The US Government and Accreditation: Extraordinary Attention

inflexible salary scales, and facilitate the introduction of innovative forms of service delivery. Skeptics argue that the high cost of borrowing for the private sector, as well as high setup and contract monitoring costs, mean that PFIs can be expensive relative to traditional forms of procurement, especially for small projects. Poor specification of capital needs, flawed contract design, and weak monitoring of projects can also expose the government to significant financial and operational risks, thus negating one of the main intended benefits of PFIs. To overcome these, governments must invest considerable resources in developing standardized contracting processes and resources, as well as capacity building of staff.