Capture and Reuse of Project Knowledge in Construction

To conclude, we should stress a lot of qualities of this book; one of them is the regard paid to PPP/PFI projects, characterized by neither denigration nor indulgence. The failures of a lot of them, especially in the initial wave, are the starting point of the reasoning: weakness of quality in service delivery, high costs, etc. are clearly mentioned and taken as food for thought. Another point of interest is that this book can be published now because we have the benefit of much experience, partly the authors’ own work and experience, partly the actors, agencies and institutions, appraisals and evaluations that have been done. From this point of view, the book has the benefit of collective knowledge built step by step from different sources and with different approaches. Another quality is the didactic design of the book. It is organized into four parts: policy and strategic context for PPP/PFI; principles of governance and its application; knowledge management theories, principles and practices; improving governance and knowledge management through capacity building and a framework for knowledge transfer and learning. We should focus on the particular quality of Chapter 5, providing case studies on governance in the health sector, and of Chapter 7, giving case studies on knowledge transfer, from the knowledge perspectives of the different actors. They are very useful for developing a close understanding of the reality and complexity of PFI/PPP. But beyond this general comment, some questions remain unresolved. The first one is the boundary between a clear and fair analysis and some normative approach; the authors do not avoid this hazard in their search for good governance, their will to go from tacit to explicit and codified knowledge, their care about standards and tools, etc. The boundary is not always clear between the transfer of lessons learned and their simplification through some simple and dry ‘best ways’ norms. This problem comes partly from the instrumental initial definition of knowledge management. Another unresolved question refers to the change of the status of public client and the consequence for the future of knowledge in the public sector. ‘There is a critical shortage of PPP experts’ the authors remark. They are right if the role of public client has to be reduced to output specification and VfM control. But not a word is said about public sector knowledge in quality control and service delivery. Some feedback from experience provides evidence that knowledge in core services delivered remains the strength of the public sector.