Local government will need to prepare itself for service delivery through public private partnerships by:
• preparing the necessary policies and procedures
• evaluating opportunities for public private partnerships
• planning and implementing individual public private partnership initiatives
As well, a number of factors need to be considered in establishing responsibility within the organization for public private partnerships. These include:
• The existing organizational structure and responsibilities of staff need not be altered in a significant way to accommodate public private partnership. The evaluation, negotiation and implementation of public private partnerships will draw heavily on existing expertise and resources within the organization.
• Most local governments have established line departments on the basis of specific types of services and established staff functions on the basis of specific types of expertise. Given that public private partnerships are applicable for most services provided by local government and that public private partnerships require a range of expertise, it is to local government's advantage to assign responsibility for public private partnerships to a single department or individual within the organization. This is to ensure that:
- there is a consistent message concerning the local government's policies and procedures concerning public private partnership
- there is no ambiguity in who is responsible and accountable for public private partnerships in the organization
- there is a single point of contact for private sector interests
Local governments have a number of options in choosing who in the organization will be responsible for public private partnerships. To the greatest extent possible, the options and choices should reflect the present organizational structure and decision-making process for service delivery.
Recognizing that Council or the Board has the ultimate authority and responsibility for entering into a public private partnership contract, most local governments have established procedures that allow servicing initiatives to be reviewed before they are brought to Council or the Board for consideration. Initiatives and recommendations come from either staff or committees established by Council and the Board. Responsibility for public private partnership could be vested in one committee or department. If the local government has a system of standing committees, it could delegate the responsibility to a new standing committee or expand the mandate of an existing committee. It is also advisable to assign responsibility for public private partnerships to a. This would provide a central source of expertise and support within the local government and provide for effective implementation of public private
partnerships.