An increasing share of public services in Britain and its regions are procured through Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes. Past research has shown that PFI procurement puts heavy demands on the managerial skills of public sector managers, particularly as concerns the management of procurement and project risks. Although government initiatives have sought to identify and remedy some of the weaknesses of the public sector as PFI procurer, there are strong indications that Scottish local authorities continue to encounter problems in procuring PFI projects. Comparing two large-scale multisite school projects, which were completed as PFIs in August 2001 and October 2002, this article presents evidence of a learning process in which local authorities have developed increased expertise in project management. These improvements concern the way these authorities have understood, assessed, and managed PFI risks as well as their approach to the allocation of risks between project partners.
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