On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 17:06:38 +0000, Paul Terry
wrote:

In message , Dave Arquati
writes

Shame. If public bodies believe they can provide a better value
service, then why shouldn't they bid... the government wanted
competition, I call that competition!

It may be competition but can it shown to be fair? If a bid was allowed
then in the bid evaluation process you would need to weight the public
sector bid to reflect the lack of risk transfer (see points made by Mr
Terry below). This is what happens with PFI contract evaluation and I
say that with a decent amount of experience of the process.

The trouble is, if it all goes horribly wrong, there are no shareholders
to demand resignations, no risk of bankruptcy, administration or
liquidation - the public body just extracts more money from the public
and carries on as usual.

I would agree that is certainly the theoretical position concerning
where the risk sits. However there is ample experience from the National
Rail industry that the public purse usually has to make some
contribution as well when private companies suffer "a problem".
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!