Conclusion

In these challenging times, governments are coping with the normal course of fiscal stress overlaid with a new set of extraordinary demands on their resources. At the same time, it is clear that reverting to a default setting of earlier times - putting infrastructure investment on hold until the economy has recovered - will put economies in an ever more precarious position going forward. If infrastructure gaps are to be narrowed, the public sector must respond with creative and flexible solutions that evolve with the changing environment. The old models of financing and delivering infrastructure must give way to new, innovative models and a portfolio of hybrid approaches.

Too often, public sector entities are unaware of the alternatives available to them or of the considerations involved in selecting the most appropriate delivery models for their capital projects. This has resulted in less-than-idea outcomes from traditional procurements and public-private partnerships alike. By applying a bottom-up approach to the development of a partnership structure, the public sector can deliver projects in a way that most closely approximates the optimal solution within the confines of what is possible.

Careful, informed analysis at the outset of a project will help to ensure that limited resources are put to their best possible use, while putting government organizations in the best position to achieve their infrastructure objectives in today's challenging climate. Used systematically, such a disciplined approach to project structuring will also put the public sector on a strong footing for continued innovation beyond the current crisis.