The NSW Government is increasingly turning to the private sector to help provide public infrastructure using public-private sector partnership (PPP) type contracts.
In recent years the NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) has let two major contracts of this kind to provide NSW Government schools in new urban release areas.
There are many forms of PPP. Each needs to be assessed on its merits. The New Schools Privately Financed Project is a form of public-private partnership known as a privately financed project (PFP).
We examined this new approach to see whether the processes for awarding the first privately financed schools contracts were adequate to maximise the potential for value for money.