3. FINDINGS
This section sets out the main findings of the research as related to the scope of work set in Section 2.1, and are derived from the analysis of the data, which is provided in Appendices D and E, collected from the research participants and project documentation. The findings presented below are illustrated with the authors’ observations in the workshops.
3.1 The PPP projects have delivered on the service promised Finding 1 Service providers (95 per cent) stated that their PPP project has delivered on the service promised by the relevant state government and delivery agency.
service change. This was measured by comparison of governments’ original estimate of the price of the service compared to the price offered by the winning consortium. Appendix D details the savings claimed for the various case study projects. The contract managers and the project documentation also confirmed that it was common for abatements to be applied if services were not received in accordance with the agreement. In addition to the straightforward assessment of tangible physical scale or contract value commitments, the study also appraised the perceptions of service providers and contract managers. Participants were tested to see whether their level of satisfaction with the services of the PPP model were as promised. As Figure 4 shows the overall satisfaction tends toward participants being highly satisfied.22 This aligns with the commitment of ‘enhanced services’ through the PPP model. Figure 4: Perceived satisfaction level of social PPP projects23
Both service provider representatives and governmental contract management staff, were assessed as to whether their PPP project has delivered on the project commitments, through a series of questionnaires and workshops. The specific service commitments were made by way of business cases, key media releases, major project documentation and other relevant official communications such as Auditor General Reports. The service commitments are paraphrased in Appendix D. While commitments were specific to each project, there was constancy regarding quality of the facilities, high service standards, whole-of-life expertise, ‘value for money’ and professional facilities management. While some commitments were contractually measurable, others were assessed by service provider’s perceived satisfaction level. Many of the commitments made related to physical scale of the project, such as the minimum number of hospital beds or capacity of a convention centre and such obligations were reported to have been always fulfilled by PPP Co. Indeed, the acceptance of these deliverables formed the basis of commercial acceptance of the project, and many projects received industry recognition through a range of awards. Contract managers consistently advised that pricing and risk allocations remained as per the original agreements, and that the private sector had not sought variations against the original agreement unless government requested a modification or
14
Not satisfied
Partially not satisfied
9%
Partially satisfied
Satisfied
33%
58%
Highly satisfied 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Participants (%)
The service providers overwhelming reported that their PPP project has achieved the service and consequent benefit outcomes promised. Contract managers also reported that PPP projects had delivered on the service commitments made by government and others at the stage of project announcement and during establishment. A common theme was that the PPP projects are working very well, and on balance were providing superior service outcomes for the service providers and their client community. Contract managers made references to issues (“rough edges”) that needed on-going management of the contract relationship to ensure optimal delivery of services by the FM operator. However, these same contract managers reported their PPP projects were delivering to government a good deal and in
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