Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Accepted
IPA established PFI Centre of Excellence and published extensive contract management guidance.
Conclusion
In 2020, the IPA set up the PFI Centre of Excellence to provide expert support and advice to contracting authorities, and in the same year established the PFI Contract Management Capability Programme to support contracting authorities managing PFI contracts through the operational and expiry phases.66 In 2022, the IPA further published practical guidance for contracting authorities on managing PFI expiry and service transition. Additionally, in 2023, IPA published A Guide to PFI Expiry Health Checks to support contracting authorities in assessing their readiness for PFI expiry. Further guidance—PFI Asset Condition Playbook—was released in March 2025.67
Government Response Summary
The government confirms NISTA's PFI Contract Management Programme provides ongoing support for PFI contract management, expiry, and asset condition, and commits to publishing new contract and performance management guidance later in 2025.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 6.2 NISTA, formerly IPA, set up a PFI Contract Management Programme in 2020 to support contracting authorities managing their PFI projects. NISTA’s Contract Management Programme supports authorities in a number of ways, including: • Expiry: NISTA supports contracting authorities with projects approaching expiry through training, guidance, direct advice and support and assurance. Working alongside departments, NISTA will engage with contracting authorities around seven years from expiry to set out all the expiry-related resources available and will provide an early support package to help ‘kick-start’ expiry planning. • Asset Condition: Following on from the publication of the Asset Condition Playbook, NISTA will undertake surveys across a wide-ranging assets which will provide data to better understand the assets in the PFI legacy portfolio and drive improvement in asset condition, It also gives NISTA the opportunity to improve central support for public bodies in assessing the state of their privately financed assets. • Contract Management Support: NISTA is expanding its engagement across the legacy PFI portfolio through the introduction of contract management support reviews for operational projects. NISTA is also broadening the range of skills in its pool of PFI experts to ensure that it can provide direct support to public bodies across a range of disciplines, including technical, commercial and financial. • New Guidance: NISTA will be publishing contract and performance management guidance later in 2025 to help contracting authorities improve their management of the contract and performance. This will address prior concerns raised by the NAO and the Committee and, in turn, strengthen authority’s abilities to enforce contract terms including on asset condition.