The Financial Analysis for the London Underground Public Private Partnerships

Download or read book The Financial Analysis for the London Underground Public Private Partnerships written by Great Britain. National Audit Office and published by Stationery Office Books (TSO). This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) and London Transport intend to award Public Private Partnership (PPP) contracts to private sector bidders only if they pass two separate tests, the safety test and the value for money test. The value for money test assesses whether bidders offer superior value for money when compared to an alternative, publicly-funded infrastructure operation. To inform the judgement about value for money, London Underground has done extensive financial analysis and has prepared estimates of the cost of publicly funding the infrastructure under alternative financing scenarios. These cost estimates are called Public Sector Comparators. This report considers the extent to which these financial analyses resolve the value for money test. It focuses on London Underground's methodology for the financial analysis of bids and the Comparators. The Report considers that London Underground financial analysis has been thorough and provides useful but incomplete insights about the value for money of alternative approaches to managing and funding the Underground's infrastructure. The financial analysis does not, and could not, cover all the important factors needed to assess value for money. It is essential that the decision-makers understand what lies behind the figures before deciding which option to take forward. The safety test is being considered by London Transport and the Health and Safety Executive and is not part of this report.