During this sluggish economic recovery public agencies in the United States have to find out new ways to achieve efficiencies from operations and delivery. Public/Private Partnerships could contribute to how we pursue infrastructure investments in the United States because they represent a sharing of responsibilities and costs between the public and private sector in project finance and delivery. A dedicated PPP unit is a mechanism to build capacity to develop and implement PPPs. All the countries and states around the world with well-developed PPP markets have built such units to help with quality control, technical assistance, standardization, promotion, and policy guidance. The U.S. is a latecomer in the area of PPPs, but states have been very active in the last three years both in building capacity and in closing PPP deals.
There is no one-size-fits-alll design of a PPP unit, but U.S. public entities could learn from experiences of other countries or from the growing track record in several states. A PPP unit reflects not only the needs of a particular PPP program, but also the administrative capacity and political structure of a specific government. Ultimately, a successful PPP unit is an entity that contributes to the successful implementation of an overall PPP program.