Don't get too carried away with PFIs too soon, says NAO

The government shouldn't get carried away too soon with PFIs, according to the National Audit Office's (NAO) head of PFI development David Finlay.

Speaking at the Office of Government Commerce's Achieving Excellence in  Construction - Building on Success conference in London, Finlay said that although the NAO's recent PFI: Construction Performance report confirmed 'deliverability', the flexibility of contractors was critical to PFI success.

"We have shown that the contracts can be delivered on time and on budget but the real crunch will come when hospitals and schools want to change their function within a building," he said. "That is when contractors will have to be at the top of their game to move with the changes which could include new facilities for new services, technology and possible changes on room dimensions."

Finlay added that the coming years "would be very interesting" now that PFIs have moved on from the honeymoon stage.

The NAO report, published on 5 February, showed that only 22% of public building projects had exceeded costs with 24% running late. Only 9% had run over two months late.

Figures from a similar report in 1999 revealed that 73% of PFI projects had burst the budget, with 70% delivered late.