The article quoted the Police and Crime Commissioner:
I know I've inherited it and I know it's very expensive and it takes up a lot of my estates budget. I know that what we've ended up with somehow is a state-of-the-art police station in the wrong place for the wrong price. It's deeply disappointing and particularly frustrating when obviously the police service is facing tough financial times as many public services are, we have this contract that we appear to be tied into that does cost us a lot of money.
The Commissioner was reported as saying, however, that he would make sure that “no stone is unturned” to see if the issue could be addressed in future.
Intrigued by the story, and taking the Commissioner at his word, P2G wrote to him offering our services. We explained that we operated on a contingent basis and that there would be no payment without results. P2G is a Social Enterprise. We are not driven to maximise our revenue but, specifically, to deliver savings to the public sector.
Over a period of some months, we convinced the Commissioner that savings could be generated and we were eventually successful in winning a tender.
P2G led the review and were aided by Fenwick Elliott (legal), WSP (technical), and Clubfinance (financial modelling).
On 18th June 2015, some 28 months after the initial news report, the PFI was terminated by agreement. Total net savings to the Police Authority will amount to £7.7 million, with a net present value of £3.1 million.
We thank the Commissioner for his support and hope that other public sector authorities take note that significant savings can be made from the effective management of PFI contracts.
Press:
BBC News
Police & Crime Commissioner press release