 Market testing with contractors showed there was little appetite to bid under a private finance model, and that a PF2 bid would be over £100m more expensive and take six months longer.As a result, the NHS trust sought direct government funding, and on 16 August 2018, the government announced it would provide funding to complete the hospital.Laing O'Rourke negotiated about the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, but the project remained stalled.