Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Consultancy

What is the Private Finance Initiative?

The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is a way to fund public sector projects through private companies. It works by having the private company meet the initial costs of the project, instead of HM Government, local authority, or other public sector body. The private company then leases the project to the public sector body, which pays annual payments to the private company. PFI contracts can last over 25 years or more. Typical contracts are for:

• Schools
• Civic Offices
• Hospitals
• Leisure Centres
• Health Centres

How the private sector benefits: The private sector provides and is paid for services during the period of the contract by the public sector.

How the public sector benefits: The government does not have to lay out a large sum of money at once to fund a large project, so can pay for essential projects over many years.

Our Expertise

We are seeing PFIs now reach the end of their concession period and the parties reviewing the future of the underlying asset.

This may involve handback to the authority or a new arrangement with the provider where no such transfer is envisaged.

We can offer our consultancy services involving a comprehensive review of PFI contracts and setting out recommendations that can inform discussions with the PFI provider.

We can also offer handover services such as condition surveys, audit of FM services and more.

How we can help

• Full contract audit of the PFI provider obligations.
• Preparation of project handover plan.
• Advice on options to pay the PFI residual value at expiry (if applicable).
• Condition surveys to inform lifecycle maintenance obligations