PPPs enjoy a good reputation for delivering projects on time and within budget.
The most authoritative study of the relative performance of PPPs and traditional procurement in Australia remains that released by the University of Melbourne in December 2008.1 This study compared the construction cost and time outcomes of 25 PPP projects and 42 traditionally procured projects throughout Australia since 2000. At 67 projects, this is the largest sample set of any comparable benchmark study worldwide. The study found that, from the time the relevant contract is signed:
• the PPPs experienced average construction cost over-runs of 4.3 per cent, compared with 18 per cent for the traditionally procured projects; and
• the average construction phase delay for the PPPs was 1.4 per cent, compared with 25.9 per cent for the traditionally procured projects.
The study didn't compare the operation phase performance of the projects.
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1 Colin Duffield, Peter Raisbeck and Ming Xu, National PPP Forum - Benchmarking Study, Phase II - Report on the performance of PPP projects in Australia when compared with a representative sample of traditionally procured infrastructure projects, University of Melbourne, 2008.