The Private Finance Initiative/Public Private Partnership (PPP/PFI) debate is locked into technical issues about financing, on/off balance sheet accountancy, risk allocation, efficiency, narrow value for money matters and the procurement process. This report draws together the recent experience, trends and developments of PPP/PFIs and Strategic Service-delivery Partnerships (SSPs) in Britain and the development of PPPs in Australia. The objective is to generate a wider debate on the longer-term issues of accountability, sustainability, the future of public services, the role of government and the provision of the social and economic infrastructure. Published by Don Dunstan Foundation, University of Adelaide, Paper 2/2007. Now available to download.

ESSU has launched a PPP Database on Strategic Service-delivery Partnerships (SSPs) in local government. It covers 35 contracts in corporate, ICT and technical services in Britain with a total value of £7.3 billion with nearly 14,600 staff. The PPP Database consists of seven tables covering SSP contracts, those in procurement, regional distribution, employment models, private sector market share and local authorities which rejected the SSP option.

A Strategic Service-delivery Partnership (SSP) is a long-term, multi-service, multi-million pound Public Private Partnership (PPP) between a local authority and a private contractor. Between 50 to 1,000 staff are transferred to a private contractor or transferred or seconded to a Joint Venture Company (JVC). Contracts are usually ten years with an option for a further five years. SSPs usually cover ICT and related services such as revenues and benefits, financial and legal services, customer contact centres, human resources, payroll and often include property management. Some SSPs include architectural, highways, engineering and other technical services.

Somerset County Council and Taunton Deane District Council signed a £400m Strategic Service-delivery Partnership contract with IBM in September 2007. The Joint Venture Company, Southwest One, is the first SSP to have a framework agreement to enable other local authorities and public bodies to obtain services bypassing the procurement process. It is also the first to potentially include a Police Authority as a partner (Avon and Somerset Police Authority negotiating to join the partnership) and the first to combine secondment with a 10-year assurance to staff in the founding authorities. This report exposes the unprecedented use of commercial confidentiality in the procurement process, identifies effective ways for UNISON to respond to the new agenda and ensure a good industrial relations framework in Southwest One. It also proposes regional and national public policy changes to improve the accountability and transparency of options appraisal and procurement processes.

58,000 .pdf and .doc files were downloaded from the ESSU website in 2007, a 45% increase on the previous year. Readership is even wider because many documents are circulated by other organisations. The figures exclude the downloading of material in .html format. Although most users are from Europe, North America and Japan, the website statistics show that ESSU reports have a global audience.

The Research Report identifies the scope of major cost overruns, delays and terminations in 105 outsourced public sector ICT projects in central government, NHS, local authorities, public bodies and agencies in the last decade. There has been wide reporting of individual and department or authority-wide project failures in the national and ICT press but little analysis of the overall scope and evidence. The value of contacts is nearly £30billion with an average cost overrun of 30.5%.

The report findings were reviewed by Michael Krigsman, ZDNet.com (USA), Delays and Cost Overruns: A Constructive Analysis in eGov Monitor, 17 December 2007, Computer Weekly (21 December 2007), The Register (27 December 2007), UKauthorITy.com (31 December 2007) and Kablenet.com (24 December 2007).

ESSU has worked with Newcastle City UNISON with a report and presentation to Members and senior officers detailing the case against the outsourcing of meals at home, resource and day centres. Bids to supply frozen meals from Fresh Community Meals (ISS) and Appetito were rejected. The in-house service, supplied by Neighbourhood Services, must produce an acceptable Service Improvement Plan or the service will be retendered. The report is confidential but see file for press release and Newcastle press coverage.

ESSU has completed a study for Newcastle Tenants Federation which examines the options for the future of the Arms Length Management Organisation of the housing service. The report is confidential.

Dexter Whitfield, Director of the European Services Strategy Unit, has been appointed Adjunct Associate Professor at the Australian Institute for Social Research, University of Adelaide, Australia. Further cooperation between ESSU and ASIR on regional economies, PPP projects and shared services is planned over the next few years.

Somerset County Council and Taunton Deane District Council UNISON branches have commissioned ESSU to prepare a report to draw out the lessons of the £400m contract awarded to IBM and Mouchel Parkman with an unprecedented level of secrecy and ‘commercial confidentiality’. Over 800 staff have been seconded to a Joint Venture Company with a ten-year assured employment. The study will also set out a new agenda for how UNISON will address the transformation and shared services agenda (36 local authorities and public bodies signed a framework agreement).

The report raises major questions about the way the ISiS project has been managed; the absence of any form of public impact assessment of the project; and the adequacy of the proposed retained client structure and governance arrangements. It was commissioned by Somerset County and Taunton Deane DC UNISON branches. The report is critical of the unprecedented degree of secrecy in a public sector project; the continual overuse of commercial confidentiality by the ISiS project team; the lack of public consultation and public debate; and
the lack of rigorous scrutiny of the project, to ensure the protection of public services and allay public concerns.