RICS encouraged by Chancellor's PFI plans but will push for further reform

The RICS is hatching a plan to reform the PFI, despite Gordon Brown announcing his own overhaul of the initiative last week.

While the RICS welcomed the Chancellor's plans, it believes they do not go far enough.

The RICS is working with the National School for Government, an arm of the Cabinet Office, on a study of how PFI practices could be improved.

Ed Badke, director of construction and the built environment at the RICS, said the two organisations would talk to PFI clients and consultants over the summer, with a view to publishing a report in the autumn.

Badke said: "We plan to work out with a group of diverse individuals what the priorities are and come up with practical solutions."

In last week's budget report the Treasury backed PFI as a valid method of funding projects, ending speculation that it could be scrapped. The government outlined plans to improve PFI practices by promoting the education of clients, bringing design into projects earlier and making contracts more transparent.

Badke said: "We are quite encouraged that PFI remains a central component of services delivery. There has been a lot of uncertainty regarding projects getting delayed but this now draws a line in the sand." He added that he supported the reform plans. However, Badke said the RICS would be pushing for further improvements in three key areas: Bid costs, life cycle costing and the education of clients, consultants and consortia.

Bidders could be reimbursed, either in part, or in whole, or there could be more collaboration

Ed Badke, RICS

The RICS has also set out its views on the problems with PFI in a report called Quantifying Quality. Badke said that the RICS was still weighing up different solutions.

For example, while it believes the costs of bidding for PFI work are too high it has yet to come up with a definitive answer to the issue. "Bidders could be reimbursed, either in part, or in whole, or there could be more collaboration amongst the bid team and more reliance on cost benchmarks as opposed to finite costs."

The Cabinet Office launched the National School for Government in June 2005 to "increase professionalism and improve efficiency" in the civil service.

Total PFI pipeline over the next five years is around 200 projects worth about £26bn, according to the treasury.

Download the RICS report, Quantifying Quality - PFI and the delivery of public services at www.rics.org/pfi