In some situations, rather than creating a battle in the courts, both parties may agree that the public private partnership cannot proceed. In some of these cases, the parties may be able to use an "off ramp" clause or provision from the public private partnership contract to dissolve the partnership.
There are many reasons why an off ramp can be used to dissolve a public private partnership. However, these reasons need to be explicitly stated in the public private partnership contract. Off ramp clauses may be included to provide for:
• the deterioration of the private partner's financial ability to complete the project
• the private partner not being able to complete the project
• the initial financial assessment of the project being substantially inaccurate
• the initial financial assessment of the project being no longer relevant or materially unattainable
Much like the decision to partner, the local government should know the costs and benefits associated with the use of off ramp provisions before they are used. The local government should also have a contingency plan to mitigate service interruption should a public private partnership off ramp be used.