Commercial team
Commercial Director: Paul Milner
Paul joined the Commercial Team at PfS in August 2005 as Director of Transaction Services. He was appointed Director of the Commercial Team in October 2007.
This role involves developing and managing the national BSF programme by assistance and support to Local Authorities procurement teams explaining the approach taken in the BSF standard documentation and reviewing proposed changes to the contracts and structure. He also participates in the negotiation of preferred bidder appointments and the negotiation and management of projects through from preferred bidder stage to financial close.
Prior to joining PfS, Paul worked on a large number of schools PFI projects for the private sector including the first PFI school project and various bundled school projects and a VA school PFI project. He had hands on involvement with the negotiation and transaction closing process of individual projects, managing PFI and other projects to financial close as expeditious and economical as possible. He has experience of leading commercial negotiations on PFI project agreements construction and FM contracts. He also has an understanding of project finance and has negotiated term sheets loan and security documentation with banks.
Commercial Team
The Commercial Team provides guidance and operational support to local authorities in each phase of a BSF project (pre-procurement; OBC stage; the procurement phase; and post-financial close). The team also provides guidance and support to the DfE centrally on the commercial issues surrounding delivery of the BSF programme,
Nationally, the team controls the standard procurement suite of BSF contract documents in relation to Local Education Partnerships (LEPs), as well as the standard suite of procurement documents and guidance relating to these documents. The team is also responsible for the Academies Framework and the Advisers Frameworks
At a project level, the team works closely with the local authority's project team to secure the optimal commercial deal.