Understanding the Public Services Industy

Public Services Industry Review
Evaluation of the National Programme for Third Sector Commissioning: Baseline Report:
IDeA: February 2008
The Baseline Report is the first report from the outcome evaluation of the National
Programme for Third Sector Commissioning. The baseline research centred on quantitative
surveys of third sector organisations (TSOs) and of commissioning organisations. The
research explored current commissioning practices and attitudes to third sector involvement
in public sector commissioning.
•
•
•
The research generally reflected, amongst other things, an openness amongst
commissioners to work with the third sector, and a recognition that the third sector
could add value to commissioning.
There was a strong sense that commissioning organisations did not fully understand
the impact of commissioning on TSOs, or the barriers to involvement that existed.
The research also showed that skills and understanding need to be increased both
in the third sector and in the public sector if third sector organisations are going to
become more involved in commissioning.
Local Government National Report: Audit Scotland: January 2008
This report discusses the importance of Strategic service-delivery partnerships (long-term
public private partnerships (PPPs) through which contractors deliver a service or range of
services for councils). These partnerships are designed to improve value for money without
some of the drawbacks associated with traditional contracting.
Councils considered in the report expected to achieve cost savings of between 1 and 15 per
cent for services delivered through SSPs and most secured many (and in some cases more)
of the benefits that they expected.
Improving the PFI tendering process – National Audit Office 5 March 2007
This paper provides guidance on how to manage the tendering process within a PFI project.
It was written as a result of concerns expressed by the Committee of Public Accounts in
2003 that the tendering of PFI projects did not follow good practice and was not handled
with sufficient skill by the public sector, incurring high costs and risking value for money.
The study:
•
•
•
•
covered the period 2004 to 2006 and included 49 projects with a combined capital
value of just under £8 billion
found that one in three projects that closed between 2004 and 2006 had two detailed
bids competing for the business compared with one in six projects prior to 2004.
commented on the length of the tendering process, change in value of the PFI contract
during the preferred bidder stage, proportion of money spent on advisors, passing on
procurement skills
suggested ways for addressing the risk of PFI deals not receiving enough developed
bids for viable competition and to reduce the length and cost of tendering.
100