KPMG held discussions with 35 existing and potential PPP participants in the Australian infrastructure market (referred to in this Review as Participants). The parties consulted covered a broad range of disciplines including practitioners from the following segments of the market:
• specialist PPP arrangers and long term investors
• construction companies
• facilities maintenance providers
• investment bank equity providers and debt arrangers
• superannuation funds
• debt providers
• advisors
• Government project team members.
To stimulate discussion and to facilitate the receipt of feedback, KPMG issued a discussion paper to market participants in advance of face-to-face meetings. The paper summarised some of the key issues cited by current or prospective market participants and/or those issues arising from observations in respect of both barriers to competition and the efficiency of Australian PPP procurement processes. A copy of this discussion paper is included in the Appendix.
To facilitate a free discussion of issues, the face-to-face meetings did not follow a fixed agenda. Participants were free to raise the issues of specific concern to them, which meant that they did not all address all the questions within the discussion paper. This approach had the benefit of obtaining detailed comments on issues that Participants believe are important, but it did mean that a formal statistical analysis of the results of the consultation process is not possible. In addition, Participants made comments and provided information on the basis that they were not attributable.