Companies have until end of this week to express interest in preliminary market testing exercise

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Firms have been given until the end of this week to register interest in a preliminary market testing for PPP models for some upcoming health schemes.

The notice was published last week by the Department of Health and Social Care which said it will carry out the work in conjunction with the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA).

The work centres on the “design, build, finance, operation and maintenance of certain types of primary and community health infrastructure projects through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model”.

The notice, which follows last month’s infrastructure strategy, said “the exercise will be comprised of a series of engagement activities with interested persons at various levels of the supply chain, with persons operating at different levels potentially being engaged through separate targeted activities or sessions”.

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It added: “The precise details will be confirmed in due course to persons expressing interest and the rolling programme of activities will be updated as engagement progresses.”

It has called the initiative the Programme and said firms have until 11 July to express interest.

The note added: “We have provided an indicative capital cost for the Programme of £1bn but the Programme is subject to further scoping, including through this engagement, and may change significantly.

“We anticipate this Preliminary Market Engagement Exercise will close on 22 August but we reserve the right to extend.”

It added that NISTA, the government’s new infrastructure policy and delivery agency, “will be carrying out additional market engagement in respect of general PPP models and structures including certain contract terms building on lessons learned from past government experience”.

Funding the Future logo on background

Our Funding the Future coverage kicked off in April this year, with articles examining options for public-private partnerships that can draw on private capital to pay for utilities, transport and social infrastructure.

In the coming months, as the details from June’s spending review and infrastructure strategy are worked through, our advisers will be on hand to offer valuable insights and views. They will help us to assess proposed financial models for levering in private money to public projects, and consider the types of projects that could benefit.

funding the future panel

Our Funding the Future advisers, clockwise from top left: Mace’s Mark Reynolds, Browne Jacobson’s Craig Elder, Skanska UK’s Meliha Duymaz, Agilia Infrastructure Partners’ James Stewart, Wates’s Stephen Beechey and Navigate Advisory’s Beth West