In the United States, PPPs are a new, innovative approach to transportation funding and project delivery. While there are risks with PPPs that public officials need to be aware of,132 it is important to recognize that these risks are manageable and that public officials can mitigate these risks if they take prudent and reasonable steps to ensure that they are creating well balanced PPP programs, performing necessary due diligence before committing to projects, and negotiating well structured concession agreements. In addition, the risks associated with PPPs need to be evaluated in the context of the failings of traditional approaches to project funding and delivery. Policymakers should pursue approaches that improve upon the status quo, recognizing that all approaches to procuring, financing and operating infrastructure assets will entail risks. This section describes some of the risks that have been raised in the context of PPPs, and explains how these risks may be managed.
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132 A recent report by Jeffrey N. Buxbaum and Iris N. Ortiz of Cambridge Systematics, Inc. explores many of the policy concerns that have been raised with respect to PPPs and discusses potential strategies for protecting the public interest. Buxbaum, Jeffrey N. and Ortiz, Iris N., Protecting the Public Interest: The Role of Long-Term Concession Agreements for Providing Transportation Infrastructure, U.S.C. Keston Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy, Research Paper 07-02, June 2007.