Types of Public-Private Partnerships

In the U.S. public-private partnerships rarely mean privatization, in many cases because assets were never nationalized to begin with. Instead, partnership refers to an entire spectrum of relationships where private sector resources are used in the delivery of services or facilities for public use. The private sector may be called upon to provide one or more of the following functions:

•  Project initiation and planning;

•  Design;

•  Financing;

•  Construction;

•  Ownership;

•  Operation; and

•  Revenue collection.

The nature of the partnership is really defined by the distribution of those roles in a service or project. The continuum goes from full public responsibility (standard public services) to full private responsibility (commercialization/privatization) as follows:

New Projects

As depicted above, partnership alternatives can be divided into two categories, depending on the type of project: new projects; and existing facilities and services.

Partnerships for New Projects. In the U.S., the nomenclature of public-private partnerships is somewhat different than elsewhere. For convenience, both sets of terms will be used.