Originally Posted by
Pontius Navigator
All PFI is about is spending as little up front now and delaying the real bill until later. As the bills start to mount up then we simply cancel another Type 45 or whatever.
The real surprise is that no one admits it. But you're 100% right and everyone who has ever touched on it know it to be so.
The other thing about PFIs is the winning companies are aching to sell you another 'premium rate' service from a catalogue (which might be a few extra flying hours for an aircraft, or a sandwich in the canteen of a building), because it's real money, now.
On the down side, the companies have to be v v v careful how they calculate their cashflow and costs, as it's dead easy to make a loss. But that's what risk and reward is all about, or so you'd think. However when they're making a loss, companies drop the problem back in the government's lap or sell on their contracts to cheaper companies. And guess what? Service standards decline; oh, and the original PFI bidder gets to walk away scot free.
So government delays when it has to pay up, service standards decline (in general) and wherever the PFI touches on we individuals (such as canteens) we pay premium rates for an ordinary service - and no one is allowed to compete with the service supplier once the contract is signed.
It's a complete rolling goat!