2.13 Between April and June 2018, the recovery group worked with the Trust to assess the other two options for completing the Midland Metropolitan, either by setting up a new PFI scheme (Option B) or by providing public financing (Option C). The recovery group's modelling found that there would be a small value-for-money advantage in a new PFI scheme. The Trust told us that in 2018 it made clear that it did not support this assessment as the Trust believed that a new PFI scheme's procurement would involve further delay and probable risk of failure. The Trust favoured public financing as the quickest way of completing the hospital after its preferred option of refinancing the existing PFI scheme was discounted.
2.14 The group conducted market research interviews with five financial services companies and five major construction firms to see if a new PFI would be possible. This concluded that potential private investors and construction firms would not accept any financial risk of a problem later arising from the work Carillion had already done. This made a PFI scheme or a fixed-price construction contract impractical, as it meant that the private sector would not accept the risk of building and maintaining the hospital.