Our Services Across The Contract Management Cycle

We operate and have experience across all stages of the “Contract Management Cycle”. Our team has a skill set, capability and experience which covers the various disciplines required to provide holistic support across the financial, technical, legal and commercial aspects of the Contract Management and PFI Cycles.

Please explore this page to learn more about our capabilities or contact us to discuss your requirements.

Establishment of, and ongoing effectiveness of the Contract Management function

We can provide you with tailored support to either establish, develop or run an informed and intelligent contract management function in order to maximise the intended benefits and original vision of the your PFI. Our core team have previously been embedded directly into internal contract management teams and have the knowledge and experience to advise on all aspects of effective PFI contract management, including:

  • Establishment of internal client capability/knowledge transfer, including through the development of “plain english”/user guides;

  • Organisation design;

  • Payment mechanism implementation;

  • Operational processes, including those associated with internal review and challenge of the contract performance reporting mechanisms;

  • Bespoke training.

Contract Change and Variation

Contract Change performed within PFIs is often done on a non-competitive basis. Our core team have experience on advising on all areas of variation and variation management and have been directly involved with the scoping, negotiation and agreement of over 1,000 variations. Our experience and capabilities include:

  • Development and agreement of variation protocols and principles;

  • Contractual interpretation and implementation of change control provisions;

  • Non-competitive negotiations;

  • Financial assessment and modelling of variation costs;

  • Contractualisation and development of contractual change documentation associated with change;

  • Options analysis and business case support.

Benchmarking and Market Testing

The majority of PFIs in operation today have a combination of benchmarking and/or market testing in order to ensure the ongoing cost effectiveness of certain specified soft and/or hard FM services. We have experience in all areas of the benchmarking/market testing process, including:

  • Contractual interpretation and implementation of benchmarking/market testing provisions;

  • Scoping and negotiation/commercial strategy;

  • Consideration of affordability issues;

  • Review and negotiation;

  • Output specification review;

  • Contract change and implementation.

Operational Review

Our team have the ability and knowledge to advise and support on a wide and comprehensive range of operational PFI matters. It’s what each of our core team has done on an uninterrupted basis for the past 13 years. We also have access to a wider pool of industry specialists who we can utilise or introduce into a project where additional technical support is required. Example of our previous experience and our capabilities include:

  • Review of implementation and interpretation of key contractual clauses (including; insurance cost share, implementation of the payment mechanism, energy benchmarking/operative provisions, indemnity/insurance provisions)

  • Significant contractual events;

  • Overall project objectives and value;

  • Saving identification and realisation.

Disagreement (and dispute)

We can assist you with commercial and financial advise in times of contract disagreement. Whilst the majority of disagreement can (and should) reach a negotiated agreement/settlement, there are times when operation of the formal contract dispute mechanisms are unavailable. Our core team have led on and been involved in numerous matters of disagreement and dispute ranging from matters of simple contract interpretation to multi-million formal disputes. Our capabilities include:

  • Contractual interpretation and application;

  • Assessment and modelling of financial implications and commercial implications of disagreement;

  • Development and implementation of negotiation strategy;

  • Expert witness reports.

PFI Financial Healthcheck

We have developed a specific offering to provide a cost effective validation that payments made under a PFI are correct, appropriate and that the contract is being managed effectively and with the use of best practice methodologies. More information on our PFI Financial Healthcheck offering can be found here.

Contract End, Transition and Handback

It is recommended that Authorities begin planning for contract expiry 7 years prior contract end. The end of a contract and the associated handback of the PFI asset and transition into replacement structures of asset maintenance and service provision is a considerable undertaking. We can support Authorities planning for and undertaking contract expiry in the following areas:

  • Option appraisal and evaluation;

  • Development and implementation of exit plan and strategy and associated negotiation strategy with PFI stakeholders;

  • Management of the activities associated with asset condition and compliance in order to maximise value of the asset transferred;

  • Procurement strategy and implementation for replacement services.