Private finance initiative
Financial close Project Name Capital cost Authority Sector
1998 National Physical Laboratory , Teddington £96m Department of Trade & Industry Central Government
2000 GCHQ New Accommodation , Cheltenham £330m Government Communications Headquarters Intelligence
2000 Ministry of Defence Main Building , London £531m Ministry of Defence Central Government
2000 HM Treasury Building , London £140m HM Treasury Central Government
2001 The STEPS Contract £370m Inland Revenue Central Government
2003 Skynet 5 £1.4bn Ministry of Defence Defence
2004 Colchester Garrison £540m British Army Defence
2006 Northwood Headquarters £150m British Army Defence
2006 Project Allenby Connaught £1.6bn British Army Defence
2008 Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft £2.7bn Royal Air Force Defence
2012 Streets Ahead , Sheffield £369m Sheffield City Council Local Government - Highway Maintenance
United Kingdom -- Examples of projects
There have been over 50 English hospitals procured under a PFI contract with capital cost exceeding £50 million : There have been some six Scottish hospitals procured under a PFI contract with capital cost exceeding £50 million : The following is a selection of major projects in other sectors procured under a PFI contract :
The private finance initiative (PFI) is a way of creating public-private partnerships (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Developed initially by the governments of Australia and the United Kingdom, and used extensively there and in Spain, PFI and its variants have now been adopted in many countries as part of the wider programme of privatisation and financialisation, and presented as a means for increasing accountability and efficiency for public spending. According to critics, PFI has been used simply to place a great amount of debt off-balance-sheet. PFI has been controversial in the UK; the National Audit Office felt in 2003 that it provided good value for money overall. However, in 2011 the Parliamentary Treasury Select Committee found that PFI should be brought on balance sheet. The Treasury should remove any perverse incentives unrelated to value for money by ensuring that PFI is not used to circumvent departmental budget limits. It should also ask the OBR to include PFI liabilities in future assessments of the fiscal rules.