Domestic and International PPP Project Delivery Firms

As a result, international capabilities in developing and applying innovative financing, contracting, and project delivery approaches to surface transportation projects have grown significantly, particularly in such countries as England, Spain, France, and Australia. Exhibit 46 demonstrates the greater extent of international involvement in PPP projects compared to U.S.-based firms. However, the number of U.S.-based firms entering the PPP market for design, construction, finance, operations, and maintenance are growing as more surface transportation agencies turn to PPP project delivery approaches to leverage their limited transportation funds.

The use of public-private partnerships for surface transportation project delivery in the United States is still in its early, formative stages. For the past 15 years, state transportation agencies in the United States have been experimenting and using alternative project delivery approaches that involve the private sector to greater degrees. Much of this activity has involved the DB approach to project delivery, with a growing number of maintenance management contracts and more recently concession arrangements, as shown earlier in Exhibit 40. The use of these alternative project delivery approaches at the state level has been facilitated by two programs sponsored by the FHWA, called SEP-14 and SEP-15.

Special Experimental Project Number 14 (SEP-14) was authorized in 1990 to enable state transportation agencies to test innovative contracting approaches to assess their effects on project costs, duration, and quality. Among the project contracting approaches considered were cost-plus-time bidding, lane rental, DB contracting, warranty clauses, include indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts, alternative pavement type bidding, no excuse bonuses, lump sum bidding, price/qualifications bidding, quality incentives, warrantees and guarantees, system integrator contracts, and performance-based specifications. The main PPP approach tested by 38 states under this program was DB contracting.

Exhibit 45 - Road-Related Projects Planned or Completed by Global Region and PPP Contract Type, Excluding the U.S. - 1985 through 200423

Exhibit 46 - Top National and International Transportation Developers as of 2006

Special Experiment Project Number 15 (SEP-15) was authorized in 2004 to expand the number of functions for which alternative approaches can be tested to expedite projects and leverage scarce public resources through expanded opportunities for PPPs. In addition to alternative contracting approaches, SEP-15 permits the testing of innovative approaches to finance, planning, environmental clearance, and right-of-way acquisition for designated projects. This new SEP-15 program expands on SEP-14 by enabling state and local highway project sponsors to test a combination of innovative approaches to different aspects of a project to optimize the effects on project cost, duration, and quality.

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23 AECOM Consult, Inc. "Synthesis of Public-Private Partnership Projects for Roads, Bridges & Tunnels from Around the World - 1985-2004", prepared at the request of the Federal Highway Administration, August 30, 2005. Exhibit 13 on page 20.