In June 1998, the provincial government enacted amendments to the Municipal Act to facilitate public private partnership (PPP or P3) arrangements between local governments in the province and the private sector. The new legislation will provide municipalities and regional districts in British Columbia the flexibility to enter into a wide range of partnership opportunities for the provision of services, facilities and infrastructure.
Prior to the amendments, the provisions of the Municipal Act permitted only a limited range of public private partnership arrangements, such as design-build.
With the enactment of new provisions, the constraints to other forms of public private partnership have been removed. However, many of these other forms carry more potential risk for local government and require a greater degree of expertise to negotiate successfully. This guide is intended to assist local governments evaluate the new forms of service delivery and help them establish partnership arrangements that are in the public interest.
The guide will also:
• provide clarification on the legislative authority for public private partnership in the province
• assist local government in determining when public private partnership should be considered in the delivery of services
• provide guidelines on how local governments can prepare themselves for delivery of services using public private partnership
• set out recommended guidelines for each stage of the partnership-building process