For the purposes of GOA capital projects, a P3 is defined as an infrastructure project in which a private contractor provides some or all of the financing for the project; designs and builds the project, often providing operations and maintenance for the project, and receives payments from government over an extended period of time, subject to deductions for failing to meet contractually defined performance standards. The interplay between design, construction, operations and maintenance and performance creates an "extended warranty" over the term of the contract.
In a P3, one contractor is responsible for designing, constructing, maintaining and, for some types of infrastructure, also operating the asset for an extended period of time. The contractor must construct and maintain the facility to specified standards or the province can make deductions from its payments to the contractor. By bundling the services, the public sector gets, in effect, an extended warranty as the contractor is responsible for all aspects of the infrastructure over the agreement term. The public sector also gets the benefit of oversight from the private financiers. The financiers want to be repaid and earn their returns so they also provide project oversight to ensure the contractor's obligations under the project agreement are fulfilled. This oversight benefits both the financiers and the public sector.
For Alberta P3 projects, the public sector retains ownership of the infrastructure and remains accountable for providing services to Albertans. In this regard there is no difference between infrastructure procured either through a traditional or a P3 approach. For example, school boards own the schools procured under the Alberta Schools Alternative Procurement P3 project and deliver education as they do in any other school in the boards' jurisdictions.