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HM Treasury News Release
157/98 25 September 1998
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STANDARDISATION OF TEMPLATES PAVE THE WAY
FOR NEW ERA IN PFIDEALS
A consultation document "Taskforce Guidance on Project
Agreements" is unveiled today by Adrian Montague, Chief
Executive of the Treasury's Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
Taskforce, following its ongoing work to establish sets of
standard or model PFI contract terms and conditions for a
range of sectors.
One of the cornerstone recommendations of last year's
independent review of the Private Finance Initiative by Sir
Malcolm Bates was that the Treasury's PFI Taskforce should
develop, in conjunction with departments and key private
sector contacts, established sets of standard of model
contract terms and conditions for a range of sectors where
possible. This document is the next step of the Taskforce's
work on the standardisation of clauses that has been
proceeding to a challenging but realistic timetable.
Speaking at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London
at the discussion workshops with the private sector, Adrian
Montague said:
"Parties involved in PFI from both the public and private
sectors have been crying out for standardisation of
contract documentation for some time, and this is one of
the major tasks we have undertaken since the Taskforce
was formed to address the issues in PFI identified by Sir
Malcolm Bates.
It sits nicely with other work we have undertaken to
improve the PFI project process which has aimed to reduce
the costs to the private sector of formulating bids and
to the public sector in assessing them. With the
standardisation of tender documents, legal and other
costs should be sharply reduced. There will hopefully
also be the knock on effect of subsequent project
documentation being easier to clarify in the light of
experience.
I see the Workshops this week as an ideal way of
discussing the key technical issues with interested
parties in an interactive environment. The Taskforce is
happy to receive any comments on the draft project
agreement guidance."
The Taskforce aims to make the final document ready as soon as
possible after the end October deadline for comments. It will
take account of a number of actual project agreements, but it
is not intended to impose template which may not always be
suitable for certain projects nor, on the private sector side,
stifle innovation or the opportunity to negotiate.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Following the publication of the outcome of the Bates
review of PFI (HMT Press Release 69/97), the Treasury
Taskforce has been active on all 29 recommendations,
nearly all of which have now been met.
2. The objective of the standardisation exercise is to
publish a document which:
- identifies areas of project agreements that can be
standardised and offers appropriate standard clauses of
inclusion in project agreements;
- is clear as to the scope for clients to depart from
standard clauses; and
- highlights issues in areas that are commonly
negotiated, the sensitivities involved and the solutions
that are normally reached
It does not aim to provide a complete standard PFI contract.
This is an unrealistic concept.
3. There are two discussion workshops at the QE II
Conference Centre in London today (one in the morning and
one in the afternoon). A limited number of places have
been allocated and the event is now fully booked.
4. Press enquiries should be addressed to Malcolm Graves on
0171 270 5192. Requests for non-media copies of the
draft guidance document to Kathryn Lewis on 0171 270
4842. For further details of the Treasury Taskforce
conference programme to Ken Brazier on 0171 270 34865.
5. This News Release is available on the internt at
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk