13.5.3  Treatment of intellectual property in contractual arrangements

The treatment of intellectual property relating to a PPP project needs to be reviewed in the context of each project and in consultation with the procurement team's legal advisors. As a general rule, government should seek to acquire a royalty-free transferable licence to the intellectual property for the life of the service requirement. In some cases, however, it is appropriate for government to seek ownership of the project intellectual property. The value of the intellectual property is typically reflected in the payments which government agrees to make. Government must ensure that it can access all the tools required to deliver the service over the life of the contract. If the private party is replaced under the contract, the new provider must be able to access any necessary intellectual property to continue delivering the required outputs.