A primary reason for a public agency to enter into a public-private partnership is to expedite project completion, reduce costs and improve project quality by packaging and procuring services in new ways. Since 1990, the federal government has allowed state departments of transportation to evaluate non-traditional contracting techniques. Originally, the contracting practices approved for evaluation were: cost-plus-time bidding; lane rental; design-build contracting; and warranty clauses. After review, FHWA decided that all four practices were suitable for operational use. The NCPPP recommends modifications to the Special Experimental Projects (SEP-14 and SEP-15), and the Design-Build Final Rule, to help expedite the federal approval processes; adequately recognize risk allocation and risk sharing among the public and private sectors; and reward public and private sector performance for those States and local governments that seek to use innovative contracting and project delivery methods. Congress should enable the USDOT, through the Federal Highways and Federal Transit Administrations, to host a professional level of PPP public sector expertise through new hiring or contractual authority.
Additionally, the NCPPP supports the recommendation of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission in that, ""Congress should generally support the states' primary role in overseeing private-sector arrangements and, to this end, should encourage the development of appropriate technical assistance and dissemination of best practices information"" (page 217 of the Commission Report). A few states, including Texas and Virginia, have already created dedicated public-private partnership teams focused solely on engaging and negotiating with the private sector to develop transportation infrastructure projects. PPP agreements are more complex than traditional procurement methods and lessons-learned from successfully negotiated agreements need to be effectively communicated.