We have pleasure in submitting our report summarising the results of our review into the status of behaviours, relationships and disputes across the PFI sector, together with our recommendations for how to improve them moving forward.
We have endeavoured to keep this report short and to the point. We are satisfied that there are improvements that all parties involved in the operation of PFI Contracts can make to their behaviours, particularly in the context of their approaches to contract management and associated disputes. It is clear to us that without such improvements being made, there is a real risk that the prevalence of major disputes will only increase and, ultimately, become commonplace across the PFI industry. Avoiding such an outcome is, in our view, in the public interest. A particular concern for us is to ensure that the manner in which PFI Contracts are managed cannot have a negative impact on the wellbeing of those individuals that are either working in PFI facilities or using them. It is against this backdrop that we have made a number of recommendations, which we accordingly submit for consideration by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority.
We could not have undertaken our review without the help and support of all of the public and private sector stakeholders across the PFI industry that so generously gave up time in their busy schedules. We would like to record our appreciation and thanks for their willingness to share their own experiences with us in such an honest, unvarnished and, often, heartfelt manner.
Lastly, whilst this report reflects our engagement with a large number of public and private stakeholders across the PFI industry and will no doubt mirror (and in some cases challenge) the views of many of those and other stakeholders across the PFI industry, this is an independent report and responsibility for any errors or omissions sits with us alone.