ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a framework for examining the types of accountability and their value-for-money (VFM) implications at the various stages of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project. It describes PFI in the context of New Public Management reforms, explains the meaning of and the government's justification for PFI. The chapter also describes a framework for better understanding the interaction between accountability and VFM at the various stages of the PFI processes. The UK's public sector has been swept by various waves of modernisation programmes aimed at increasing efficiency, transparency and accountability. Accountability itself takes various forms including communal, contractual, managerial and parliamentary. Communal and contractual forms of accountability seem to be more dominant at the initiation and set-up stages of the PFI process. Managerial and parliamentary forms of accountability are required to ensure that PFI objectives are met. Implied in VFM is the existence of—and need for—a standard by which to guide and assess PFI-related decisions and actions.
