Region: Europe and Central Asia
Country: United Kingdom
Topics: Financing and Risk Mitigation
Keywords: Value for Money (VFM), PPP Reference Guide, Online Guide, PPP Cycle
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These documents provide the framework for the justification for using private finance, and this does not compensate for the economic case for the investment decision.
The Green Book sets out a framework for the appraisal and evaluation of all policies, programmes and projects.
Privately financed projects are subject to Treasury’s assurance and approval arrangements, which were introduced in April 2011. Further information on the approval and assurance of major projects can be found using the following link:
The Government has announced its intention to reform the PFI model and is currently engaged in a call for evidence to develop new delivery models. The Value for Money Guidance will be updated to reflect the conclusions from this process.
Value for Money
Following the publication of PFI: Strengthening Long-term Partnerships March 2006, and discussions with both the public and private sector, HM Treasury updated the Value for money (VfM) Assessment Guidance. This Guidance superseded the previous August 2004 guidance and continues to be mandatory for all projects.
The Guidance, and User Guide for the Quantitative Evaluation Tool that accompanies the guidance, can be downloaded from the links below. The Quantitative Evaluation tool itself is held centrally by HM Treasury and has been distributed to Departmental Private Finance Units.
The use of this tool with any PFI Value for Money assessment is mandatory, and changes should not be made to the tool without prior agreement of the PPP Policy Team in Infrastructure UK. The tool and corresponding user guide were last updated in December 2011.
- Value for money assessment guidance (PDF 381KB)
- Value for money quantitative assessment user guide (PDF 537KB)
- Value for money quantitative evaluation spreadsheet (Excel 3MB)
For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.
Related Resources
The Treasury provides guidance on a number of topics. This includes the publication A new approach to Public Private Partnerships and Standardisation of PF2 contracts (December 2012) and guidance on assessing the value for money of privately financed projects, as well as finance, procurement and contract management.
- Procurement and contract management
- Standardised contractual guidance
- Finance guidance
- Budgeting and accounting for PPP arrangements
- Value for money assessment for using private finance
- Archived guidance
UK. 2011b. Quantitative assessment: User Guide. London: UK Government, HM Treasury. [#4331]
Updated: May 31, 2022