As the Chancellor has repeatedly made clear, the Government is determined to press ahead rapidly with its plans for all PPP/PFI contracts to be renegotiated, which in turn puts pressure on both public sector bodies and their private sector partners to get up to speed with this process. Having built up considerable expertise through the renegotiation of major private sector service contracts, the Government is starting to test the same techniques on a number of PPP/PFI pilot projects. The plan is then to codify the lessons learned into a voluntary code, which the Government will strongly encourage the private sector to comply with.
This timely conference is being held at a time when the lessons from a number of pilot studies will be known, including the Queen's Hospital, Romford pilot study and the pilot studies that the MoD is working on - The Corsham Development, the MoD Headquarters Building and the Defence Sixth Form College. Infrastructure UK will also have developed its revised guidance incorporating the lessons from them. We are delighted that Adrian Kamellard, Contract Renegotiation Team Leader, Efficiency and Reform Group at the Cabinet Office, a senior speaker from Infrastructure UK and Andy Baker, Head of Private Finance Unit, Ministry of Defence will expand on the lessons that have been learned so far in renegotiating contracts across a range of government projects.
The programme has been designed to be highly practical, the focus being on how public sector bodies and their private sector partners can work together to achieve real cost savings without eroding either service quality or value for money. Topics covered will include:
- Lessons from the Queen's Hospital, Romford pilot study
- Lessons from the MoD's renegotiation pilot studies
- Infrastructure UK's revised guidance on contract renegotiations and progress towards a voluntary code
- Guidance on how local government organisations can work together to renegotiate contracts on a portfolio basis
- An analysis of how to ensure that changes made to PPP/PFI contracts during contract renegotiations represent value for money
Attendance at this timely conference will be invaluable for all those in the public and private sectors with responsibility for renegotiating PPP/PFI contracts, as well as their professional advisers.
Chairman
Edward Yescombe, Consultant, YCL Consulting
Speaker Panel
Andy Baker, Head of Private Finance Unit, Ministry of Defence
Stephen Colliston, Partner, Tods Murray LLP
Mark Courtneidge, Director, Aon Limited
Rob Fern, Private Finance Unit, Ministry of Defence
Shona Henderson, Corporate Finance Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Adrian Jones, Managing Partner, Public and Project Finance Team, MBIA UK Insurance Ltd
Adrian Kamellard, Contract Renegotiation Team Leader, Efficiency and Reform Group, Cabinet Office
Sean Latus, Senior Director, Infrastructure Team, Royal Bank of Scotland
Glenn McCauley, Director, Infrastructure Advisory Team, Deloitte LLP
Amar Qureshi, Director, Local Partnerships
Joshua Reddaway, National Audit Office
Natasha Rogers, Aon Limited
Roseanne Serrelli, Partner and Head of Projects, Sharpe Pritchard
08:30 Coffee and registration
09:00 Chairman's opening remarks
E.R. Yescombe, Consultant, YCL Consulting
09:05 The Efficiency and Reform Group's strategy for renegotiating PFI and PPP contracts
Adrian Kamellard, Contract Renegotiation Team Leader, Efficiency and Reform Group, Cabinet Office
09:25 Infrastructure UK's revised guidance on contract renegotiations and progress towards a voluntary code
Speaker from Infrastructure UK
10:10 Variations to contracts: the legal parameters within which you can legally operate
Roseanne Serrelli, Partner and Head of Projects, Sharpe Pritchard
10:45 Morning coffee
11:05 Lessons from the MoD's renegotiation pilot studies
- The Corsham Development
- MoD Headquarters Building
- The Defence Sixth Form College
Andy Baker, Head of Private Finance Unit, Ministry of Defence
Rob Fern, Private Finance Unit, Ministry of Defence
11:50 Potential for local authorities to work together to renegotiate contracts on a portfolio basis
Amar Qureshi, Director, Local Partnerships
12:20 Ensuring that changes made to PPP/PFI contracts during contract renegotiations represent value for money
Joshua Reddaway, National Audit Office
12:50 Lunch
14:15 Panel discussion on preliminary actions to be taken before changing the contract
- Managing the existing contract properly
- Reviewing insurance cost sharing provisions
- Optimising asset management and use of asset
- Considering mothballing spare capacity
- Analysing the costs and benefits of changing the contract
- If contract changes are required, agreeing suitable cost transparency measures and variation protocol
- Sharing/benchmarking/obtaining cost information
- Communicating with Departmental PFUs
Joshua Reddaway, National Audit Office
Glenn McCauley, Director, Infrastructure Advisory Team, Deloitte LLP
Stephen Colliston, Partner, Tods Murray LLP
15:00 Panel discussion on understanding which aspects of a contract can or should be renegotiated in order to improve affordability and the implications of each one
- Reviewing standards in non-critical areas
- Removing, re-scoping or agreeing value testing for soft or ancillary services
- Aligning timing of value testing exercises
- Taking back provider's share of general change in law risk
- Maximising energy buying power
- Refinancing
Speaker from Infrastructure UK
Shona Henderson, Corporate Finance Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Amar Qureshi, Director, Local Partnerships
Sean Latus, Senior Director, Infrastructure Team, The Royal Bank of Scotland
15:45 Afternoon tea
16:00 Negotiating tactics on contract renegotiations
- General guidance on negotiation tactics
- Understanding the perspective of financial investors on contract discussions
Shona Henderson, Corporate Finance, Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Adrian Jones, Managing Partner, Public and Project Finance Team, MBIA UK Insurance Ltd
16:30 Making insurance best value for money
Mark Courtneidge, Director, Aon Limited
Natasha Rogers, Aon Limited
17:00 Chairman's concluding remarks and afternoon tea