A key consideration for public agencies preparing to procure a project using PPP approaches that involve sophisticated technical and financial techniques is to obtain the services of firms or retain in-house personnel that offer specialized expertise in these techniques and how to analyze them within the context of the PPP project at issue. Given the high value of many PPP projects and the potential for significant value capture by the private sector, the public agency will likely find itself negotiating with specialists that have a high degree of experience in these techniques.
Such specialized personnel would be prohibitively expensive to retain on the public side of the negotiations on a full-time basis as in-house staff. Therefore most public agencies sponsoring PPP projects should include firms or individuals with comparable expertise as part of their PPP procurement support and contract negotiating team on an as-needed basis. This will increase the potential for arriving at a fair contract agreement that balances the needs of both the public agency and private partner, while ultimately protecting the public interest.