It was the early 2000s.

In Disunited Kingdom the formerly known as UK.

The government wanted to rebuild hundreds of schools.

Big dream.

Big politics.

Usual suspects.

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Of course, as per the playbook, before launching the program, they ran a market-testing exercise to “hear the voice of the private sector.”

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Lovely.

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And the market said what the market always says:

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“Of course, I can, it’s possible. I cannot be fired or lose my bonus… so, I confirm that we can design, build, finance, and maintain every school.

Cheap. Fast. Innovative. Trust us.”

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Everyone smiled.

Reports were printed.

Consultants running the show got paid… very well.

Ministers shook hands.

After all, if half of the UK’s biggest contractors said it was doable, who were the bureaucrats to disagree?

Nobody wanted to be the aguafiestas in the room.

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Then reality showed up.

The Building Schools for the Future program is put to market.

Contracts ran for 25 to 30 years.

Dozens of SPVs mushroomed overnight. Like the queue for the civil service exams in Spain.

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Bid costs went through the roof.

Legal and financial advisors feasted like kings.

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Within a few years:

Each project took 2–3 years just to reach financial close.

The “innovative” design standards turned into cookie-cutter boxes with leaking roofs.

The so-called efficiency gains evaporated behind layers of lawyers and FM consultants.

And worst of all, the demand forecasts were a fantasy… half the schools had fewer students than expected.

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But the government kept going, because “the market told us it was viable.”

They paid too much to say the “market sounding” was wrong.

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Everyone that has participated in these “soundings” know the truth.

The Market Never Lies… It Just Doesn’t Tell the Whole Truth

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The market isn’t malicious.

It’s just self-interested.

When you ask, “Can you deliver 300 schools with private finance and make it efficient?”

Nobody that loves his salary would say:

“Honestly, not really. That’s too complex, too bespoke, and the public sector won’t have enough capacity to manage it.”

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No one wants to be the aguafiestas… the party-pooper who kills a billion-pound opportunity.

So the market smiles.

It nods.

It submits beautiful glossy slides full of optimism.

And the agency, desperate for validation, believes it.

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Meanwhile, the consultants who ran the market testing cashed their fees regardless.

They drafted the questions everyone expected.

Ignored the ones that mattered,

And delivered a 100-page report full of polite nonsense.

When the program collapsed, they simply moved on to the next government asking the same wrong questions…

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At the end, by 2010, the UK had spent billions in procurement costs and locked itself into maintenance contracts that schools couldn’t afford.

Auditors called the program “a bureaucratic nightmare.”

The government quietly shut it down.

The “market test” had proven only one thing… the obvious thing, by the way…

That the private sector will always say yes to a government dream… especially if it pays them to say so.

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So, next time you run a market test, don’t ask:

“Is this deliverable?”

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Ask instead:

“What would make you say no?”

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Because that’s the answer you’ll never get on PowerPoint.

But it’s the only one that will save you from the next PPP horror story.

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For more about stories that save you embarrassment, you can click below.

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​Don't get embarrassed - Get the basics in PPPs​

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