News on the Contract Journal web today reports that Liverpool BSF (Building Schools for the Future) is to take a PPP route rather than PFI

I recall this debate taking place at a previous LBPC event on the Blackburn area BSF, which as we now know took the PFI route.  The concern amongst LBPC members was that a PFI route was only for the bigger players in the industry and smaller organisations will loose out on local school work.  Time will tell on that one.

The Contract Journal web article cites two quotes from Liverpool BSF on their chosen route,

“We have already built a
partnership with the private sector for ICT and design – clearly that
narrows the scope for the potential of a PFI deal. It also allows us to
start delivering the programme about a year earlier than if we had gone
down the conventional route.”

and

a PFI deal would have been a “bureaucratic
nightmare” involving “seven sets of lawyers representing seven
different bodies from different schools”.

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