Each year, NCPPP hosts a Federal P3 Summit in Washington, D.C., where representatives from federal agencies that use PPPs as a project delivery mechanism meet with representatives from the private sector to take a comprehensive look at the status of federal PPPs. Two sessions devoted to reform of the scoring rules for PPPs were held at the NCPPP Federal P3 Summit in March 2016.
In the first session, a panel of experts from the public and private sectors provided an overview of the basics of the scoring rules and the constraints they impose on PPPs at the federal level. The purpose of the session was to broaden understanding within the PPP community of these technical but important obstacles and to build understanding and support in the PPP community for responsible reform of scoring rules as they relate to real property.
The second session brought together Dorothy Robyn, former commissioner of the Public Buildings Service, and David Haun, former deputy associate director of the Office of Management and Budget, in a point/counterpoint discussion of the current scoring rules and options for change. While in office, Robyn tried unsuccessfully to use PPPs as a vehicle to shrink the federal real estate footprint and modernize its infrastructure. Haun, now with Grant Thornton LLP, administered the scoring rules, the current structure and interpretation of which effectively blocked-and continue to hinder-wider use of PPPs for federal real estate projects. In this discussion, Haun and Robyn discussed the potential benefits and risks to the government of the current scoring rules and possible changes that could benefit the taxpayer, while limiting risk.