The 56-year-old career civil servant is spearheading no less than a revolution in the way government departments buy their buildings. Under the banner of Achieving Excellence, the head of the financial regulation and industry directorate has set in train a three-year strategy for Whitehall to jettison lowest price in favour of best value. And if shaking up the way Whitehall spends its 拢7.5bn buildings budget was not a big enough job, creating the successor to the Treasury鈥檚 private finance initiative taskforce, Partnerships UK, has also fallen on Robson鈥檚 shoulders. Although the reincarnation of the PFI taskforce has not gone according to his original plan, it is now up to Robson to prove that he can at least drag Whitehall into the Egan era.
The first test of the success of Achieving Excellence comes in March. By then, he intends to be able to prove that half of Whitehall鈥檚 departments are using key performance indicators to measure best value, are adopting partnering and are using innovative procurement strategies. Robson is quietly confident: 鈥淲e鈥檒l be having a conference in the early summer at which we will report back to the industry and the public sector on performance against March 2000 deliverables. But right now, we are looking in good shape.鈥�
Rudi Klein, legal adviser to the Constructors鈥� Liaison Group, is impressed so far: 鈥淭he targets are pretty specific and ambitious; they鈥檙e not wishy-washy. Getting the public sector to commit to them is a tremendous achievement.鈥�
Sitting in the Treasury鈥檚 headquarters in a uniform more akin to a City slicker than a civil servant (blue and white striped shirt, red tie and braces), Robson looks at odds with his surroundings. The strip-lit corridors, faded pink walls and overpolished parquet are more reminiscent of a down-at-heel public school than Whitehall鈥檚 senior department. 鈥淭he refurb is starting this summer and it鈥檒l make a hell of a difference,鈥� he says, referring to the Treasury鈥檚 拢100m PFI makeover.
One would expect Robson to be less upbeat about the fate of Partnerships UK, for which he masterminded the original business plan. The government announced a fortnight ago that it would act solely as a project facilitator and that it would have about 20 staff, rather than 50. Robson had envisaged a full-blooded funding institution that would take equity stakes in projects 鈥� a highly unpopular suggestion in the City and among major contractors.
Robson plays down the scale of the climbdown. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want Partnerships UK to be any different from what the taskforce is doing at the moment 鈥� making the execution of PFI and public-private deals better,鈥� he says blandly. Yes, but wasn鈥檛 he disappointed by the emasculation of his proposals? Robson says he was unfazed. In fact, his original vision for the body may yet materialise.
鈥淧artnerships UK will start off at about 20 people and grow. As you say, it probably won鈥檛 take equity in deals, but it will later have a royalty payment out of transactions as a way of being repaid for its costs. It may also develop other products over time as well. I see this very much as a kind of evolutionary entity.鈥�
One banker suggested that these 鈥渙ther products鈥� may include long-term equity stakes, bundling or the refinancing of equity. It is also expected to boost its income with consultancy fees for advising overseas governments on the PFI.
The spat with the majors over Partnerships UK was unusual in Robson鈥檚 relationship with the industry. A regular on the construction circuit, Robson makes time to meet the heads of industry bodies, as well as a group of 12 senior executives, every three to four months. For its part, the industry respects his clarity of mind and his understanding of its commercial imperatives.
Carillion chief executive Sir Neville Simms says: 鈥淪teve is a modern type of civil servant. He is aware that the only way to get anything done is to create a combination of the government鈥檚 policy objectives and the private sector鈥檚 commercial objectives. He has been very successful in determining what both were and melding them together, both through the people he consults and through his own personal style of management.鈥�
This testimonial is seconded by Jennie Price, chief executive of the Construction Confederation. 鈥淗e is practical, pragmatic and understands the commercial perspective. He has a good intellect and grasps problems very quickly, so you can get to the heart of issues straightaway,鈥� she says.
A glance at Robson鈥檚 CV suggests why the industry opinion-formers are pleased to have a man they can do business with in such a sensitive position. Although he has been with the Treasury since 1969, he made his name by crafting the British Rail sell-off, and his is also the guiding brain behind the part-privatisation of London Underground.
The agenda of Robson鈥檚 meetings with the bosses is mainly taken up with implementing the government鈥檚 promise that it would be a better client if the industry became a more efficient supplier.
The last of these saw calls for the government to bring out contract forms that would underpin its new procurement policy. 鈥淭hey said: 鈥榃hat you are saying is fine; we can see it is happening on some projects; you need to push the pace along; contracts are the way you do it鈥�,鈥� says Robson. The Treasury duly committed to producing standard PFI, prime contracting and design-and-build contracts by April 2000.
These will be administered by the Office of Government Commerce, to be created in April, which will incorporate the state鈥檚 procurement practice division. 鈥淚t is very important that we do get feedback from the industry on what we are doing well, what we are not doing well enough, and where they think we ought to be focusing our attention.鈥�
It is one of the tragedies of this country that the people who change things always have to explain themselves
There are those in the industry who, although they welcome the Treasury鈥檚 initiative, wonder how quickly the government can shed 20 years of lump-sum, lowest-price procurement and indifference to what goes on further down the supply chain.
鈥淭his helter-skelter rush to turn everything to PFI, prime contracting and design and build, and go from 0-100 in procurement practice in three years may be too much revolution for the government to handle鈥� says one sceptic. 鈥淭he NAO might find fault with it and put a stop to it,鈥� he adds, referring to the public auditor鈥檚 current scrutiny of best value policy.
Making it happen
Robson acknowledges that take-up of his agenda is likely to be patchy in some areas of the public sector. But Achieving Excellence will succeed, he says, because a core group of senior civil servants who, between them, are responsible for about 70% of Whitehall鈥檚 construction spend, are committed to driving it forward.
鈥淭here is no doubt that the deputy prime minister, senior Cabinet colleagues, [Treasury minister] Andrew Smith and chief secretary to the Treasury here among them, want to see this happen. And we鈥檝e got critical mass around the taskforce table. All the big-hitters 鈥� people like Kate Priestley from NHS Estates and Ian Andrews of Defence Estates 鈥� are setting the pace.鈥�
Robson is the first to admit that Cabinet-level sponsorship alone will not bring about a revolution across the entrenched public sector. 鈥淲e need to spread the message and we have 鈥� we鈥檝e published guidance, we have a government client forum, we鈥檝e had roadshows going round the country, we鈥檝e had conferences, and we need to monitor progress.
鈥淐reating the desire to change is an important part of it. What you have to do is create a sense that there are some people who are making the change and finding it a good experience. The difficult part about that right now is that there are a number of projects being done the new way, but they have not been finished. So, the guys who are doing them are loath to stand up and say 鈥業鈥檓 doing it the new way and it鈥檚 all looking fine鈥�, in case, for some unforeseen reason, they trip over.鈥�
Robson will continue to evangelise until all government departments and agencies have been converted to his cause. He feels that the private sector already has. 鈥淭here have been moments when those in the industry have scratched their heads a bit about the direction we are going in. But my sense is that the vast majority are behind us now.鈥�
One area where Robson feels the industry has not responded so well, however, is over the PFI. The problem, he suggests, is organisational rather than cultural. 鈥淪ome parts of the industry have been very supportive. But because the industry is so fragmented, it鈥檚 not necessarily very well placed to respond to these challenges. This limits the extent to which they can take on the risks involved with some of these projects. It could well be that there is a period of restructuring ahead of us. You need big shoulders to get into this game.鈥�
The big picture
And the pace of change generally? At this point, Robson displays a formidable, reforming zeal that makes you believe if anyone can shame the public sector into embracing revolution, he can.
鈥淚t is one of the tragedies of this country that it is the people who are changing things that always have to explain themselves 鈥� not the people who are standing still. But there will come a point when it is the people who are standing still who find that they are having the bad experiences and having to explain those bad experiences. That鈥檚 going to be an explanation they can鈥檛 make.鈥�
Robson is also clear about the contribution new procurement can make to the government鈥檚 overall economic strategy (not surprising, this 鈥� he is reputed to be a trusted member of Gordon Brown鈥檚 inner circle). 鈥淎s you know, this government鈥檚 economic policy is balanced on two pillars,鈥� he says, 鈥渙ne, economic stability: steady growth, low inflation, low interest rates, getting away from the volatility, the stop-go of the past.
鈥淭he other is to reform the underlying performance of the economy. What we are doing in the construction area is a part of that second leg, which extends over many things, like stimulating entrepreneurship, stimulating competition in the economy and improving government procurement more generally.鈥�
If Robson will go on the record to raise the stakes to that extent, you get the feeling he is as confident of his hand as he appears to be.
