In order to educate and discuss the benefits and challenges of Public-Private Partnerships, the FHWA has periodically held workshops to bring all partners-Federal, State, local, and private-together. Not only have these workshops helped to focus attention on Public-Private Partnerships, they also have presented an opportunity to discuss lessons-learned and to explore improvements that can be made to assist the formation and success of Public-Private Partnerships. For example:
• In November 1991, about one month prior to the enactment of the first post-Interstate highway act, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), the FHWA convened a policy workshop about Public-Private Partnerships. The purpose of the workshop was to focus attention on the broad range of issues and tradeoffs that may be associated with changes in public and private roles in the provision of transportation facilities and services. The workshop culminated in a 1992 Report, Exploring Key Issues in Public-Private Partnerships for Highway Development.
• In 2003 and 2004, the FHWA sponsored six workshops in Washington State, Minnesota, Texas, Florida, California, and North Carolina. A report summarizing discussions at all six workshops is on FHWA's Public-Private Partnership web page, www.fhwa.dot.gov/ppp.
• Annually, the FHWA co-sponsors with the American Road and Transportation Builders Association the Public-Private Ventures in Transportation Conference. The conference includes presentations of interest to Public-Private Partnerships, and, as part of the conference, the FHWA conducts a transportation finance workshop. Workshop materials can be found at: www.fhwa.dot.gov/ppp/events.htm.
• The FHWA also periodically sponsors a comprehensive Transportation Finance Conference with the Transportation Research Board. To date, three conferences have been held in 1997, 2000, and 2002. As part of these conferences, the FHWA holds pre-conference workshops on the state of the practice of transportation finance. Additionally, each year the FHWA conducts a transportation finance workshop during the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board.3 Workshop materials can be found at: www.fhwa.dot.gov/ppp/events.htm.
• In October 2003, the FHWA formed a Public-Private Partnership Task Force, to explore ways the FHWA could address impediments to the formation of Public- Private Partnerships and actions the FHWA should take to encourage their formation. The Task Force consists of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy and representatives from the FHWA policy and program offices, and it has explored opportunities to assist States interested in developing the use of Public-Private Partnerships to meet growing demands for highway infrastructure. Task Force initiatives include the creation of Special Experimental Program No. 15 "SEP-15"4 to encourage the use of Public-Private Partnerships on Federal-aid highway transportation projects; a Web site for those interested in using Public-Private Partnerships to procure Federal-aid construction projects that can be found at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ppp; and the Report to Congress on the challenges to the formation of Public-Private Partnerships. The Task Force continues to explore ideas for improving the FHWA's support for Public-Private Partnerships and plans on developing several new products in the future.
• In June 2005, FHWA established a Public-Private Partnerships Program Manager position within the Office of the Administrator to oversee and coordinate the varied activities relating to Public-Private Partnerships, including policy development, technical assistance, research, capacity building and outreach.
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3 The report from the 2002 conference is available at the following URL: http://gulliver.trb.org/conferences/2002FinancePapers.pdf.
4 The notice announcing SEP-15, "The New Special Experimental Project (SEP-15) To Explore Alternative and Innovative Approaches to the Overall Project Development Process" was published in the Federal Register on October 6, 2004, at 69 FR 59983.