demanded HMG hire clued-up professionals from the private sector to do the negotiating
Do you honestly think they don't????? Have you seen the MOD bill for consultants? The problem with contractorization is 'we' could never possibly list the value added you get from a good service person (or even some of the not so good ones) and cannot capture all of that in a contract. The stuff like we need you to drop everything and go and do this, possibly for weeks and months, guard duty, secondary duties (the things that really add to a unit's sense of community), parades, the FOD plod after a show or event, the doing stuff for the wider station/base even local civilian community because you can and want to, not because it's in the contract. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of PFI or contractorization of the military either; I am struggling to think of one contractor/PFI solution that has provided better than we had before - but then that is a topic for an entirely different thread!