Fife schools delay angers PFI bidders

Fife's second PFI schools deal is facing delays after Fife Council's eleventh hour decision to ask all three bidders for Best And Final Offers (BAFOs).

Under the original timetable the council was set to choose a preferred bidder in December from a shortlist of Jarvis, Canmore (with Balfour Beatty) and Emblem Schools (Miller). But a council spokeswoman told CJ the bids were so close the council had been forced to ask for BAFOs from all three.

She said: "Hopefully we will choose a preferred bidder by mid-March. We also have to consider the impact of a change of site for the new school at Levin, after ground surveys deemed the original site unsuitable."

When the scheme was first launched, councillor Helen Law, chair of the council's Childrens' Services Committee, said: "We are going into this second project with a lot more knowledge based on the first deal for Queen Anne High School, Beath High School and the primary for Anstruther.

"We will take this expertise through all of our negotiations and deliver even more new schools for Fife," she said.

But bidders for the £53m contract say that the council has failed to learn its lesson.

One source said: "This is typical of Fife Council. It's afraid to make a decision about anything. It did the same on its first schools PFI, constantly asking for variations. We should have known it would do this. This is going to cost us a whole pile of money."

Another source said: "It is unbelievable. Not only is the council going to BAFOs, but it's asking three bidders to do so. It promised to improve its performance after its first schools PFI fiasco, but it's obviously not happened."

Financial close was originally scheduled for February 2004; Fife Council now hopes to reach it by June 2004.