Public Sector Decision Making For Public Private Partnerships

"TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 391: Public Sector Decision Making for Public-Private Partnerships examines information designed to evaluate the benefits and risks associated with allowing the private sector to have a greater role in financing and developing highway infrastructure"--Publisher's description.

Economic development and social welfare depend on the existence of effective and efficient infrastructure systems, particularly in health, energy, transportation and water, many of which are developed and managed through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). However, empirical evidence suggests some pitfalls in the use of these PPP arrangements. This book addresses these issues, focusing on mostly three key questions: How to improve the robustness of the decision-making process leading to the option of PPP? How to improve contract management as the longest phase of the process? How can contracts be improved to accommodate uncertainty and avoid harmful renegotiations? The authors explore the concept of flexible contracts, the uncertainty modeling for improving the robustness of the decision-making process, and develop an overall framework for effective contract management, along with a comprehensive analysis of current renegotiation patterns. The ultimate goal is to improve the contractual performance, as well as the overall infrastructure management and social welfare. ​

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) are now firmly established in the European political landscape as a means of public service delivery. Their use has grown rapidly in recent years and the main drivers - particularly the gap between the financing needed to modernise infrastructure and improve public services and the public funds available at EU, national and sub-national level - are as strong as ever. But the way PPP are often implemented is in need of reform. The main needs are to increase legal certainty and the transparency and competitiveness of PPP procurement processes and to develop an approach which better fits the needs of the public sector for value for money. Yet objective advice for decision makers on when and how to use PPP effectively and how to create the right policy, legal and operational framework is hard to find. Cutting through the jargon and the misconceptions, this book is an independent guide for those facing these challenges at all levels in Europe. In particular, it aims to move beyond the mindset in which PPP is used as the default option for public investment projects without a pragmatic and rigorous assessment on a case by case basis. Written from a public sector perspective, this book has two main audiences in mind, i.e.: European decision makers responsible for creating an appropriate legal framework at EU level for PPP and wanting to understand the impact of European policy decisions on how PPP are used to implement them, Politicians and senior public officials at national level currently facing choices about when and how to use PPP and also how to remove administrative and legal barriers to using them. After an introduction which explains what PPP are and how and why they have emerged, successive chapters deal with the management of a national PPP programme, an analysis of the policy, legal and operational framework for PPP (including how private sector suppliers and financiers view PPP) and how and why auditors should play a key role in ensuring the effective implementation of PPP. Finally, the book includes recommendations to improve the future use of PPP, aimed at better legislation, more effective policy making, more effective implementation of PPP and an enhanced role for auditors as the guardians of value for money. The recommendations add up to an agenda for reforming the implementation of PPP in Europe. It is an agenda which will need political will both at national and European level to implement, but it is one which, as the author argues, needs to be implemented to secure the future of PPP as an option available to policy makers responsible for delivering public services.

Broadly, a Public-Private Partnership (or PPP) is any collaboration between the public and private sector, but research in the UK has tended to focus on those that have been used for major infrastructure projects, such as roads, schools, and hospitals. This book compares and contrasts PPP research in the UK with that of cases in the USA, including interviews with some of the key stakeholders (decision makers in the public sector, contractors, and users) of PPPs in North America, and observations of PPPs in action (such as schools and roads). No prior major studies have compared the UK and USA when it comes to the development and operation of PPPs, and this book fills a gap in the literature, addressing a number of key questions, including: Is the private sector viewed with less suspicion in the USA when it comes to projects that would normally fall under the aegis of the public sector? How do politics affect PPPs? How do key players in the PPP process define project success, determine the merits and drawbacks of the initiative, and deal with controversial elements of the scheme such as value for money and risk transfer? The result is a volume that offers practical advice for the future development of PPPs in the UK.

This book will help decision-makers analyze their context and assess whether Public Private Partnerships might be a viable option for airport development.

Investment in infrastructure can be a driving force of the economic recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of shrinking fiscal space. Public-private partnerships (PPP) bring a promise of efficiency when carefully designed and managed, to avoid creating unnecessary fiscal risks. But fiscal illusions prevent an understanding the sources of fiscal risks, which arise in all infrastructure projects, and that in PPPs present specific characteristics that need to be addressed. PPP contracts are also affected by implicit fiscal risks when they are poorly designed, particularly when a government signs a PPP contract for a project with no financial sustainability. This paper reviews the advantages and inconveniences of PPPs, discusses the fiscal illusions affecting them, identifies a diversity of fiscal risks, and presents the essentials of PPP fiscal risk management.

Public-Private Partnerships Policy and Practice is a comprehensive reference guide on PPP theory and practice for senior policy-makers and other public sector officials in developing countries. The guide focuses on the key lessons learned - and emerging best practice - from successful and failed PPP transactions over the past thirty years. The guide avoids jargon and explains relevant concepts in non-specialist language. Key points are summarised at the beginning of each section and provide an overall high-level outline. References are provided throughout and at the end of each section to allow the reader to access further information on specific issues.