Moving Forward on Public Private Partnerships: U.S. and International Experience with PPP Units

In a time of severe government budget constraints, leveraging private-sector financial assets and expert mastery to undertake a range of infrastructure projects has increasing attraction. However, these public/private partnerships (PPPs) are frequently complicated contracts that vary greatly from project to project and from place to place. In the United States, many states lack the technical capacity and expert knowledge to comprehend such deals and fully protect the public interest. To address this problem, provinces, states, and nations around the world have developed specialized institutional bodies— called PPP units—to accomplish different functions such as technical advice, quality control, and policy formulation. This report recommends that U.S. states should: (1) Establish dedicated PPP units to better deal with choke points in the PPP process and protect the public interest; (2) Pass laws and alter the procurement culture to a more outcome-based and transparent project selection process; (3) Work with the federal government to ameliorate technical assistance gaps on PPPs, as the particular situation warrants.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2011/1208_transportation_istrate_puentes.aspx
• Corporate Authors:

  Brookings Institution

  1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20036
• Authors:
  • Istrate, Emilia
  • Puentes, Robert
• Publication Date: 2011-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 28p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Contracts; Financing; Policy; Public private partnerships; Quality control; Technical assistance
• Subject Areas: Finance; Transportation (General); I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01363341
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 23 2012 2:38PM