Conclusion 6

We have been critical of the transactional approach the Government tends to adopt in its commercial relationships, at the expense of the quality of personal relationships and trust between contracting parties. An exclusive focus on minimising costs and aggressively attempting to offload risk has neither yielded value for money for taxpayers nor resulted in genuine risk mitigation. There are clearly benefits to a more collaborative approach. However, the circumstances under which this can take place and those where the benefits of a more conventional, transactional approach might be more appropriate are not yet clear to us. This is an issue that, should our successor Committee return to the subject of major projects, it could usefully inquire further.