黑洞社区

The government鈥檚 Priority School 黑洞社区 Programme, the much-awaited successor to the scrapped 拢55bn 黑洞社区 Schools for the Future initiative, has gathered far more headlines than you might usually expect for a scheme that, more than a year after first being announced, is yet to get off the ground.

The decision on which schools would be included was put back by months before eventually being made public in May, as delivery body the Education Funding Agency struggled to deal with a deluge of almost 600 applications from schools. And when the announcement came, it was accompanied by the surprise revelation that the planned PFI route would be supplemented by 拢400m of direct funding, taking the budget from 拢2bn to 拢2.4bn.

For construction firms attempting to plug the gap left by the BSF cancellation, enthusiasm for the programme has been severely tempered by exasperation at both the time taken for it to get off the ground - it is now more than two years since BSF was stopped - and an apparent lack of clarity even now over detail on how, and when, the work will come to market. So what is the latest on the programme that everyone is talking about, but no one seems able to touch?

When will the first Priority Schools 黑洞社区 Programme schemes come to market?

The first three batches of directly funded schools are expected to be tendered this autumn, most likely in October. It is expected that the first batches of PFI schools will not be procured until the start of next year - although this has not been officially confirmed by the Department for Education.

How delayed is the Priority Schools 黑洞社区 Programme?

The government announced the 261 schools to be included in the programme in May this year, five months later than originally planned. Although it never officially stated a date for tendering the schemes, based on its original timeframe for revealing the schools to be included, the market expected the first schemes would be tendered in April 2012, making the programme now around six months late.

How will the directly funded schemes be procured?

The 42 directly funded projects, worth around 拢400m in total, will be procured through the existing academies contractors framework managed by the Education Funding Agency (EFA). The projects will be procured in batches.

How will the PFI projects be procured?

The Department for Education (DfE) has said that the 219 PFI schools will be procured in 20 batches, with around four batches procured a year for each of the next five years. Each batch is expected to include between five and 16 schools, with a mix of primary and secondary. The capital value of batches will range between 拢50m to more than 拢100m depending on the schemes involved. According to a tender document released for a legal adviser to the programme, each batch of schools will be procured through competitive dialogue in a process that will take around one year from OJEU to financial close. Three bidders will be taken to dialogue stage for each batch.

What risk is there of further delay to PFI projects?

The ongoing delay to the PFI element of the programme is due to pressure on the DfE to take account of the wider government PFI review in setting up the programme - and that review still has not yet been concluded by the Treasury. If, as expected, the review is published this autumn, any further delays should be minimal. However, it is understood that officials have encountered a further complication in procuring PFIs as some of the schools on the list fall under the scope of existing PFI contracts - making the process of creating additional deals legally complex.

The market expected the first schemes would be tendered in april 2012, making the programme around six months late

It is unclear how the DfE intends to resolve this issue, and that could affect the timetabling of the schemes affected. A DfE spokesperson said: 鈥淲here schools in the PSBP already have private finance contracts in place, and any new building work would require a change to the existing contract, discussions will follow with the appropriate parties.鈥�

Is there any chance that more schemes will receive direct funding?

The DfE鈥檚 annual capital budget has been reduced by 60% overall between 2011 and 2015 meaning that there is already immense pressure on capital funding, and there is no expectation of further direct capital being put towards the PSBP. That said, it somehow found 拢400m (from 鈥渃areful husbandry and a thorough review of capital budgets鈥�) to get the Priority Schools Programme off the ground in the wake of delays to the PFI programme - and with an election now closer on the horizon, any other unforeseen major delays to the programme would mean that it would be likely to do anything in its power to find more cash. Another point to note is that although the DfE has listed the 42 schools it expects to give direct funding, officials have left open the possibility of swapping these with some in the PFI list if they believe that that funding method is better suited.

How far will standardisation be used in PSBP designs?

The government has stopped short of procuring set standardised designs for schools, but the design guidance it is putting in place will heavily favour a standardised approach. It is expected to publish imminently a baseline design information pack, which bidders will be expected to follow apart from exceptional circumstances. The pack will contain details including area schedules, 1:200 floorplans giving suggested layouts, and output specifications. In addition, bidders under the PFI part of the programme will be asked to design one primary and one secondary school, 鈥渨ith these designs being required to be capable of being rolled out as standard for the subsequent schools in that batch with adaptation where necessary鈥�.