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SAN JOSE, CALIF. — The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) has released its newest research report, “Policy Issues in U.S. Transportation Public-Private Partnerships: Lessons from Australia,” which explores these public-private partnerships (PPPs) and the lessons that can be derived for the use of PPPs in the United States. Australia has decades of experience in transportation PPPs and has used the approach to deliver billions of dollars in project value. David Czerwinski, Ph.D., was principal investigator, working with R. Richard Geddes, Ph.D.

Although this report explores a range of issues, the authors focus on four policy issues that have been salient in the United States: how the risks inherent in PPP contracts should be distributed across public and private sector partners; when and how to use non-compete (or compensation) clauses in PPP contracts; how concerns about monopoly power are best addressed; and the role and importance of concession length.

The study examines those and other questions by surveying the relevant literature on PPP international use. The authors also interviewed 23 Australian PPP experts from the academic, public, and private sectors, and distilled lessons from those interviews.

The authors summarize the main findings of this study by listing several dos and don’ts when approaching transportation PPPs in the United States. Some of these findings relate directly to the four questions above, while others surfaced during the course of interviews as critical issues for consideration. The findings include:

• Do plan for a long-term partnership
• Do recognize that PPPs are important, complex commitments requiring substantial public sector experience
• Do focus on performance-based contracts
• Do use concession length strategically
• Don’t fail to “bring the public along” through public relations efforts that explain PPP contracts, its benefits to the public, and its progress
• Don’t attempt to maximize up-front concession fee payments on greenfield projects

Several other findings are included in the full report, which may be downloaded at no charge from www.transweb.sjsu.edu/MTIportal/research/publications/summary/2807_09-15.html.