Private finance initiative (or public private partnership) implementation processes and perception of value for money

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships among perceptions of implementation processes, implementation difficulties and value for money (VFM) in UK school private finance initiative (PFI) or public private partnership (PPP) contracts. The results suggest that implementation factors, such as effective PFI ‘consultation’, ‘contractual’, ‘monitoring and review’ processes have a significantly positive influence on perception of VFM. The results also suggest that difficulties involved in actually implementing PFI processes, such as ‘lack of transparency’, ‘performance measurement difficulties’, ‘cultural differences’ and ‘lack of authority’ have a significant and negative influence on perception of VFM. These implementation difficulties were also found to be inversely related with perception of the PFI implementation processes but the extent of these relationships varied.