian departments of treasury and finance ought to engage more closely with, and provide better levels of support and funding to, host departments (i.e. the 'nominal' client) for contract management. Reality might dictate that choices are made in terms of budget priorities, but if genuine VfM outcomes are to be achieved, resources must be allocated to PPP projects that will increase the likelihood that services will be delivered as intended and that expectations, as set out in business cases, are met. The other side of this coin is that public departments that manage PPPs have a responsibility to relay accurate information to the relevant treasury and finance departments in order to improve informed decisionmaking for future projects (PT05).