8. Where poor behaviours have emerged, many in the private sector have stated that the intention of the public sector is unclear. We repeatedly heard private sector consultees question whether these behaviours were a genuine attempt to improve performance, or an attempt to maximise the level of Deductions that could be made against the Unitary Charge. The belief in the latter is reinforced in private sector opinion by two factors:
(a) Reliance on very technical and literal compliance being enforced, even where it is not operationally important to the public sector; and
(b) The emergence of consultants that are believed to operate on the basis of contingent fee arrangements that, in whole or part, are linked to the level of Deductions secured against the Unitary Charge.
9. The approach, as reported to us by some in the private sector, felt like an exercise in reducing cost, rather than a structured approach to driving performance up, with the net result being what was described as a spiral of decline in relationships, with money leaking 'out of the sides' of the PFI (ie money being spent on the cost of servicing disputes rather than remedying the issues). Lack of clarity on the end point is unhelpful and we make recommendations later in this report on contract management, to address this point. We also set out below the counter view that we heard from the public sector of significant frustration with issues not being addressed and how a disruption in normal relationships was sometimes needed in order to achieve purposeful engagement.