[The journey continues PPPs in social infrastructure]

Australian government agencies are increasingly adopting Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to deliver social infrastructure projects. These long-term partnerships with the private sector are addressing the ever-growing demand for services such as: health; education; social housing; corrections; and justice.

The experience of developing and delivering these services has created new disciplines on both sides of the infrastructure industry. Private companies have learnt to deliver the 'user experience', for amenities such as schools, hospitals, courts and prisons, as a long-term service outcome. At the same time, government agencies have developed greater discipline surrounding: services specification; contract design; and project management. With many early PPP projects now operating, we can examine how the model is performing and identify best practice.

To support the industry-wide drive for continual improvement, Ernst & Young surveyed key public and private sector stakeholders participating in operational social infrastructure PPP projects. The survey looked at project effectiveness and examined whether PPPs are delivering value.

In doing so, the survey sought to add to the industry findings on the performance and timeliness outcomes of PPP projects including the report conducted by Melbourne University and the Allen Consulting Group1. Thus, the interviews focused on less quantifiable benefits flowing from the projects including: end-user satisfaction; the practicalities of contract management; success of the reporting and communication mechanisms; risk allocation; payment mechanisms; and innovation.

We hope the initial findings from these early PPPs will provide a starting point for collecting more robust information on the operation of PPPs to deliver cost-effective, quality infrastructure to the community.

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1  Melbourne University and Allen Consulting Group, November 2007, "Performance of PPPs and Traditional Procurement in Australia "