Reasonable doubt

A certain Buddha once said this and James Nisbet, probably the wisest of sages in the QS profession, has taken such tenets to heart in his latest book (see across). His clear-eyed logic and razor sharp analysis not only reinforces just how much the industry has changed in the last two decades, but, more worryingly, has the potential to blow apart the beliefs we signed up to post-Latham and Egan.

When Nisbet has something to say the industry should listen. The man who pioneered the art of cost planning raises fundamental worries about the dash to PFI, frameworking, design and build and cost-plus contract across the public sector in the last decade. Was the reasoning behind the move away from traditional procurement completely copper-bottomed? And is there enough proof the new ways of working are having the effect predicted by their advocates? asks Nisbet. On the first question Nisbet is far from convinced and on the second the case has yet to be proven.

He pulls apart the use of cost-plus contracts that have sprung up in the defence and health sectors. And he appears to be agnostic when it comes to PFI, detailing concerns raised about the systems that decide procurement methods.

I’m not sure Nisbet is necessarily calling for a wholesale return to the 1980s. Let’s not forget that the Latham movement led to coherent and sensible changes to the legal environment for construction. Yet what Nisbet requires is real proof to back up the ditching of established industry practices. Without it, major questions remain as to whether this revolution has really delivered what it promised.