One of the key policy decisions facing sponsors of PPPs is whether to allow unsolicited proposals in the process, as is allowed under the Virginia Public Private Transportation Act (PPTA) of 1995, or limit PPP bids to only those that respond to projects specifically solicited by the sponsoring agency. Unsolicited proposals for a PPP project result from a concept developed by a private consortium and submitted directly to a public agency outside of the normal bid solicitation process. Key features of unsolicited proposals are listed below.
• Opportunity for advance projects not included in traditional transportation plans by applying innovative, often unique approaches;
• Opportunity to beat the competition to the starting gate and define the agenda in terms of project scope and approach; and
• High risk for the initial proposer since there is no guarantee the initiator will end up winning the project after the concept subsequently undergoes a formal solicitation process prompted by the receipt of the initial unsolicited proposal, provided there is adequate time provided to allow competing teams to prepare their own proposed approaches to the project.
Solicited proposals for PPP projects are the result of the normal bid solicitation process, whereby the sponsoring agency defines the projects to be procured in each bidding cycle based on prioritized needs as defined in the short-range transportation plan. Key features of solicited proposals include the following:
• Preferred by many public agencies since it provides them with more control of the project solicitation process instead of diverting scarce resources to react to bids that often seek to circumvent the competitive procurement process;
• More consistent with the results of agency transportation planning efforts that involve public and private inputs in a more transparent process;
• Primary source of PPP project opportunities in the future since there is a greater likelihood of the project going forward due to its inclusion in the vetted transportation planning process; and
• Level of competition for solicited requests for bids will depend on project size and risks.