The study team reviewed and summarized the available literature on the application and management of PPPs for transportation infrastructure in other countries. This provided a summary of benefits, risks and critical success factors arising from PPP arrangements in England, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. The study team then assembled a list of international transportation PPP projects, from which a group was selected for developing the individual case studies, cameos, and vignettes. Information regarding these projects was developed from the literature, including that provided by relevant project websites, annual reports, and local knowledge. Additional insights were sought by direct surveys of project sponsors and providers, and in some cases interviews with representatives of public and private project partners.
While descriptive information is generally available for many PPP transportation projects around the world, there is a significant reluctance by project partners to respond to surveys or direct inquires. Given the commercial and political nature of PPP arrangements, information required to provide a comprehensive evaluation of PPP projects is often incomplete, not available, or restricted. Furthermore, personnel from the private sector concession teams generally disperse at various junctures of the concession. For example financial and legal personnel involved in PPP projects disperse at financial closure of each project. Design and construction personnel often disperse after the project is opened to traffic. This further limited the amount of information that could be derived at either the consultation or development phases, which restricted the level of detail to which many of the international case studies could be developed, resulting in more project cameos and vignettes than originally planned.
As a consequence of this, the study team found that project partners whom we attempted to contact were often either not available or reluctant to respond, particularly those in the private sector. When we were able to make contact, many were reluctant to answer questions regarding issues that arose during the project and the strategies used to overcome them. The public sector sources were more forthcoming and candid in their discussion of the rationale for using a particular PPP arrangement to develop needed projects, as well as the key issues confronting their PPP projects and how they were addressed. When this information was available, a case study could be produced for the project based on the available documentation.